6th November 2023
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It’s been a month since The Streets offered a turbulent night of crowd-surfing, pint drinking, and losing shoes. Lets reflect on how Mike Skinner pushes the Streets forward, giving an electric performance at Mountford Hall.
Support indie artist, Master Peace bounced onto the stage, his enthusiasm giving Skinner a run for his money. For my first Master Peace gig, I was not disappointed.
Claiming he never gets tired, Master Peace raps wickedly, sometimes forgetting to pause for minutes. The antithesis to his light pop instrumentals is disturbing, yet that is exactly his point. Master Peace wants to make the hairs stand on your arms. To give you something to talk about.
Sharing the stage with Skinner for Wrong Answers Only to his electrifying performance of GET NAUGHTY! , the crowd attempts to replicate Master Peace’s boisterous energy.
The show-stopping moment is Master Peace’s rave tune I Might Be Fake. He elicits a riot from the crowd, warming them up for the main event.
With similar sounds to Bloc Party, and conducting the stage like Mike Skinner, Master Peace is someone to keep your eye on.
Its crazy to think after the Streets devastating split in 2011, 12 years later Skinner is swaggering onto the stage, pint in hand, to the trademark violins of ‘Turn the Page’.
Skinner treats us to the intoxicating sixth album, The Darker the Shadow, the Brighter the Light.
Although dormant from the band for 7 years, it’s no secret Skinner knows how to work a crowd. Entering the audience to dance to the rowdy club tune Who’s Got The Bag?, smoking and drinking pints with fans, and encouraging female crowd-surfers. Skinner frequently reminds the audience ‘this is not the 80’s anymore Liverpool’. This only encouraging the crowd to amp up their rowdy antics.
Don’t Mug Yourself and Has It Come To This? from 2002’s Original Pirate Material elicits a turbulence from within the crowd. However, it’s the way Skinner effortlessly transitions to swaying ballads like Could Well Be In, that really make him a musical genius.
Troubled Waters and Too Much Yayo from Skinner’s new album slot in seamlessly amongst his old tracks, proving that Skinner is very much a veteran of the dance scene. He solidifies this thought ending with riot tune Take Me As I Am. Skinner ends on a high, literally, standing on an amp whilst booming out ‘Take me as I am, watch me as I go’.
The crowd is left deflated by his absence once the gig ends, proving how adored he is by many. Lets hope Skinner sticks around.
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