A concept album about someone losing a thousand pounds down the back of the TV wouldn’t immediately suggest itself as a record that would be rapturously welcomed back over 20 years later as a classic. But as a large black curtain drops down to reveal the bus shelter that adorns the cover of the album and we hear Skinner intone “It was supposed to be so easy” it all makes sense.
Because A Grand Don’t Come for Free is a British classic. Losing a grand, finding a girl, losing the girl then finding the money - Skinner perfectly captured the minutiae of British life with a story of love and heartbreak, hedonism and comedowns. This tour is the first time it is being performed in its entirety and outside at Alexandra Palace - high up above London, looking down over the panorama of the capital and its urban sprawl - feels like the perfect backdrop for this story.
