Despite the orchestral crescendos and synth horn fanfares announcing his entrance, The Streets’ Mike Skinner ambled onstage at “the palace of the people” for the final show of his UK tour as if it was an open mike night at his N10 local. “I walked here,” the adopted North Londoner boasted, warning of a “terrifying” nearby shortcut, “the darkest place you’ll find in London”. For ninety minutes he nattered casually with the crowd through his most celebrated hits, drained pints and ordered doughnuts during euphoric soul choruses and became increasingly irate at people trying to steal his trainers during every crowd-surf. Two decades of fronting a pivotal multi-platinum UK garage act clearly hadn’t dented his Everygeezer attitude.
While his early-noughties grime and garage peers were dissecting gangland degradation - or, in Craig David’s case, maintaining such an intense lovemaking schedule it’s a miracle he got any work done - Skinner built an empire on relatable, refreshingly beta garage raps about foiled romance, fragile masculinity and the struggle to afford both rent and reefer. The archetypal one-of-us superstar, then, he knows what his audience want. New album The Darker the Shadow the Brighter the Light, his first in twelve years, is the soundtrack to a self-directed murder noir film set in London’s clubland, but besides Troubled Waters’ frantic rave and menacing cocaine lament Too Much Yayo he didn’t bother us with much of that. Instead, alongside a full band and soulful wing-man, Skinner tore through arena-expanded hits and favourites at breakneck pace.
