After a six-year hiatus, Mike Skinner and his band The Streets are back with their early-2000s hip-hop club bangers. RNZ Music's Kirsten Johnstone caught the final show of their world tour at Wellington's Michael Fowler Centre last night.
The Streets live at the Michael Fowler Centre 23 July 2019 Photo: Kir
The last place I expected to see Mike Skinner and The Streets was Wellington’s Michael Fowler Centre, that bastion of high art.
In its heyday, The Streets was a distillation of early 2000s club culture. Skinner was your slightly useless but hilarious mate who got wasted on a Friday, only emerging from the fog when Monday rolled around.
Skinner – a rapper and multi-instrumentalist – has been on a break for the last six years or so, and I’m curious to know what he’s grown up to be, how he’ll work the Michael Fowler Centre, and who his audience is now.
The Streets live at the Michael Fowler Centre 23 July 2019 Photo: Kirsten Johnstone
Mostly though, I’m here for one song, which more than any other, articulated the emotions many of us experienced on dance floors in our early adulthood: dread, confusion, elation and escape, often aided by chemicals.
Mike’s a bit put out by all the seats in the venue, not that anyone’s sitting down. He comes across a little grumpy, jaded.
Maybe it’s because Boris Johnson has just become his country’s leader, though he doesn’t ever mention politics.
Maybe it’s just that he’s tired - it’s the last show of the tour. He says he’s sorry it’s only Tuesday, but he’s determined to bring everyone with him on a 90-minute ramble toward Friday.
The Streets live at the Michael Fowler Centre 23 July 2019 Photo: Kirsten Johnstone
Skinner is desperate to connect with the audience, one by one, and it doesn’t take long before he’s found a way to get off the stage, over the barrier, and in there with his people.
His rapping is so conversational I can’t tell whether he’s spitting lyrics or just having a natter with someone.
It doesn’t help that the sound is a bit muddy where I’m standing. The audience up front is loving it, though, despite Mike’s habit of spraying them with bubbly.
This gig reminds me of trying to have a conversation in a club: it’s too loud, the lights are disorienting, and you’re only catching every third word. You can’t tell if your company is a drunken rambler or actually saying something profound.
The Streets live at the Michael Fowler Centre 23 July 2019 Photo: Kirsten Johnstone
The band (including singer Kevin Mark Trail) holds down the beats and melodies well, despite the unpredictable, slightly shambolic approach of their frontman.
They play their hits, ‘Dry Your Eyes’, ‘Fit But You Know it’, and ‘Never Went To Church’. Nothing really ignites, Mike doesn’t really seem all that invested in these songs.
Maybe he doesn’t relate to them now, 15 years later.
Then, here’s my song, in the encore.
“Lights are blinding my eyes,” and for a few minutes time slows down and we’re back in that club, trying to find our friends, and the Nokia phone has no reception and we’re getting a drink, popping a pill and … people pushing by, and walking off into the night.
The Streets live at the Michael Fowler Centre 23 July 2019 Photo: Kirsten Johnstone
The Streets live at the Michael Fowler Centre 23 July 2019 Photo: Kirsten Johnstone
The Streets live at the Michael Fowler Centre 23 July 2019 Photo: Kirsten Johnstone
The Streets live at the Michael Fowler Centre 23 July 2019 Photo: Kirsten Johnstone
