A year after they played their first ever gig at The Ambassador The Streets are back in Dublin for an open-air headliner that, if there are chinks in his/their musical armour, will surely expose them. As anyone who’s coughed up thirty quid to see DJ Shadow and the Chemical Brothers and gone home disappointed will tell you, what works wonderfully well in the studio doesn’t always translate to a live setting where personality and showmanship count for as much as musical cleverness.
Aware of this, the boy Skinner has gone for the full live band option, which not only takes care of how to fill the stage, but also means that the stylistic differences between Original Pirate Material and the less garagey A Grand Don’t Come For Free are minimised to the point where the songs sound like they belong on the same album.
Playing the geezer card to the full – he’s had optics attached to the drum-kit so he can help himself to a brandy whenever he wants – Mike has the capacity crowd eating out of his hand from the off. The likes of ‘Could Well Be In’, ‘Not Addicted’ and ‘Dry Your Eyes’ are all as warm and heartfelt as you’ll hope they’ll be, with backpack indie girls joining Oasis beer boys in the communal singing.
‘Fit But You Know It’ was always going to be a highlight, but Jesus, Mary and that other bloke, where did that scabrous from the fiery pits of hell riff come from.
A celebratory encore of ‘Weak Become Heroes’ later and it’s off to the pub knowing that The Streets have it sussed on every level.