The Streets at Shepherd’s Bush Empire

Watching Mike Skinner in 2026 reminds you that you are no longer the lairy teenager for whom his songs were once the soundtrack to the interlude between the pub and kebab shop.

At The Streets’ gig at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, the Prince of the WKD era is performing most of A Grand Don’t Come for Free – an album old enough to order a one at the bar, if they still served rancid blue alcopops.

The staging, with a bus stop as a focal point, does not quite work in such a compact venue. The Streets’ tremendous backing musicians are crammed into a corner in a venue more designed for intimacy than spectacle.

The joys of Blinded by the Lights are slightly muted. But just when you think Skinner might be living off fond memories of cheap drinks and cigarettes, he surprises you with the potency of music that is ultimately timeless.

With Fit But You Know It, The Streets come to the fore, literally and figuratively.

Dry Your Eyes packs the emotional punch it always did. Because it’s such a great song. One that encapsulates male heartbreak and the need to get over it and pull your fake Burberry socks up.

The second half of the gig reminds you of the majesticness of Skinner’s oeuvre. It’s here we hear the meat of A Grand Don’t Come for Free and Original Pirate Material.

There’s Turn the Page and Don’t Mug Yourself. The crowd is raving, but to what is effectively a post-punk bassline with added wah. Just like they do to Who’s Got the Bag.

Skinner then leads the crowd in the gospel-inflected Never Been to Church. By now he is part of the throng, and it helps. The stilted opening is long forgotten as he joins in a celebration of why the group are great.

Then we get to the anthemic Weak Become Heroes, which satisfies immensely. But there’s more. The most recent Streets track to genuinely join the canon is Take Me As I Am – and here it justifiably closes the night by getting a mass of bodies swaying in unison.

One understands why, with the opening, The Streets tried something different. On a big stage, it would probably work. Sadly, in the Empire, we don’t get the full effect, cheek by jowl, that we all are.

However, the songs and performer mean that your gripes melt away into the ether. Like those half-remembered smells of cigarettes and WKD.