The Streets

21^st Century Appearances: 2011 NME Stage Co-Headliner, 2006 Main Stage, 2004 Main Stage, 2003 Main Stage, 2002 Third Stage Headliner

The Defining Reading Moment: Just One? Well it has to be “Don’t Mug Yourself” each and every time, one beautiful chaotic mess, that has never managed to stay in tune, on rhythm, or in time across five blistering sets.

People often moan that nothing really happened in 21^st Century, that there has been no big break through, no seismic shift, no before and after moment, and no new scene. Well, quite frankly, either they have incredibly short memories or they haven’t been paying close enough attention.

When The Streets dropped Original Pirate Material in 2002 and Mike Skinner unleashed his “day in the life of a geezer” manifesto he rewrote the rule book on British songwriting. UK Garage and the fledging Grime scene was on the verge of capturing something bleak, urban and real, but it was Mike Skinner who nailed it, creating an album of gorgeous beats, glorious druggy tranquility, unnervingly uneven organ sounds and earthy, thoroughly modern, songwriting. It was serenely crass, beautifully gritty, and most importantly of all, it legitimately pushed things forward.

However, A timeless album, and a timeless artist, needs a stage, and needs a moment, and The Streets found both at Reading where The Streets were thrown headlong into the fire, headlining first time out. To say Skinner and company knocked it out of the park is an understatement, as they’d be invited back to rock the main stage in both 2004 and 2003 on the back of that one ragged riot invoking performance.

With a laid back swagger, The Streets sounded like nothing else on the main stage. At times it didn’t quite work; bass floated away into the ether, Mike would reel around off his face and become easily distracted by girls in the crowd, but amongst the confusion and anarchy lay the energy and invention of a true musical maverick, and the tunes that captured the voice of drunken generation.

By 2006 Mike was a superstar rapping about rehab and celebrity friends, giving rub to his the proteges Proffessor Green and the Mitchell Brothers, and if his recorded material was suffering, he had finally turned into a festival sized showman. Getting the crowd to dance and get low at will, before finally uniting the jam packet crowd in verse with a unsurprisingly tender rendition of “Dry Your Eyes”.

After a long leave of absence and some decidedly hit and miss studio efforts Skinner returned a hero in 2011. His stay, however, would be brief, as he came not to be welcomed back to Reading, but to wave it goodbye once and for all, coming full circle, headlining the festival that shot him straight to the top ten long years ago. David Hayter