The Streets unlock a nostalgic time capsule in Cardiff Castle
Words: Chloe Monaghan
Photos: Deepak Ramadasan
★★★★★
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It felt like the sounds of Biffy Clyro were still echoing around the castle walls and where on earth do you go after a night like that? Well the answer is you time travel back to 2004, when Stone Island was worn outside kebab shops after a night out smoking, sharking and being blinded by the lights.
The Streets arrived in Cardiff to do exactly that as they gave an almost musical theatre performance of their iconic album ‘A Grand Don't Come for Free’.
Photo: Deepak Ramadasan
The set was revealed by the dropping of a curtain, beginning with ‘It Was Supposed To Be So Easy’, and what greeted us was the bus shelter from the album's front cover. I had that album on CD and seeing it come alive in front of me was a feeling I will never forget. Mike Skinner effortlessly took us through his story of a classic young relationship with ‘Simone’ and with songs like ‘Fit But You Know It’ and ‘Dry Your Eyes Mate’. We were all transported back to a time when Uber Eats wasn’t a thing, making the kebab shop the place where we had some of our best banter and heartfelt chats at the end of the night.
The crowd was the best so far this summer for people-watching. The pseudo chavs mixing with the pregnant chilled ladies. Old and young. In fact, I was impressed to see young kids mouthing every word as if they had been there from the beginning.
The last track of the album came, and it just didn’t feel like the right song to end such a high energy night on. Luckily, it wasn’t as Mike went on to sing another handful of songs whilst weaving in a brand new story just for Cardiff. The story of the half-naked woman, the c*nty fan and the crowd surfing, which he insisted on doing so that he could “enter Cardiff from behind”.
Highlights for me were ‘Has it Come To This?’ which is from The Streets album ‘Original Pirate Material’ and, of course, everyone singing to ‘Dry Your Eyes Mate’.
I have to say the support acts were all awesome and had the crowd jumping from the get go, but I was definitely won over by Jimothy Lacoste. He was the endless scroll of music. He was just hypnotising to watch in his awkwardly bendy ways, and his sound was like an audio stim that kept me locked in the whole time. If you didn’t see him, add him to your list for the future for sure.
Cardiff Castle will never be the same, and this will be a night that will never be forgotten.