Mike Skinner @ Open
Thundering bass and sweaty, satisfied music lovers
It’s Halloween night, and some seriously scary figures are haunting the Prince of Wales area. Standard Saturday night in Noz though – amiright? Amiright? *drops mic*.
Seriously though, Norwich really stepped up for Halloween this year. Among various city happenings, Tropico and Deep Trouble’s OPEN event teemed with frightly decor and some very convincing costumes. From Pennywise the clown to Mad Max, Norwich’s electroheads queued outside OPEN for one thing: Mike Skinner’s DJ set.
Best known for his project The Streets, Mike Skinner first became critically acclaimed for co-producing their debut album Original Pirate Material. In the 13 years since then, he’s helped pioneered various underground UK sounds. From garage to UK rap, indie rock to 2 Tone, The Streets blurred genres, resulting in timeless anthems like Blinded By The Lights. With this portfolio in mind, a Skinner DJ set sounded like safe bet for top night. One niggling doubt though: fans and critics have lauded Skinner for his lyricism as much as they have for his production skills (if not more). Could the set’s limited opportunity for wordplay stunt his delivery?
Deep Trouble and Tropico didn’t allow much headspace for me to ponder the Skinner situation. Before Skinner took to the decks, a strong line up of garage, grime, house and hip hop pre-empted Skinners set. Local DJ’s (including JuxtaPoser and Levi Fruits) melded unfamiliar, bass-heavy remixes with alt. club singalongs - a real testament to the professionalism of Norwich’s electronic scene.
The “Undead Disco” also delivered– DJ Adam Havez dropped some infectious funk, disco and soul in OPEN’s intimate club room. Arguably, Skinner’s set would’ve fared better in the club room; the turnout was disproportionate to the main room’s large capacity. When Skinner ventured out at 1am he was met by a largely unfilled hall - not great for overall atmosphere. However, fans made the most of the space, moving closer to Skinner as he ripped into a high octane set. He combined dubstep, DnB, jungle, garage, and threw in some classical strains for good measure. The crowd loved the bass-ridden mix. He showcased Britain’s underground electro-influenced scene brilliantly; heady grime tunes crossfaded into garage and then switched to likes of Ms Dynamite. He also nodded to his American hip-hop influence, with snippets such as Ace Hood’s Bugatti peppering the mix.
From the bass-heavy start, Skinner established he wasn’t going to defend his street-poet/producer-pioneer accolades. However, he did occasionally drop some nip-to-the-toilet-and-you’ll-miss it strains of The Streets. Sounders like “Original pirate material/ Yer listening to the Streets/Lock down your aerial” nodded to his ineffaceable decade with the outfit. Towards the finale, Skinner ceased the pounding bass, surprising the crowd with Fit But You Know It. He played one last bass-heavy tune and exited the stage to wild applause.
There was little continuity between Fit But You Know It’s brilliant lethargy and Skinner’s blend of bassy tunes; perhaps it reflects with the Skinner’s current career state. Was the set innovative? No. Was it exciting? Totally. Skinner may drop something progressive in the future, but for now, thundering bass and sweaty, satisfied music lovers are doing the trick.
7/10
