Two decades on from its release, Mike Skinner is set to revisit A Grand Don’t Come for Free in full during a UK tour next summer.
The 2004 album – a sharp, conversational concept record tracing one man’s search for a lost thousand pounds – remains a cornerstone of British music. Now, The Streets will bring that story to the stage once again.
When it arrived, A Grand Don’t Come for Free marked Skinner’s transformation from bedroom producer to cultural chronicler.
Its mix of everyday tragedy and humour, woven through tracks like ‘Blinded by the Lights’, ‘Fit But You Know It’ and the chart-topping ‘Dry Your Eyes’, helped define an era of British storytelling in music.
Skinner says the idea of performing the album in sequence had been simmering for some time. “‘A Grand Don’t Come for Free’ was a moment in time – for me, and for everyone who grew up with it. I wrote it as a story from beginning to end, even studying screenwriting to shape it and without the faintest idea how people would react.”
It’s an ambitious live project, especially given how many of its songs have rarely been heard on stage. “We’ve been looking for something bold to do with the live show, and we landed here: some tracks have never been played live, others haven’t surfaced in years.
“It’s a new challenge to bring the whole journey to life on stage, but I have an incredible band and we always give everything every night. So I’m certain we’ll make finding out what happened to that thousand quid a party every night.”
The run begins on 26th June at Margate Dreamland before heading to Bristol Sounds, Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl and London’s Alexandra Palace Park, among others, finishing in Norwich on 21st August.
Artist presale opens on Tuesday 14th October at 10am BST, with general sale from Friday 17th October.
Photo credit: Ben Cannon.
