Mike Skinner aka The Streets will take their 2004 album A Grand Don’t Come For Free on the road for the first time in full.
The shows are:
3Olympia Theatre, Dublin – February 15th 2026
The Telegraph Building, Belfast – February 16th 2026
A Grand Don’t Come For Free tells a continuous story, like a film in song form, about an ordinary young man’s chaotic few weeks of love, loss, friendship, and frustration.
The title refers literally to a missing £1,000, which becomes a metaphor for losing control of life and finding meaning again. It features the songs ‘Dry Your Eyes’, ‘Fit But You Know It’, and ‘Blinded By The Lights’.
The Streets tickets
- Tickets €50.70/€61.35/€72.20 plus fees on sale Thursday November 20th at 10AM from Ticketmaster.ie.
- Bookings subject to 12.5% service charge per ticket (Max €10.50)
“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. 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” – Mike Skinner
The tour marks the latest chapter in what has already been a prolific year for Skinner. His debut feature film, the DIY noir musical The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light, dropped in full on YouTube.
He reimagined “And The Beat Goes On” for John Lewis’ centenary advertising campaign, and his rousing single “Brave St Andrew” became the title music for Amazon’s Birmingham City documentary. H
He also played the first night of the Little Simz curated Meltdown at Royal Festival Hall earlier this year to rapturous response from fans and critics.
His ongoing YouTube series has also been offering fans raw, behind-the-scenes insight into the creative process of each new release, the latest being “Utopia”, a standalone statement single and a bridge to what comes next.
About The Streets
The Streets broke through in 2002 with the Mercury Prize nominated ‘Original Pirate Material’ – widely regarded as one of the most influential British albums of recent times, whose impact on culture and UK music can still be felt to this day. Four BRIT Award nominations for Best Album, Best Urban Act, Best Breakthrough Artist and Best British Male Solo Artist followed. “Dry Your Eyes”, from 2005 follow-up album ‘A Grand Don’t Come For Free’, won an Ivor Novello for Best Song Musically And Lyrically. Skinner additionally received a BRIT Award that same year, for best British Male Solo Artist.
Since then, The Streets have released further LPs “The Hardest Way to Make an Easy Living” (2006), Everything Is Borrowed (2008), Computer and Blues (2011) and 2020’s mixtape “None Of Us Are Getting Out of This Alive”, and Skinner has collaborated with a who’s who of British music – from Kano, to Fred Again, Greentea Peng, MasterPeace, Giggs and notably Chris Lorenzo on clubland smash ’Take Me As I Am’. In recent years, and with his Mike Skinner LTD label, he’s worked with artists at the tip of the spear of breaking British music, with acts like FLOHIO, Ghetts and Grim Sickers.
His most recent album ‘The Darker The Shadow, The Brighter The Light’ marked Mike Skinner’s return with a full-length project that melds his signature spoken-word lyricism with cinematic storytelling. The album pairs with a self-directed film of the same name, weaving a noir-inspired narrative through gritty beats, UK garage, and introspective themes of fame, identity, and survival.
An inimitable live performer with bountiful experience both behind the decks and on the microphone, Skinner is renowned for his boisterous onstage presence and ability to grip audiences from crowded basements to Glastonbury headline slots. Whether it’s a live-streamed lockdown performance or a garage and bassline DJ set, Skinner commands the stage with undeniable presence and a quintessentially British tongue-in-cheek attitude. When The Streets announced a comeback tour in 2017, tickets for the dates sold out in less than a minute. It’s all testament to the impact The Streets have had, and continue to have, across several generations of musicians and fans alike.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
