The Streets

The Streets and Shady Nasty live at Walyalup Fremantle Arts Centre | 08 March 2026

The slopes of Fremantle Arts Centre were populated by ‘mad lads’ and garage rap junkies who were ready to experience the hot verse of The Streets final legal of their Australian tour. Promising punters on the night they were planning to go out with a bang. With introspective first half from The Streets, and a more up-tempo, disco-lit second half. The night was met with equal parts quiet introspection, and chaotic crowd surfing. Which made way for an entertaining, spliff-fuelled evening foray.

Sydneysiders Shady Nasty were the first to kick off the evening. Made up of Kevin Stathis on vocals, Haydn Green on bass and Luca Watson on drums. The trio announced to punters it was their first show in Perth. This was met by several punters yelling ‘well done boys’ again, and again. A level of adulation only matched by a proud Mom watching her son score a goal on a Sunday arvo footie match.

Their sound oozed mood, or some sense of moodiness. Met with a ‘less is more’ philosophy, Kevin Stathis would belt out rap verses laced with anger and frustration and let the instrumentation follow. Creating an emotionally (and lyrically) charged soundscape with saw the punters bopping about to the deep power chords from the guitar, and rough, abrupt thud of the drums. It was easy to get lost into the hypnotic rhythms of Shady Nasty.

They say the true entertainment at gigs is found between the sets. With a highlight being one particular punter (who looked like Rick Harrison off Pawnstars) accruing a mountain of beer cans taller than the pyramids of Giza below him. Perhaps as an ambitious attempt to strike it rich via the 10c refund recycling scheme (or to buy a new liver).

It was roughly a 15-minute wait, but being within the crowd was its own entertainment. There were plenty of Brits in the crowd providing a background commentary of top banter. Such as discussing where The Streets were from, or complaining about how much more humid it was at the venue, in comparison to the cold UK. Needless to say, the witty British sense of humour was the perfect appetiser for the oncoming set.

With the crowd building a stronger presence around the stage. They were met with an all-black, simplistic set-up, and then bright lights. The Streets (made up of Mike Skinner, and his bandmembers) were equipped with a full ensemble of musical talent. An intersection of rap, and story-driven sophistry. Even if Skinner’s songwriting was fully front-and-centre at times. The set felt more like a collaboration between likeminded musicians, who expertly brought Skinner’s lyrics to life.

The first half felt more autobiographical, mellow and reflective. With the backdrop of stage consisting of a large projection of a very urbanized, dingy, bus stop. It spoke powerfully of where Skinner and the Streets came from, as they guided punters across a lyrically-fuelled emotional journey. Exploring the trials of tribulations of having ‘fuck all’ money, breaking up with a partner but still wanting them and trying to find your feet in the world as young person.

At times it didn’t even feel like a musical performance, but more so a musical play. Which seemed to carry and project these universal themes onto the punters who readily resonated, and identified with the music. This was confirmed by one punter, who told me he scored a free ticket via his friend, whom he tattooed to get the ticket. Grinning rather cheekily, he then told me wasn’t even a tattooist, but a carpenter (God knows what he had tattooed if that was the case).

It was this level of fanfare, and crowd enthusiasm that honestly made the gig match the production and effort Skinner and his crew put into the show. As the night wore on, various spliffs were lit up across the front, and it ended up becoming a sweaty haze of sweat and stale hashish. The first half of the set was wrapped up via a faux encore, and then the real party went into full swing.

This was where the madness truly began, with the stage lit up with bright red lights in the style of a rave or disco. The set delved hard into the direction of club tunes, and dance.

Skinner became enamoured by a punter who he found to look like ‘Lord Lukan’ (and honestly, he did) [note: for the uninitiated, ‘Lord Lukan’ is a former British Lord who disappeared in 1974, and accused of attempting to murder his wife]. Announcing to the crowd that he was very much still alive, and living in Fremantle.

Amping up the crowd further, he began to ask the crowd to carry him from the stage and be amongst those in front of the pit. This caused a slew of punters from the back to surge to the front to catch a glimpse of the rapper. An iconic moment was Skinner using his newfound friend ‘Lord Lucan’ as a mount for Skinner to ride on his shoulders amongst the chaos and throng of punters dancing the night away. It’s amazing that Skinner hasn’t been kidnapped yet.

All jokes aside, it was an incredibly fun night. And was finished off with Skinner announcing and introducing the various members of The Streets who allowed the show to happen. There was a lot of heart and sentimentality in the way the tour finished. But of course, importantly with Skinner announcing he was going to ‘take a lot of fucking drugs later’ to celebrate the end of an Australian tour with his band. To that I say take all the drugs you want my friend, you earned it.

Review by Joe Wilson

The Streets

Shady Nasty