The Streets are reuniting for a UK tour.
Mike Skinner
Frontman Mike Skinner has confirmed the group - who last toured in 2011 to support their fifth album 'Computers and Blues' - are getting back together for 'The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light Tour', and admitted it has been "long enough" since they last played for their fans.
He said: "I've missed tour buses very much. Which is the least of the reasons why I have decided to tour The Streets again.
"The other thing I've missed is trying to think up what I'm going to say in the gap between the songs.
"When you DJ they tell you that you don't need a tour bus and you don't need to think up things to say between the songs. But seriously, it's been long enough."
Mike also announced plans to hold nightclub after-parties after "every show" of the tour, which will start on April 19, 2018, in Birmingham before heading to Glasgow, Manchester and Leeds, as well as two dates in London.
He is quoted by NME magazine as saying: "With my Tonga parties, the new rap and grime MCs I have been producing and the DJing, I have been living with music since making The Streets for nearly as long as I made The Streets.
"I'm not the guy smoking in the car anymore though, I have become the guy in the club, so I hope I will be excused for putting on after-parties in nightclubs after every show."
The 38-year-old star shared the tour poster on his Instagram page and confirmed the group will be performing "old songs".
Mike wrote: "spoken to my band! told them we need to sing the old songs! on sale 9am Friday 13th (sic)"
The rapper's comments could mean the group will perform tracks from their 2002 debut album 'Original Pirate Material' and 2004's 'A Grand Don't Come for Free', which spawned hit single 'Fit but You Know It', which hit number four in the UK Singles chart following its April 2004 release.
Mike recently dropped songs under the name The Darker the Shadow, The Brighter the Light - hence the name of The Streets' comeback tour - and he also formed a supergroup, Tonga Balloon Gang, with UK rap outfit Murkage in 2015.
But in July, Mike insisted he couldn't make another Streets album.
He said: "People get it wrong when they think I'm being belligerent about it. If someone asked me to make a Streets album tomorrow, I honestly don't think I could do it. I wouldn't know how to - it's been that long. It'd just sound weird.
"I'm not sure if people want to hear an instrumental Streets album."
Tickets for the tour go on general sale at 9am this Friday (13.10.17).
The Streets' 2018 tour dates:
19 April - Birmingham O2 Academy
20 April - Glasgow O2 Academy
21 April - Manchester O2 Apollo
23 April - Leeds O2 Academy
25 April - London O2 Brixton
26 April - London O2 Brixton
Tagged in The Streets Mike Skinner