Too Much Brandy
“In its own little way, my body was trying to say that you better stop drinking brandy”
The Streets set the other night was full of pre- planned seemingly off-the-cuff banter and improvisation (I.E. the hype man Larry the Lion would end songs by singing popular top 40 singles) but the shtick that stole the show and made my entire weekend was Mike Skinner taking advantage of the last day of his old insurance policy and before embracing the new one which prohibited him to give alcohol to Americans. In order to stick it to the geezers he brought a full bottle of brandy out from behind and amplifier and proceeded to blow my mind.
“Get fucked up with the boys
Calvin, Shcmalvin, I'm well within my limit, oh hang on a minute,
these mushrooms just Kicked in, think I might be finished”
As Original Pirate Material track “Too Much Brandy” was hyping up, Mike Skinner announced that since it is the last night of his old insurance policy, it would be the last night he would be able to give alcohol to Americans. Before the new policy began- he wanted to go out in style. He poured 1 shot and then kept going until a little over 2 into a 16oz plastic glass and handed it to an attractive young lady near the front row. I know very little about insurance ins and outs, but I find it interesting that there is a clause in a policy prohibiting a skinny foreign rapper from giving out alcohol to Americans… but lets just continue the true tall tale.
“Now getting to the bar's gonna be trouble/
So the Marlons'll have to be doubles/
Then you drink doubles/
The same speed you drink singles”
Another lucky front row audience member was fortunate enough to take (the next logical step from 2 shots) 4 shots of brandy. The crowd rejoiced. After the 4 shots, I was quite excited and interesting by what was occurring on stage. … He was going to keep going.
6 shots in a 16-ounce plastic glass looks like a lot- even if you are a pessimist. I thought I had been around some serious drinking in my day… but I had never seen a human being give out that many ounces of straight liquor to a stranger… of course I have never been to mardi gras or been hazed in a fraternity.
At this point: we are at 12 shots dispersed unevenly to 3 people.“My utility belt tells me it's to the bar Batman/
Fat cans of that lager then it's straight to the dance-floor/
For much more fancy footwork, it's adored by many amour/
Don't bore me with your little sidestep technique/
Get to the beat, loosen up, it's The Streets”
At the climax of the song he took a sensible step up to 7 shots. Take a moment and visualize 7 shots of brandy going down your throat in one gulp in front of a sold out crowd of 1,200. I would do well to chug 7 shots of beer under that pressure.
The crowd went nuts, including the moron who had ‘4:20’ tattooed on his forearm in front of me whose buddy had his camera-phone out the whole show repeatedly capturing nothing but horrible, blurry images. The crowd went nuts because 7 shots were indeed consumed by the last lucky person and the song ended to much applause.
Thus ending the debauchery. Oh wait- during the encore he gave out 8 more shots to someone. Making a running total of 27 shots to 5 people. That would almost be too much brandy as the song suggests… but you would be wrong. This is too much Brandy:
“In its own little way, my body was trying to say that you better stop drinking brandy”
MP3: the Streets: Too Much Brandy 
The orchestration of bass, drums, keyboard and hype man worked extremely well for a show that I walked into thinking would be a DJ and microphone at best. This attention to artful arrangement just HAD to be noted before this post ends…We are working on improving the website everyday. Bear with us…. Have a good day!