The Cribs at The Pheonix

Friday night, went with Adam to see the Cribs play at The Pheonix. I think I've seen them twice before, and wasn't really impressed either time. This time they kinda blew my socks off... No longer just playing 'noise', they seemed to have honed their live sound a bit, and that may have had something to do with The Pheonix. Or Johnny Marr. Or, just practice and experience.

The highlight of the show for me was "Be Safe", with Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth speaking video behind them...



This was great. Really reminded me of REM's Belong. This is how I've always pictured this song done live, and the chanting draws parallels for me...



Anyway, The Cribs are an English 4-piece indie rock band from Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The band consist of twins Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. Recently they have been joined by ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr who has been made a formal member of the group since 2008. The band, who first became active on the concert circuit in 2002, were initially tied to other like-minded UK bands of that time, most notably The Libertines, by a British music press that were looking for a 'British rearguard' to the wave of popular US indie rock bands of the time. In 2008, Q magazine described the band as "The biggest cult band in the UK" (wikipedia).

They're touring on their newest album, Ignore the Ignorant. Download here.