The Cribs, HMV Forum 16/10/09
Last night Wakefield’s finest export, The Cribs, finished off their current UK tour to a feverishly packed London crowd. If anyone has ever accused London crowds of being stagnant and po faced, then they’ve clearly never been to a Cribs gig. The band was greeted with an emphatic welcome and tore through a set that contained tracks from recent album ‘Ignore the Ignorant’ as well as a healthy selection of tracks from their back catalogue.
While much has been written about the bands recent line up addition, Johnny Marr now seems like he’s always been part of the furniture. The unassuming former Smiths guitarist seems more than happy to be part of the band, rather than searching for the limelight – and most importantly never once seeming likely to break into a rendition of ‘This Charming Man’.
As always with this band, tonight’s gig was a fine example of how a raucous rock show should be conducted; with minimal gaps between songs the band treated the Kentish Town crowd to a frenzied performance. The Cribs have previously been described as Britain’s biggest cult band and from the reaction they get tonight it’s a fair title. Each track is bellowed back at the band from the eager followers. While other acts like Kings Of Leon may suffer from “fans” lack of back catalogue knowledge, The Cribs suffer no such problem from tonight’s audience. Songs like ‘Another Number’, taken from their eponymous debut, were greeted with as much enthusiasm as recent single ‘We Were Aborted’.
After wrapping up this tour the band now head out for dates in Japan, USA and Europe before heading back to the UK in December. For information on the dates go to their MySpace.
