There’s no surprise that there have been so many claims of The Cribs to be the best live band you can see at the moment. They probably are. Who cares about the fact they don’t have Johnny Marr as a secondary member anymore? Because if you do, you’re not listening properly. This year’s release of ‘In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull’ has seen every deserved success, making it arguably one of 2012’s best.

It’s full. Sweaty air and the ever echoing lingers of a crowd’s take on the familiar riffs of ‘Another Number’. The Cribs are what we’re waiting for.

They burst on stage to a non-surprising roar from the crowd as they break into chorus of ‘God Gave Rock & Roll To You’, though heartfelt ‘what a tune!’ cries from the numerous lads and dads soon turn into a frenzy of mosh-pits; physical accompaniment and almost routine to the punk eruption of set opener ‘Come On, Be A No-One’. This is what we came to see. I may be unable to move and unable to see but receiving otherwise would be a let-down.

The Cribs are a band with a plethora of crowd-pleasers, in fact every song from ‘We Share The Same Skies’ to ‘To Jackson’ does exactly that. Despite timing and tonal issues during ‘Our Bovine Public’, we look past it. They’re not a band of vocal brilliance, but its their unpolished punk aggression that makes them one of the best bands around. The Jarman brothers never fail to play those kind of sets that you don’t want to end. The usual ‘anything over an hour and you’re pushing it’ ethos goes out of the window. Time flies by and before you know it you hold no shame in joining in with the laddish chants of the crowd and before you know it, you hear the end-signalling crashes of ‘City of Bugs’. Repeated childhood; no one wants to go home.

To read an interview we did with the band at this year’s Leeds festival, click HERE.

 

9/10

Words: Charlotte Stones

Photo: O2 Academy Newcastle