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Live Music: The Cribs

Cult masters lay down marker for coming decade

The Cribs

O2 Academy, Leeds

5 Stars

This "old skool" night sees The Cribs play material only from 2005 and before.

"That must've been when we sold out," jokes guitarist Ryan Jarman, a nod to authenticity that's also present in their choice of Edwyn Collins's The Campaign For Real Rock as their intro.

A follow-on from 2007's inaugural festive gig at Leeds' Brudenell Social Club, the show symbolically closes a chapter in the Wakefield trio's career following the release of their retrospective Payola earlier this year.

After a decade in the industry there's a sense of them taking stock, thanking local labels such as Squirrel Records for their early support and reminiscing about seeing Marilyn Manson at the Academy, with Ryan breaking into a snippet of Beautiful People before playing To Jackson.

As part of this reflective process they've also persuaded local outfit Black Wire to reform for a one-off gig.

The punk-pop quartet rip through tracks such as Smoke And Mirrors and Attack! Attack! Attack! with such energetic ferocity that they could easily have upstaged the headliners.

The dedication afforded the self-proclaimed "world's premier mid-fi band," however, ensures that the brothers' outsider anthems remain the main draw.

The 21-song set, which opens with Hey Scenesters!, sees lyrics bellowed out as audience members tumble over the stage barrier and Ross excitedly stands on his chair to play drums.

Raw and visceral - especially on the likes of Don't You Wanna Be Relevant?, Baby Don't Sweat and the rarely played The Watch Trick - they continue to be the missing link between Sonic Youth and one-time peers The Libertines.

There's also some sense of their influence on today's music scene, with their cover of Comet Gain's Saturday Night Facts Of Life sounding like a precursor for The Vaccines.

The set ends with an epic version of The Wrong Way To Be, during which Gary shakes feedback from his bass while Ryan makes his guitar painfully shriek between handclap breakdowns.

It's an energy, combined with a refreshing willingness to reflect on their history, that should serve the Cribs well for the next decade of being the country's biggest cult band.

Susan Darlington

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