Last time I saw The Cribs it was in a dank, tiny back room at a bar in Philadelphia in March of 2008.
This time, thankfully, it was a lot closer to home, in the comforting arms of my favorite venue, Bowery Ballroom in lower Manhattan. Since Philadelphia, a lot has changed for The Cribs, namely the permanent addition of Johnny Marr, former Smiths man. What hasn’t changed though is The Cribs still put on an amazing live performance. Oh, and Ryan Jarman’s shirt (March 2008, November 2009).
Detroit’s The Von Bondies opened the show. I hadn’t seen them live in nearly six years. The last time was even before lead singer Jason Stollsteimer’s face met Jack White’s fist, repeatedly. Since then, Marcie Bolen and Carrie Ann Smith have left the band. New members Leann Banks and Christy Hunt have taken over bass and guitar duties. It’s been a while, but I don’t remember them being this good!
They’ve always played quick, powerful garage rock but were never this tight as a unit. While they played a few songs from Love, Hate And Then There's You, released earlier this year, most of the set borrowed heavily from their first two albums. The crowd reacted best to old hits “It Came from Japan” and “Nite Train,” and crowd requests for “C'mon C'mon” were requited in the closer.
After a bit of a wait, The Cribs finally took the stage and quickly tore into “We Were Aborted” from new album Ignore The Ignorant. There’s never been a defined front man in The Cribs due to twins Gary and Ryan sharing both vocals and the spotlight. But with the added fourth member, Ryan, now physically front and center, played front man convincingly well at least for tonight. He introduced the band, “We’re The Cribs from Wakefield and Portland,” and chatted up the crowd about how crowd surfing had gone out of fashion in New York in between blinding renditions of “Hey Scenesters” and “I’m a Realist.”
Gary, less chatty, sported what appeared to be a bandaged wrist. In the grand scheme of Cribs ailments (punctured kidneys, blood poisoning, drumming with broken wrists) it seemed to be on the less serious end, but Gary added to concern when he apologized for his voice stating, “My wife thinks I have pneumonia.”
If there was any weakness to his voice, neither I, nor the crowd, seemed to notice. We were all too busy going mental! A swirling pit of boys, girls and sheer joy formed near the front, with Adam Green half perched upon and half slumped over Gary’s monitor.
Their sound is now more robust and mature thanks to Marr’s guitar expertise. He fits in so well, he might as well be a Jarman himself. It’s almost hard to remember what it was like without him, yet several times I caught myself staring at him in surreal bliss. It’s THE Johnny Marr, mere feet away.
The multimedia highlight of the night was a video projection, behind drummer Ross, of Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo performing his spoken word bit of “Be Safe” as the band played and sang their parts.
Then in a flash it was over. The boys rounded out the hour-long frenetic set with my favorite, “Men’s Needs” and new song “City of Bugs.” We were thrust back into the November cold onto gray, windy Delancey Street. I, without most of my hearing and voice and with more beer in my hair than in me, was firmly convinced it was the best night of my life.
Like Ryan said, “It’s nice to be back in New York . We haven’t been here for two years … or eighteen months. It’s ok, because we’re here now.” Oh, yes it is!