The Cribs Stumble at Brixton Academy Hurdle

Posted on Dec 6th 2009 9:58AM by Matt Glazebrook
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The Cribs have come a long way since their days of playing the Brixton Windmill, as bassist Gary Jarman noted from the stage. These days the Wakefield lads can pack out the 5,000-capacity Brixton Academy, belting out spiky toilet-venue anthems like 'Hey Scenesters!' to the tour t-shirt-and-branded-plastic-pint-pot crowd. It's a transition that still feels like a work in progress.

With their chaotic, familial physicality and race-you-to-the-finish approach to song structure, the brothers Jarman were a preternaturally perfect fit for the sweaty indie dive. Spread out over the Academy's more expansive performance space they lose some of their anarchic rapport, more three dudes in a band than the three-headed indie rock monster of years past. New addition Johnny Marr, stage left and suavely detached, added an extra dash of incongruity, like a continental midfield maestro turning out for a team of plucky third division kick-and-rushers.

The crowd, too, seemed a little unsure about the Cribs' continuing evolution. Older tunes like 'Moving Pictures' and 'I'm a Realist,' even an obscurity like debut album track 'Direction,' received a noticeably warmer response than the more pedestrian 'Ignore the Ignorant' cuts.

Big statements fell a little flat -- Lee Ranaldo's giant video screen apparition only added clutter to the already sprawling 'Be Safe,' a couple of guitar noodle codas would have been better as crash-bang-wallop climaxes. When they kept it small, by contrast -- shout-a-along opener 'Wrong Way to Be,' the pure punk ranting of 'Our Bovine Public,' the heroically minimalist 'Another Number' -- the Cribs soared.