So I knew when it was announced that The Cribs were playing at Cornerhouse in Middlesbrough that it would probably be an awful gig. But that was genuinely the entirity of its appeal. The Cribs are not the world's greatest musicians. And had it not been for Ryan Jarman's appearence on Never Mind The Buzzcocks I'd probably never have bought the album The New Fellas. About 5 of the songs on that album became anthemic. "Catchy!" I used to just shout that as justification whilst bopping away.
Plus, these guys have character. Personality is something quite lacking from a fair few bands and artists. These guys are dirty, Northern, scummy and they fucking love it!
Ridiculously scene and, oh, how I love it!
But their performance was shockingly bad. People went crazy! Crowd surfing, dancing on tables, climbing the speakers. But The Cribs were out of time, out of tune, and a little insulting.
It was mint! Any band that can get away with that sort of performance and still have their fans go mental for them wholly deserve all of my respect. At the time I wanted to buy a t-shirt, so I could point at my chest whilst donning it and say "So bad, its fucking good!"
Oh. However. The Rapture at Empire on Saturday was just flat. I hoped I'd be inspired. Jumping around to House Of Jealous Lovers like someone was trying to stab my ankles? But no. I barely noticed it was them. Ah well. I think when I realised it was them I was more annoyed at the behaviour of the owners of Empire and the club night organisers for putting The Rapture on so early... It felt like it was done with the sole purpose of getting the gig over and done with and getting the club night punters in. Rake in that money!
So ethical.