Wakefield siblings The Cribs graced Leeds with their presence for the second time this year at the weekend as headliners for Live at Leeds Festival, which saw around 200 musicians play in various venues around the city centre. Their headline slot took place in the hauntingly beautiful Leeds Town Hall, with only the Palma Violets and Dutch Uncles playing on the same stage before them.
The trios set was a fantastic mixture of tracks from their career spanning discography, inclusive of the track ‘The Watch’ from their first album which they dedicated to their “old fans”, as well as tracks from their latest album ‘For All My Sisters’. Fans queued in the rain outside hoping for just a glimpse of the biggest set of the day, and the Cribs didn’t disappoint those fortunate to be present, as they were at their absolute best. Big tracks such as ‘Another Number’, ‘Men’s Needs’ and ‘Hey Scenesters!’ went down a treat with the excitable and rowdy crowd who didn’t seem to be affected by the poor sound; my only criticism of the gig is that the sound didn’t seem to carry very well (perhaps due to the size of the hall?!)
An interesting addition to the night was bassist Gary telling the crowd how it’d been a whopping 10 years since they last played at the Town Hall, before performing the opening gambit of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ as a tribute to classic rock band Queen, who had also played the venue back in their glory days.
Tracks from the new album sounded as if they’d been part of the bands set for years, with ‘An Ivory Hand’ being the first new addition of the night just a couple of songs in. The single ‘Burning for no-one’ sounded fantastic, just like the music video that accompanies it (watch it right now if you haven’t already, it’s posted below!) The band closed their set with a phenomenal performance of the 7 minute long track ‘Pink Snow’ which was extremely fitting as it also closes the new album. Before leaving the stage Ryan repeatedly threw his guitar across the stage ending a spectacular show in true rock star style.
