Despite it being a 10th anniversary tour of ‘Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever’ it was a night of firsts at the Leeds First Direct arena this past Saturday. It was the first time that The Cribs had headlined an arena; it was the first time in the UK that Lee Ranaldo graced the stage for a live rendition of ‘Be Safe’ and it was the first time in the history of the Leeds First Direct Arena that the headline band arrived in a van to the show. A merit that The Jarman’s were honoured to live up to.
Pulled Apart By Horses and Slaves did exactly what any support act should do, and that was get the hometown crowd well and truly warmed up and fully loaded for the headline act. Seeing a crowd act the way they did for the support band, just goes to show that they are capable of headlining arenas in the very near future and it surely won’t be too long before we see the latter in much bigger surroundings.
The Cribs started their set by playing the entirety of ‘Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever’; the teenage angst of the band reflected at that specific point of song writing was ever present throughout the blistering performance of this incredible album. The album was followed by fan favourites and rarities such as ‘Mirror Kisses’ and ‘Don’t You Wanna Be Relevant?’. These tracks proved to be as relevant as ever, the crowd knew every word singing even the B-sides back to the 3-piece.
Whilst performing the final song ‘Pink Snow’, the arena was covered in confetti, and was a truly spectacular way to end their biggest show to date. It had been just under a year since their hometown gig at Millennium Square in Leeds; but Gary Jarman stated that playing the arena was ‘sort of better’, and I can’t help but agree. It’s hard to see where they can go from here however if this is to be the pinnacle of their career then it’s a very fitting peak of an illustrious period at the top.
Words by Charlie Eastap