I'm still astounded that I managed to get tickets to see The Cribs play the absolutely tiny venue - The Oobleck, last week! The band actually commented that this was the smallest venue they'd ever played in Birmingham. It was just so perfect. Everyone lucky enough to get tickets to see them on this small venue tour knows how I feel.

Menace Beach were the only support act. After seeing them support Pulled Apart By Horses here last year, I wasn't that impressed so I was interested to see what they'd be like now after a few months. They were actually much better! They had much more energy and confidence! I'm not sure if it was because of the slightly smaller crowd or the fact that they've now recently released their debut album, but they smashed it. They did so well in fact that it made me want to get my hands on the record, as I was pretty unsure before. They did a good job and who knows, they might actually end up being a bit of a big deal.

Then, the moment everybody was gagging for - The Cribs. Even before Menace Beach stepped on you could feel the crowd steeling themselves for what was to come. The Jarman's entered to screams, cheers and chants of the riff from "Another Number". It felt like a homecoming - the crowd was in it with them from beginning to end and the band didn't let us down. Opening up with "Mirror Kissers", the crowdsurfers were quick off the bat. You could tell that everyone was there to have a good time, band included as they sang through their setlist smiling from ear to ear. Even six albums on in their career, it can be shows like this that are most poignant in memory. They played through old classics like "Our Bovine Public", "Hey Scenesters!" and of course "Men's Needs". The last of these in particular went off! The crowd singing all the lyrics, backing vocals and riffs - it was a surreal moment. As well as classics, it was nice to hear that their new songs like "Burning For No-One" and "Pink Snow" sounded just as musically epic as their older material. Of course the price you pay for playing a small venue gig is the heat levels. Everything was drenched in sweat... even the walls. However, everyone was too merry to care. Killer set and stellar band.

Overall rating - 8.5/10


Here are some pictures from the night...

I've only recently gotten into Pulled Apart By Horses this year but I was lucky enough to catch them late last month on tour.

The first band opening up for them was Birmingham locals - Them Wolves. My first impression of them was that they were sloppy, loud and out of control. At first I was not into it at all but when I finally got a hold of myself I realised that they were just real, old school punk rock. Fast paced, noisy and out of control! I feel like these days we are far too focused on music sounding perfect and every note being "the right fit" or "in tune", that we forget that music is just supposed to evoke a reaction in us - physical or emotional. As pretty or as "pitch perfect" as songs might sound these days, they can't always make us something. Sound levels could have been a lot better but overall these guys played a solid set. The lead singer is kind of what I would imagine Yannis Philippakis to sound like if he picked up a bass and started a punk rock band.

Up next was Menace Beach (what a name!). Their set wasn't quite as awesome as their name. To be honest they didn't really do much to keep me interested or surprise me. They were just, fine... Maybe even verging on vanilla. There was nothing really bad about the set but then nothing spectacular either. I don't think I'd pay money to see them headline any time soon but I did however quite like their songs "Fortune Teller" and "Drop Outs".

And finally, Pulled Apart By Horses. They opened up with my current favourite of theirs "Hot Squash" and the left half of the crowd immediately lost it. Something just seemed to come over that part of the crowd and it didn't quite reach the right side. PABH were electric though. Great energy from the get go. Their bassist too though - amazing!! As the show went on energy levels didn't dip, left side stayed crazy, right stayed mellow. It was one of the strangest crowd set ups I'd ever been in but it felt alright. However, because of this split, Tom mostly paid attention to the buzzing crowd members on the left and I don't think he even walked over to the right side of the room during the set. The set list was awesome though. They played pretty much every big tune from recent album Blood and also hits from their older two albums Pulled Apart By Horses and Tough Love. These guys played the set like if they weren't doing music they couldn't be doing anything else. Even in that tiny venue you could tell how much these live shows meant to them, and that's what made the vibe of the night so great.

Overall Rating - 7/10


Here are some pictures from the night...