Cribs - Cribs, Water Rats, London, 2007

  by Gillian Fish

published: 25 / 5 / 2013

intro

In our 'Gig of a Lifetime' column Gillian Fish writes of attending a secret late night Cribs gig at the tiny Water Rats theatre in London

2007 was a year I will always remember as one that delivered some of my most cherished memories in terms of gigs, and many bands I discovered then are still amongst my favourites today. At midnight, on a Saturday night in March, the three Jarman brothers better known as the Cribs played a secret show in the tiny back room of the Water Rats theatre near Kings Cross. Earlier on in the night the Cribs’ friends and fellow Yorkshire men Kaiser Chiefs had played a show at Shepherds Bush Empire, so many of the people who had been at the Empire piled onto the Hammersmith and City line and trekked from West to North London for the Cribs’ show. I remember the journey itself being a memorable part of the evening too - it was back in the day before drinking on the tube had been banned – and being a Saturday night everyone was in high spirits as they left one gig for the other. The Water Rats sort of felt like an after show party for the Kaiser Chiefs gig, with some of the band along with some other familiar indie band faces also making their way to the Water Rats, including Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos who had produced the Cribs third album. From the moment the band came on stage it was absolute chaos (as most Cribs gigs usually are), and there was very little chance of holding onto your drink. ‘Hey Scenesters’ was the second song of the set; the rest is now a hazy memory. The Cribs played favourites from their first two records but the gig was also an opportunity for the band to play tracks from the third album ‘Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever’, which was released two months later in May of that year. As the night descended into utter carnage (in a good way), there was a stage invasion,. In fact I remember looking up at one point to see my friend singing into Ryan Jarman’s microphone alongside him, the front man’s t-shirt half ripped off. Luckily there are some great photographs that were taken on the night. For the final song ‘The Wrong Way to Be’ about a dozen other people ended up on the stage (including myself) as instruments came crashing down. There is something quite special when friendships are formed purely because of the love of a band, and many of the people at the gig that night remain some of my best friends. As we all left The Water Rats drenched in sweat and beer (quite possibly blood too), I knew it had been something special and, although Cribs gigs never disappoint, this one remains firmly on top of my list.

Band Links:-