Never have I witnessed an opening act kill the mood as much as Jeffrey Lewis & The Jitters. No joke. This inept folk-pop group assaulted the audience’s eardrums with their half-baked tunes - occasionally accompanied by cartoon slideshows - masquerading as “cute” and “quirky.”
The dorky singer would ramble on between songs ad nauseum about everything from his favorite ramen, to modern technology, leaving the collective audience wondering if there was a nearby locker they could stuff him in.
Hustling onstage, the Brothers Jarman were a welcome respite from the preceding act. Leeds’ finest The Cribs - that’s right, Kaiser Chiefs - are comprised of twin brothers Ryan (lead guitar/vocals) and Gary (bass/vocals), and younger brother Ross manning the skins.
And the lads didn’t waste any time, bursting into recent power-pop single “Don’t You Want to Be Relevant?,” causing a certified riot upfront.
Many of The Cribs’ lyrics cheekily poke fun at hipster poseurs (unbeknownst to them), which ironically make up the lion’s share of their fan base. So here in Brooklyn, the Mecca of hipsterdom, songs like “Hey Scenesters” and “Mirror Kissers” possess a greater urgency. (Of course the lyrics are cloaked under catchy guitar lines, echoing choruses, and power-pop melodies, making the whole “biting the hand that feeds them” shtick harder to catch.)
Other verbal attacks are packed with decidedly more vitriol, such as “Moving Pictures,” with its anti-Hollywood chorus, “fakes, lairs, and stars of moving pictures / what’s the difference?” followed by their trademark “Ooohs,” and “Our Bovine Public,” about the superficiality of trendsetting.
Well, the modish crowd of dirty pretty things really loved it, lyrics be damned.
Feverish dancing - more like jumping - was the norm by the stage, including an ever-shifting cluster of wild fans that consumed several diminutive concertgoers throughout the night. Translation: a few young girls ate shit. Hard.
The bulk of the set list came from third LP Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever, their most recent (and best) album. However, the omission of several of The Cribs’ best live songs, including fan favorite “You’re Gonna Lose Us,” the acid-tongued “I’m Alright Me,” and standard set-closer “The Wrong Way To Be,” were inexcusable.
Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth joined the Jarman trio onstage to read the lyrics to “Be Safe,” which didn’t quite get the desired reaction. In fact the young crowd, save a few scattered music buffs, were wondering who this old dude was onstage.
The cameo was cool for about a minute but the song, one of the weaker tracks in The Cribs’ canon, drags on for over 6 minutes. A puzzling way to end an otherwise raucous evening, to say the least.
--Marlow Stern [April 4, 2008]
