The Cribs’ Ryan Jarman welcomed a sold-out crowd to the Mercury Lounge last night (May 2) with middle fingers up and U.K. ‘tude flaring. After flashing the double bird, Ryan joined his bandmates and brothers Gary and Ross in provoking a particularly rowdy crowd last night into jumping, bumping, and clapping along to cuts from the band’s last album, The New Fellas, like “Mirror Kissers,” “You’re Gonna Lose Us,” and “Martell.” Newbies “Men’s Needs” and “Girls Like Mystery,” off the forthcoming Men’s Needs, Women’s Needs, Whatever, made the kids happy, but it was set-enders “Hey Scenesters!” and “The Wrong Way to Be” that had a stuffed NYC crowd chanting at the top of their lungs. The Cribs’ producer, Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, kept a watchful eye over his protégés, though he went incognito enough so as not to distract from the main event. (Watch our in-studio video interview with the Cribs and Kapranos)
Boisterous NYC rockers White Rabbits and Brooklyn’s the Jealous Girlfriends, featuring the haunting voice of Holly Miranda, rounded out the bill, and both attracted a fair share of fans. Particularly of note: the one girl who danced so hard (drunkenly, we might add) to White Rabbits that she plotzed on the venue’s floor before being carried off by a friend. By the end of the night, though, Ryan Jarman was shaking his tush to the delight of sweaty scenesters and not-so-sweaty girls up front, who only screamed louder when he thanked them with a “Cheers,” and flipped ’em off one last time. ROBIN MONHEIT / PHOTOS BY MARY-LOUISE PRICE
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