You don’t have to have been to a Gallagher family Christmas to know that brothers don’t always get along. However, this evening’s headliners, The Cribs, have managed to stick it out for a decade with three siblings in the band: twins Ryan and Gary Jarman and their younger brother Ross. In addition, frontman Ryan has survived a punctured kidney after an onstage accident, a relationship with Kate Nash and a poor attempt at having his ear pierced by one-time Cribs band member Johnny Marr. He might have the haircut of an Arthurian minstrel, but he’s rock ’n’ roll through to his sewn-up organs.
In support are Leeds’s China Rats – an up-and-coming four-piece proving that Northern charm, boyish good looks and rock ’n’ roll riffs can work just as well for asian rodents as for arctic monkeys.