Gig etiquette

I saw The Cribs at the Forum in Kentish Town last night. The last gig I'd been to was Noah and The Whale a couple of weeks previously, where from our position at the back we actually couldn't hear some of the quieter moments because so many people were bloody well talking. Why pay to see a gig if you're going to natter with your mates the whole time? And even if it's on a freebie, don't bloody go if you're not that into the band.

Anyway, as you might expect last night was the polar opposite. The Cribs are a band you really have to jump around to, and despite my advancing years I assumed a position near the front and braved the headbanging hordes. Is headbanging the right term? I was going to use the term "mosh pit", but it somehow sounds a bit old-fashioned. Surely da kidz must have invented a new phrase by now...

Speaking of kids, and taking nothing away from the Jarmans/Marr performance, by far the best moment of the night was the sight of an achingly well-dressed hipster boy (you know, thick NHS glasses, tight jumper over shirt, skinny tie, skinny jeans and infinitely smug expression) trying and failing to protect himself from the moshers. The poor lamb was visibly upset and lashing out wildly on all sides to try and protect his place, and a particularly bouncy leather-jacketed guy exhorted him to chill the fuck out. Seriously, it's a Cribs gig - if you don't want to get battered, move back a few rows for goodness sake. It's really not that difficult.

I don't think I'm the only one to find the new album disappointing, incidentally - tracks from Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever elicited by far the best reactions of the night. After a rousing Men's Needs, Ryan Jarman introduced the set-closing City of Bugs as a song "we wrote with Johnny" that was "twenty times better" than the one they'd just played. Sadly, I remain unconvinced.