The Cribs haven't played Australia since 2018, which is long enough for the withdrawal symptoms to properly set in.
The Wakefield trio — brothers Gary, Ryan and Ross Jarman — will bring a four-date national run here in October, their first since that 2018 visit. It doubles as a lap for Selling A Vibe, the ninth album of a career now comfortably past the two-decade mark.
The Cribs made the record after a stretch that had the brothers scattered between New York, Portland and Wakefield through the pandemic, unable to take 2020’s Night Network on the road. Selling A Vibe closes with Brothers Won’t Break, the track that came out of that separation and now anchors the album’s family-first theme.
The Cribs
- 4 October — 170 Russell, Melbourne
- 5 October — Factory Theatre, Sydney
- 6 October — The Triffid, Brisbane
- 8 October — Rosemount, Perth
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
Musically, the band have leaned into cleaner, more contemporary pop production without sanding down the scrappy, hook-first indie rock that built their following in the first place. Recent single A Point Too Hard To Make gives a reasonable indication of where they’ve landed.
Presale kicks off at 9am AEST on 16 July, with sign-ups open now through the tour’s presale page. General tickets follow at 9am AEST on 17 July, and given the size of the rooms on this run — 170 Russell and the Factory Theatre are not exactly stadiums — the presale is worth setting an alarm for.
Setlists will pull from Selling A Vibe alongside the back catalogue, which after nine albums leaves plenty of ground to cover. The Cribs have spent 20-odd years building a live reputation on volume, speed and very little standing around between songs, and there’s no indication that approach is up for review.
Four cities, four nights, one week. The band are only here for the first eight days of October, so the tour is unlikely to sprawl further.
For more information, head here.
