The Cribs and Johnny Marr open Shockwaves NME Big Gig

The Cribs and Johnny Marr kicked off the Shockwaves NME Big Gig tonight (February 28) at London's O2 Arena at 7pm GMT.

A large crowd had already amassed in the venue to see the band, who had just missed out on the Best Live Band award at the Shockwaves NME Awards at the IndigO2 venue next door.

"Hello London, it's a pleasure to be here," said frontman Ryan Jarman, before leading his band through the set.

"This is one billion's worth of venue, but the sound's rubbish," Jarman joked after the band played 'Men's Needs'.

As the band played 'Be Safe', a video recording of Sonic Youth's Lee Ranaldo's spoken-word accompaniment played behind them.

"Thank you very much," the singer said, before playing 'I'm A Realist'. "We're with Johnny Marr played:

'Don't You Wanna Be Relevant?'
'Our Bovine Public'
'Moving Pictures'
'Men's Needs'
'Hey Scenesters!'
'Be Safe'
'I'm A Realist'


For all the awards coverage head to NME.COM/awards now. We have exclusive picture galleries, live webcams, minute-by-minute blogs straight from the ceremony and Big Gig and video interviews with the biggest names at the ceremony.

That's just the beginning - the ceremony is being broadcast on E4 at 11pm (GMT) tonight (February 28), with highlights following tomorrow (29) on Channel 4 from 11.50pm.

Meanwhile, next week's issue of NME - on UK newsstands from March 5 - will contain the ultimate coverage, interviews and photos from the 2008 Shockwaves NME Awards.