Live Music Review: The Libertines

You’d be forgiven for being at least a little apprehensive upon hearing that The Libertines were embarking on their first ever arena tour this year. A smaller reunion in 2010 was later admitted by Pete Doherty to have been fuelled purely by the amounts of money on offer and, despite telling the NME that this time was different, it’s hard to see how an even bigger tour in 2016 would have been motivated by anything else. Photos had been circulated online of post-drugs Pete Doherty looking like the bloated corpse of his 2006 self, coupled with stories of his anxiety attacks before cancelled gigs in Manchester and London last year. Add to this the luke-warm reviews of the first stages of this tour, the palpable sense of an audience fearing the worst when, following the supporting performances from Reverend and the Makers and Sleaford Mods, the curtain dropped to reveal an empty stage, the headline act nowhere in sight. 

Whether this was part of the act or not remains to be seen. A modicum of drama, be it genuine or contrived, has shadowed the four-piece since their heyday.  I remember my A-level Media teacher (proving just how long it has been since The Libertines were at their peak) informing me that every story written about Carl Barat and Pete Doherty clashing was clever marketing, manufactured to stir up more publicity in an over-crowded music market no longer guaranteed money from album sales. But with their personal problems seemingly behind them, Pete and Carl emerged on the Motorpoint Arena stage to an impressively sized (at least in terms of standing tickets – there were more empty seats than full), remarkably enthusiastic – and expectant - crowd.

Launching into a set that carefully peppered well-received tracks Gunga Din, You’re My Waterloo and Heart of the Matter from their 2015 comeback album Anthems for Doomed Youth, it was clear to see why the audience had as many teenagers seeing the band for the first time as it did us older folk seeing if they still had it in them. Their opening was beautifully shambolic, exploding into new song Barbarians which then led straight into classic Delaney, with Doherty – admittedly looking a little Lena Dunhamish – on fine form.  Playing their way through classic tracks from their first two albums as well as the newer tracks, the phenomenal audience reaction alone showed that they’d struck the perfect balance.



Even at their peak, many people hated The Libertines for their un-ironic embracing of the British lore of Kipling, Empire, the Union Jack and gin in tea cups. But for every naysayer, there were two to whom Up The Bracket and The Libertines were seminal albums of their youth, with any student at a university between 2004-2008 unable to pass two dorm rooms without seeing a band poster blue-tacked to a wall. And we all took at least a passing voyeuristic interest in their reported personal problems. 

But there are few that wouldn’t have been excited by the performance in Nottingham. Far more than just a self-indulgent trip down memory lane, the old enthusiasm and dynamism was clearly there, and as much as it may reek of trying to recapture the old magic, the sight of Barat and Doherty, noses pressed together as they sing into the same microphone, still provides some exhilaration.  

Opening act Reverend and the Makers delivered on their promise to give the audience “banger after banger,” with lead-man John McClure, decked in his best knitted jumper and Paddington Bear coat doing what a good opening act should do: warming the crowd up for the main event.  Ending on the euphoric Silence is Talking, which samples Low Rider by War, they were followed by Nottingham-duo Sleaford Mods. Through no fault of their own, it’s probably fair to say it wasn’t quite the right crowd for their style of performance. They were musically faultless, but there was a tangible sense of disconnect with the audience from the moment they were on stage, signified by the three teenage girls on the front row pointing their downward thumbs in their direction like spoilt Roman emperors, with the loudest cheer coming when Pete Doherty appeared at the side of the stage mid-performance. 

But it was doubtlessly The Libertines’ night.  Whereas the audience reaction to the classics may have been expected, the equal enthusiasm shown for the newer songs suggests that the band have got more to their future than simply evolving into their own tribute act, relying on the dwindling enthusiasm of an ever-aging audience desperate to hear their hits. As their encore (somewhat predictably) concluded with Don’t Look Back Into the Sun, you couldn’t help but feel that they still have something to offer the music industry.  

The Libertines played at Motorpoint Arena on Monday 25 January 2016. 

The Libertines official website