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Every generation has the guitar band that unites them. For those that came of age in the early 2000’s, they had two, the lucky buggers. The Strokes kicked it all off at the turn of the century, and almost directly following in their footsteps were London’s very own The Libertines. A band that basically took the no-nonsense, year zero attitude of the New York City natives and gave it a twist of English romanticism and Dickensian decay. The influence of The Libertines spreads further than practically any of us can comprehend, least of all the band themselves, and it all began with the meeting of the bands frontmen, Pete Doherty and Carl Barât.
Barât was studying for a drama degree at Brunel University, where he was a classmate of one Amy-Jo Doherty. The two became friends and on one fateful occasion that Barât came to Amy-Jo’s flat to visit, Amy-Jo’s little brother, Peter, had come to visit at the same time. The two struck up a friendship based on their shared passion for songwriting, literature and poetry, and soon after they met they both dropped out of their university courses. The duo had become very close very quickly, and they decided to move in together, renting a flat on Camden Road that eventually became known as The Delaney Mansions.
The first line up of The Libertines would be the two of them and their neighbour Steve Bedlow (a man who would later pick up the nickname Scarborough Steve), but later picked up John Hassall to play rhythm guitar and some no-hoper called Johnny Borrell to play bass. The first incarnation of the band were soon playing live anywhere that would have them. In March 2000, they met with Banny Poostchi, a lawyer with Warner Chappell Music Publishing who saw the masses of potential that most people missed in the band, and began to manage them.
Unfortunately, by December of the same year it looked as if the band were going nowhere fast, so Hassall, Pootschi and their drummer John Dufour left the fold, leaving Pete and Carl alone. Fate was on their side though. With the massive hype around The Strokes quickly becoming the music story of the year, Pootschi reconsidered and put a plan in effect to get the band signed to Rough Trade Records in six months flat. She replaced Dufour with Gary Powell, and after it was became clear that Borrell couldn’t be counted on to turn up to rehearsals, John Hassall was convinced back into the fold to play bass instead.
During this time, Pete and Carl were writing feverishly, with the songs that would eventually make up their debut album mainly being written around this time. Pootschi’s plan worked and the band were signed to Rough Trade on December 21st 2001, ringing in the new year playing support slots with the aforementioned Strokes and Australia’s The Vines. The band started to pick up admirers in the music press, especially in the NME, and shortly after the release of their debut single “Up The Bracket”, it was time to record the album. With The Clash’s Mick Jones on production duties, “Up The Bracket” was immediately hailed as a classic by pretty much everyone who heard it, and support slots with the likes of Morrissey and the Sex Pistols soon followed.
By 2003, the band were becoming infamous, known as much for Pete Doherty’s worsening drug addiction and erratic nature than for their actual music. The story of the band becomes a horror show at this point, with Pete and Carl’s relationship being tested to its limits while Doherty refused to stop associating with deeply shady characters and enablers who wanted a slice of the fame and notoriety that followed him around wherever he went. By the time their second album was released, seeing the band live was something of a gamble, as it was just as, if not more likely that the band would play without Doherty than with him. The tabloids had gotten hold of the band at this point, and “Potty Pete” became something of a fixture with them that would continue until way after the decade’s end.
The band were still undeniably special, their UK tours at the end of 2003 and the start of 2004 were heralded as some of the best gigs of the year, and their second, self-titled album was another instant classic. They were finally starting to see some commercial success as well, with their second effort’s lead single “Can’t Stand Me Now” hurtling into the number two spot on the singles charts and its follow up, the prophetically named “What Became Of The Likely Lads” peaking at number nine. By this point however, the band was as good as dead. Doherty was in and out of rehab, missing gigs, promotional duties and recording sessions. Barat couldn’t in good conscience keep going as The Libertines without him, and called time on the band in 2004.
A Libertines reunion was treated as an impossibility for the rest of the decade, until in 2010 when the band were revealed as the sub-headliners of that years Reading And Leeds Festivals. The celebrated show was thought to be a one off until 2014, when the band again announced they were getting back together to headline Hyde Park. This wasn’t to be a one off, and after playing three sold out nights at Alexandra Palace in the following September, the band announced that they’d signed a record deal with Virgin/EMI Records. The band are unquestionably back, and with one of the best British bands of their generation making music again, what comes next is an impossibly exciting prospect. Highly recommended.
I went to see the Libertines play a headline slot at Hyde Park this July despite lots of doubt as to if they could pull off their biggest show ever. They have an uneasy start with ‘Vertigo’ and things didn’t go that much better when they went into ‘Boys in The Band’. They had to stop and start the song due to crowd troubles and from where I was, in between the gaps all I could hear was the chant ‘Jump the fence’. A random bloke managed to jump the barriers to get to the priority area closer to the band. More and more blokes were trying this and managed to avoid security, soon it started to empty out so we just went for it and got over for the ending of boys in the band which is when the concert started to go uphill. With an ever so slightly better view, I got to witness The Libertines perform with their Sex Pistols-esque approach to music. After a short run together and only 2 full albums who would have thought that The Libertines would get over 60,000 people singing back every word of ‘Music when the lights go out’ just as the sun set over Hyde Park. You know you can always expect to have a good time filled with chaos and drama at a Libertines gig. Towards the end, Pete and Carl had to stop half way through a stripped down version of ‘France’ as some fans had decided to climb onto the delay tower. As the show came to a close, Pete and Carl recited Siegfried Sassoon's 1918 poem, Suicide In The Trenches. Then the four band members gathered in a line to salute their fans, Doherty began the hokey cokey while Powell told them: "You are all amazing and you are all Libertines." Only all of this could happen at The Libertines gig.
2013- The year of pop band reunions. ITV’s reality show “The Big Reunion” brought out nostalgia in full force and saw bands such as: Liberty X, 911, Atomic Kitten, Honeyz, B*Witched and Blue reform after long hiatuses. After many years of ‘normalcy’- moving to Australia, raising families and owning a farm, when the opportunity arose to take part in the series the lads from 5ive (Five) took it with both hands. The band returned minus one member, J- leaving them in a bit of a quandary. What do you do when the band name is reliant on how many members are in the band? Change the name to Four or perhaps recruit a replacement and change existing dynamics? Keeping the name and remaining as a four piece: Scott, Abz, Rich and Sean would share J’s vocal duties among them.
Marketed as the male equivalent of the Spice Girls, it’s no surprise that they possessed a great female appeal creating the kind of hysteria that wherever they went, screams could be heard within a ten mile radius. With plenty of songs in their repertoire, you’re never short of hearing your favourite hits such as “When The Lights Go Out”, “Keep On Moving” and “Everybody Get Up”. With an abundance of energy, Five certainly know how to work the audience with their tight dance routines and infectious energy as they interact with the audience. Taking a trip down memory lane, the crowd jump to their feet, waving arms from side to side and mirroring dance routines of “If You Got The Feeling”, “Slam Dunk Da Funk” and “If Ya Getting Down”. With their infectious pop sensibilities, there’s no doubt that Five will definitely make you get down.