MUSIC WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT: THE LIBERTINES LAST HURRAH (FOR NOW)
THE LIBERTINES | GUNNERSBURY PARK, LONDON | 9th August 2025 by Tom Jenkinson
For a while it seemed that we were at risk of permanently losing the electric duo of Carl Barat and Pete Doherty: their story from day one was one of drug-fuelled excess and the hangover of 90s hedonism, with the Libertines not just soundtracking the self-destruction of the era but also documenting it. What’s more, their breakthrough paved the way for an entire generation of forgotten “landfill indie” and as such there have always been questions about the longevity of a group who, when they weren’t fighting it out publicly, were privately wrecking their own lives and their health. It made The Libertines the poster boys for mid-2000s indie success, but fans wondered when the music stopped, who would still be standing?
Nearly a quarter of a century later in a dusty park in West London, the band walk on stage, preceded by actor Geoff Bell performing the haunting Siegfried Sassoon poem “Suicide in the Trenches”; a poem about self-destruction, wars personal and public, and the wilful ignorance of those around them. It is both the poem that Barat put to music and used to teach Doherty the guitar in a shabby flat in London, and the bleak story of an innocent boy, told through poetry In many ways it tells the story of The Libertines far more succinctly than any music journalist could.
When the band do walk on stage, their set opens with a barrage of early hits, storming through ‘Up the Bracket’, ‘The Delaney’, ‘What Became of the Likely Lads‘, and ‘Boys in the Band‘. For anyone who spent the last decade busy raising their kids, it seems tonight is a good chance to remember that The Libertines, at their core, are four lads with electric guitars turned up to eleven. This is loud, brash, youthful swagger, even if the “boys” performing it are themselves fathers in their forties.
With some of the early adrenalin now dissipated, the set finds it feet with 2024’s ‘Night of the Hunter‘ showing that Doherty and Barat are still more than capable of putting their heads together and finding storytelling magic. The song showcases Doherty’s signature talent for breathing life into his lyrics, with Barat bringing Mexican stand-off levels of drama as the pair sing in turn, before joining together in unison for the final chorus. The song is a set highlight and demonstrates the band’s finesse both on stage and in the studio still in 2025.
That said, the set suffers an inevitable lull at around the 1-hour mark, with some of the weaker material from their current album bundled together. People start heading for the bar for ‘Mustangs‘, ‘Baron’s Claw‘, and the slightly flat ‘Run Run Run‘ but the crowd make it back in time for ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ and the set’s encore with ‘What a Waster‘, ‘Time for Heroes‘, and ‘Don’t Look Back into the Sun‘.
It is an ending fitting for the start when contrasted against its grisly poem of a soldier’s premature demise in the trenches of warfare. This is a band that have been through the wars and yet despite their demons, remain as good, if not better, than before.
