The Libertines
3Olympia Dublin
★★★★☆
There was a time when The Libertines were famous for many things – music being only one of them.
The inelegantly wasted wan-faced Pete Doherty was a fixture in the British tabloids in the early noughties. His relationship with supermodel Kate Moss, his excesses and his love/hate relationship with friend and founder member Carl Barât overshadowed everything else.
Not many people come back from a prison sentence for robbing a band member’s apartment, but Barât, the victim, and Doherty, the perpetrator, have a friendship and partnership that transcends Doherty’s innumerable transgressions.
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Now Doherty is, to quote another rock’n’roll survivor Keith Richards, “happy to be here, happy to be anywhere”. He has been clean for five years and those who turned up for the band’s sold-out show at the 3Olympia in Dublin on Monday were there for the music not the soap opera.
It was a crowd that was young when The Libertines were young, most in their late 30s and early 40s. Dublin’s babysitters were probably busy.
Doherty is dressed in a three-quarter length overcoat and a trilby hat like a bookie at a Christmas meeting in Leopardstown. Barât is a vision of agelessness. Not many 40-something males can pull off a Peaky Blinders cap and a sleeveless t-shirt.
Four albums in 25 years on and off together is a meagre output, but it is quantity over quality for The Libertines. Their latest album All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade has delighted their fan base with a suite of songs at least the equal of what went before.
Run, Run, Run from the new album is a joyous opener and a signal the band are here to promote the new record not trade on nostalgia. Given the chaos surrounding their earliest incarnation, this is understandable.
A highlight from the new album is the shimmering, contemplative Night of the Hunter and Barât repaired to the piano to allow Irish singer-songwriter Lisa O’Neill to accompany Doherty on vocals.
To see The Libertines live is to witness the interplay between Doherty and Barât. Their voices are similar and so are their harmonies. Their guitar parts are perfectly delineated. There’s nothing very complex about Barât’s lead work, but it complements the songs perfectly.
Up the Bracket, Music When the Lights Go Out and What Katie Did, all from their heyday, are perfect singalongs for a Monday night.
By the time the encore rolls around Doherty has changed into a rather snugly fitting Guinness tracksuit top, but it’s Barât who is drinking the Guinness on stage. Time for Heroes and the final song Don’t Look Back Into the Sun are perfect closers.
“What became of the likely lads, what became of the dreams we had?” The Libertines once asked themselves and still do. They’re still around, thriving and surviving.
