The Libertines, a band which trail blazed through a trajectory upon which they become one of London's most iconic bands and music heroes to a generation. It was rise and fall which, in its first seven years, packed in two albums, lauded critical and controversial successes, a dedicated cult following, internal conflicts, drug addictions, a burglary, imprisonment and an emotional reunion before disbanding again in 2004 due to internal scraps and Doherty's much paparazzi'd wired-eyed addictions. Rather prophetic when you consider Barât famously told Doherty "It's either to the top of the world, or the bottom of a canal." That's a definite hot air balloon ridden journey to the top, with a pile of bricks chucked in as a gravity defining afterthought.
Fast track through the pair's own separate band projects, Doherty's rehab stints and a littering of reunion festival gigs in 2010, and you have the notoriously affectionately tactile live performers on the day of a very special Balearic gig. Wednesday night has the cult quartet booked in to headline the Ibiza Rocks hotly anticipated 10th Birthday bash.
It's a biggie for both band and brand, as the former gets ready to deliver its first album in over a decade, and the latter celebrates redefining the White Isle's music landscape since it first broke the mould ten years ago.
Here are our top reasons for diving in for this decade dipped doubler with a band who put the chaos back into rock pop culture.
Anthems For Doomed Youth
No fears, this isn't a hinted message announcing that a generation soon to be lost in a catastrophic dive into permanent wreck-dom, will be at least sent off with a soundtrack to mark their digression. It's the title of The Libertines third studio album which was recorded thousands of miles away over an old snake-pit in the exotic climates of Thailand over a five week period during Doherty's most recent rehab stint. It arrives in September after a ten year hiatus with a proclaimed tracklist of new material which brings them into a new age of creativity.
Live music wise, for Ibiza Rock's 10th Birthday bash, there isn't anything much more exciting than knowing you're set to see your music heroes crashing in with a shelf of new material built on the foundations of a rich back catalogue featuring Horrowshow and You're My Waterloo – of which both the old and the new will be delved into.
Frontman romancing
You can't mention The Libertines without making a stop at their sensational sharing of the mic. It was a part of their live stage performances which gained notoriety with their fans. A healthy slathering of homoeroticism was dumped at the doorstep of lusty heterosexual females and it became an infatuation which went on to inspire online erotica of what really went on during touring - and it is pretty filthy stuff. Here was a big meaty slice of rawness between two volatile men in love with their music and each other. Lingering looks thrown from behind their guitar strings, suggestively passing a shared fag between their lips, to inadvertently creating a display of being within a millimeter of brushing lips and pleasing the knee jerked audience with literal lip locking, had audiences rendered weak at the joints.
We can't guarantee that the infamously magical cigarette wielding, prolonged eye-locked glances will be back for the birthday bash, but if recent reviews of their Glastonbury performance are to be counted on, we could be in for some cavorting.
A drumming of love and support
Bleary eyed, bouncing in the back of a black cab for the paparazzi's lenseful are images that unfortunately could be said to overshadow the success of the Libertines and Doherty's musically innate talents. His self-destructive tendencies had his legions of fans fear that he could succumb to the same tragic fate as a number of his friends. Thankfully, he did not and after once again finding himself in a Thai rehab centre two years after being chucked out of a similar one, on this occasion he checked out on the right side and as of January it's been his longest period of sobriety since his teens. Doherty was on 3.5 grams of heroin a day, creativity was well flushed out of his system. But in sobriety it is flowing in free-fall force with the support of his band mates. Admitting the next few months are going to be tough, it will be the rewarding moments that march alongside performing live to their dedicated fanbase that will contribute to his recovery – so quite simply, show them some unbridled love.
HYSTERIA
No band has since created the hysteria that The Libertines created ten years ago. When The Libertines crashed through with their guerrilla sensibility, jangly guitar riffs and the ferocious live sound they lauded into recording their albums, youth were struck by a quality they thought had been sold to their ancestors, never to be repurchased. The Libertines broke this dissatisfaction with modern popular culture and created a buzz with their era-defining early gigs which gave music fans something to believe in and the fans weren't sectioned off post gig – some hung out after gigs, in nights heavily fed with debauchery, free Libertines tattoos to anyone who met them in Chinatown the morning after an all-nighter.
Days of ending up cavorting with the band, clambering over private villa rooftops to blaze under the sunrise with cans in hand, spouting poetic word-smithery might be over, but you can be sure the raw excitement the band is emanating for the rebirth of The Libertines will fuel some serious hysteria for a lyrically thrashed sweat-fest – something of a welcomed oddity to Ibiza.
Man crushing
Did we mention the potential for some serious man crushing? We thought so. Get ready for sweat and tears.
On their collective sound Doherty once offered, "It's like they say: Oasis is the sound of a council estate singing its heart out, and the Libertines is the sound of someone just put in the rubbish chute at the back of the estate, trying to work out what day it was".
It's Wednesday and we'll let you guys be the judge of that.
WORDS | Aimee Lawrence PHOTOGRAPHY | Sourced from artist Facebook
