Soon at Lido Sounds

The Libertines have found their inner center

United in friendship - after more than 20 years together and many big and not so big scandals, the Libertines are healthy inside and out.

(Bild: Casablanca, Ed Cooke Krone KREATIV,)

For years, the two Libertines heads Pete Doherty and Carl Barât in particular sank into a swamp full of quarrels, drugs and scandals. With the pandemic at the latest, they have apparently found their inner center - and are releasing their first album in nine years with "All Quiet On Eastern Esplanade". A surprising direct hit.

We have all suffered, trembled and rejoiced at the same time with our favorite heroes Pete (now Peter) Doherty and Carl Barât. The description "Toxic Twins" would fall far too short for these two full-contact Brits. Drug excesses, drunken nights, quarrels, fights, near deaths. Concerts canceled at the last minute, grotesquely bad performances (such as in the Wiener Stadthalle in 2016) and unpredictable stage behavior. For years, Doherty in particular didn't miss a single fat, whisky or heroin needle. Who would have thought that the pandemic of all things, a time when a not insignificant percentage of society was going crazy, would ground him in the long term and lead the Libertines to new, downright bright heights?

Cheese platter instead of early coffin
Secluded with his wife and child in the French countryside, Doherty enjoyed his new sub-existence as a bohemian. Instead of pumping himself full of all the powders and pills in the world, he was suddenly enjoying fine red wine, sumptuous cheese platters and the raw coastal air. Physically, Peter has tripled in size during this time, but in keeping with the Austrian motto "rund und g'sund" (round and healthy), the now 45-year-old is in the prime of his life and not in the nearest cemetery in Margate in the UK, where he has - not without good reason - been fantasized about several times. Instead of robbing himself of his life energy with drunken nights out, Doherty has also been busy writing songs, went on an indoor tour with the not-so-busy Libertines and impressed audiences in Vienna's Gasometer in the fall of 2022 - with a show full of great music and situation comedy, without any aggression or a foreign shame factor.

Fortunately, the band used this newly displayed peacefulness and coziness to tap into their inner creativity once again, away from the dolce vita of middle age. A whole nine years have passed since the good last Libertines album "Anthems For Doomed Youth", but there were also eleven years between that album and its predecessor "The Libertines". Doherty and Barât met up in Jamaica in September 2022, shortly before the band embarked on a strong 20th anniversary tour for their unbeaten debut "Up The Bracket", to record their first ideas away from their two fellow musicians. The finished work, which was postponed several times at short notice, was recorded a good year ago within four weeks in the studio of the band's own hotel in Margate. According to Doherty, this was a "phase of rare peace" between the eccentric band members.

In versatile top form
In addition to all the laudable abandonment of debatable behavior, the gentlemen in their later years cannot hide the fact that the constant search for the next quarrel can lead to permanent strain. In any case, the singles released since last fall have caused anticipation for new Libertines material to soar to lofty heights. The indie dancefloor party in "Run Run Run" (only coincidentally named after the classic by Velvet Underground and Nico) took us back to the carefree times of the mid-2000s, "Night Of The Hunter" is a Doherty ballad with a Latin and Western atmosphere and the epic "Shiver", with its memorable melody line and almost ghostly atmosphere, is one of the best and most peaceful songs the four milk-faced roughnecks have written in their exciting career, even from the Libertines' long-distance perspective.

The reflection on teamwork and their homeland is already predetermined in the title. "All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade" refers on the one hand to the newfound calm within the band, on the other to the Margate Hotel (on the Eastern Esplanade) and also to the classic novel "All Quiet On The Western Front". Various film and music references can also be found in the Libertines' current song material. For example, the Robert Mitchum-inspired "Night Of The Hunter" or "Baron's Claw", whose dark sound is deliberately reminiscent of the British B-movies of the 60s. Above all, the open display of eclecticism suits the otherwise rather uniform Libertines well. There are brisk nostalgia songs, churning ballads, instrumental experiments and, above all, a clearly audible sense of community that, in its current state, gives hope that the band can once again play its way into the Champions League of the British indie genre in the third spring of its career.

Years of being bootstrapped
In addition to personal reflections on the past and recurring lyrics, the Libertines' canon also increasingly includes the political world stage. Barât wrote "I Have A Friend" in the Albion Rooms in Margate about the war in Ukraine and the flowing "Merry Old England" is a Doherty song from a particular perspective: What do arriving refugees think about this current England, which is crumbling at every turn? In the end, the hope remains that each individual will find their home despite everything and that this home will develop into the next step towards a future. Doherty also spent many years working on "Songs They Never Play On The Radio", the most important song of his career. "All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade" is the best Libertines work since the unbeaten debut "Up The Bracket" and an interesting mixture of playful lightness and mature heaviness. May the peace hold and may France not run out of fine cheese.

Live at Lido Sounds
With their new album and the best songs from the past, the Libertines are coming to Linz on June 30th to close out Lido Sounds. Tickets are still available at www.oeticket.com for the top concert day, which will also feature Sam Smith, the Idles, The Streets and the Hives, among others. Perhaps an indoor tour will follow later in the year ...