Words & Photography: Izzi Glover
Classic London band, The Libertines, demolished Rock City in Nottingham on the first half of their tour, following the release of their latest album, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade.
A packed out Rock City saw two support acts, Vona Vella and Real Farmer, and Ed Cosens suitably filling the gaps with his acoustic medleys. It’s refreshing to see a big, iconic band like The Libertines have ‘smaller’ artists as supports, where usually it would be someone big and well known. Support smaller artists!
After Ed Cosens finished his last acoustic set and said goodbye to the crowd, iconic co-frontman, Pete Doherty, came out to welcome a friend he met while walking his dog on Parliament Street to recite a couple of his own original poems to the crowd, something you don’t see very often. He explained that he’s never delivered his poetry on a big stage before, let alone to the scale of the classic Nottingham venue. I’ve never heard Rock City so quiet; everyone was listening oh so intently to the words that this man was saying. This certainly was something special and unique for the Nottingham crowd.
After about 5 minutes, Pete Doherty, Carl Barât and the rest of the band came out to a massive cheer.
Opening with The Delaney, the crowd erupted and the floor was bouncing. The whole room was immediately in the zone.
Shortly followed by the Up The Bracket classic, Boys in the Band; the song perfectly encapsulated the crowd / band relationship.
I had the privilege of chatting to two fans near the end of the gig, who were of the older generation, and they told me “We grew up on this band.” It was plain obvious that most of the crowd were in the same boat, singing every word, chanting along to every sleazy, indie riff.
The classics were carefully scattered in the setlist, alongside all of the new tunes that The Libertines have offered the fans earlier this year.
Captivation was key here, and the two frontmen kept the eyes on them - clearly not a care in the world except for being with each other on that stage. Their friendship is what has gotten the band where they are, and it’s heartwarming to see that it’s forever.
As the gig was coming to an end, the band ended on timeless favourites: Time for Heroes and Don’t Look Back into the Sun.
A truly iconic band take on a truly iconic venue. Until next time.