‘Good evening, Stockton-on-Tees!” yells Peter Doherty, as streams of lager and items of clothing fly over the tiny but wonderfully raucous crowd. Tickets sold out in minutes, and people hurl their drinks, bellow along, climb on each other’s shoulders and chant the name of drumming powerhouse Gary Powell. The Libertines are touring small venues to preview All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade, their first album in nine years and one that brings elements of reflection and maturity.
When the Libertines first played clubs like this they were at the forefront of the early-00s indie rock boom. Now, they are an occasional arena band with a chequered history of meltdowns, a 10-year split (2004-2014) and Doherty’s well-documented drug problems behind them. Run Run Run, the first song played from the new album, combines lyrics about escaping the past with the steamrollering singalong quality of their early hits. The glorious Night of the Hunter – which begins “love and hate, tattooed on the knuckles round the handles of a blade” and incorporates a melody from Swan Lake – suggests that as middle-aged men they’re still able to channel an almost Dickensian parallel universe of lowlife, crime and violence into something poetic and romantic.
