Seeing the Libertines

I just want to write this post because it's about a significant thing that happened to me recently, and that's what blogs are for, right?

I have been a fan of the Libertines for ten years... since after they broke up. I was just 21 and although I had been a huge Manic Street Preachers fan in my teens, I didn't think I could or would ever feel that way about a band again. Then I fell into the Libertines and oh god, they hurt my heart. As I said, they had broken up in acrimonious circumstances and formed other bands - Carl and Gary went into Dirty Pretty Things, Peter already had Babyshambles, and John formed Yeti who had a very small following that I'm proud to say I was one of! I saw DPT a few times, Yeti a bunch of times, and saw Peter solo with Graham Coxon on guitar.

I also met a whole bunch of lovely people, some of whom are still my best friends. There was a very active fandom on LiveJournal and I met so many people. One of my closest friends was Lucinda. We didn't talk very often for a few years, including when Peter and Carl played a bunch of reunion shows in 2010. I think that's why I didn't really pay much attention to those shows.

This time around Lucinda and I are close again and her enthusiasm for The Libertines as a whole band reforming was infectious. Plus, when I saw photos from the gig they played in Hyde Park they just looked so happy. I'm a romantic, deep down ;)

So anyway, the Libs announced three gigs at Alexandra Palace in London, and Lucinda and I decided we would go. I also then asked my friend Von, who lives in London, and my BFF Sam, who lives near me and would travel down with me.

Oh gosh, it was so good. Not perfect - but they aren't and never were a perfect band. It was ramshackle and chaotic and uplifting. We sang along to all the words and it was just so lovely to be there with people I love and who I only know through a ridiculous band, for crying out loud.

There's talk of a tour and new recordings, and even though it's ten years later and I'm older and supposedly wiser, my little fangirl heart is so excited for those things to happen.

I took this photo - as you can see we couldn't see much of the band but fortunately they had a big screen behind them which played both video of the band and other stuff.

Happy endings, they never bore me ;)