The Libertines were announced UK Festival headline performance of the year yesterday, December 1st. The band received this award after performing at British Summer Time, Hyde Park, London, earlier this year on July 5th. Other winners include Glastonbury Festival, Wolf Alice and Calvin Harris.
On April 25th, 2014, the BST Facebook page announced the news that The Libertines would be reuniting to play the event, supported by The Pogues, Maximo Park, Spiritualized, The Enemy and many more. Other winners of UK Festival Awards were; Glastonbury (Best Major Festival), Camp Bestival (Best Family Festival), Creamfields (Best Dance Event), V Festival (Best Toilets), Wolf Alice (Best Breakthrough Act), and Calvin Harris’ “Summer” (Anthem of the Summer).
The Libertines are a British band built up by Pete Doherty, Carl Barat, John Hassall and Gary Powell. The band is comprised of musicians with a variety of musical influences. Doherty has previously spoken of being inspired by The Jam, Sex Pistols, and The Smiths. Whilst Barat was largely affected by music from The Velvet Underground, The Clash, The Doors, and Nirvana. The band had played very few shows over the last few decades for various reasons.
In 2004, the Libertines said what was thought to be their final farewell to fans, as frontman Pete Doherty had to leave the group to resolve his drug addictions at a clinic in Thailand. Doherty’s songwriting partner and the band’s lead guitarist, Carl Barat, decided not to continue with the band without Doherty.
Doherty’s drug abuse continued to spiral out of control. Consequently, the boys lost contact, and both started to progress with new projects: Babyshambles (Doherty) and Dirty Pretty Things (Barat).
The band returned in 2010 to headline Reading and Leeds. But at the time, this remained a one-time event and nothing came after.
It was a different case with their second reunion in 2014. At the end of the BST Hyde Park show, The Libertines announced to fans that they would play two more dates at Alexandra Palace, on the 27th and 28th of September.
Following this, the boys continued their adventure with a European Tour and are working on new material set to be released in 2015. Doherty was also branded as “clean” from his previous drug addictions on November 21st this year.
He gave advice to other addicts, saying “for more than ten years I’ve been powerless, but there’s a way out.” Doherty’s dream of the good ship Albion to Arcadia hasn’t been sunken yet.