30 January 2016: In a year full of unlikely achievements for The Libertines, from recording a new album to staying together long enough to tour it, tonight’s show at the 02 has an air of the surreal about it.
For a band cut from the cloth of intimate back room ferocity and Camden infamy, the sea of bodies filling this vast arena is striking. This isn’t a festival setting, hazed by drink, drugs and free-spirits – it is an echoing chamber – cold and daunting, built for expectant entertainment rather than heart-felt chaos. And, yet, again, against all-odds, The Libertines put on a show that heats up to a wildfire.
