24.08.10

The Libertines Live Rehearsal - HMV Forum,London

In the words of Peter "And here we are again", The venue was beautifully fitting, a 1934 art deco theatre and with the crowd all seated staring at the the iconic image of the "Up the bracket" album cover waiting in anticipation, a spokes man takes to the stage and thanks everyone for coming and to inform the audience that they will take to the stage in 10 minutes.... 20 minutes later a roar from the crowd as Peter,Carl, John and Gary take to the stage in front of a live crowd for the first time in 6 years.

With Peter to the left, Carl centre and John to the right they went straight in to "Horrowshow" the first song they looked uneasy some sideways glances from Peter to Carl as if to say "Do I come over to you, or are you coming to me" but they each stayed behind there own mic as if it was there own safety zone, John was doing what John does and picks a point in the distance and doesn't take his eyes of it but yet still manages to hit every chord.

They then burst in to "Delaney" and it wasn't till the following song "Vertigo" that Peter wandered over to Carl and started to play off each other like they did 6 years ago, with whispers and smiles to each other Peter lit a cigarette, and you knew it was just about to get started.

They went on to play 'Last Post On The Bugle', 'Begging', 'The Ha Ha Wall' and 'Lust Of The Libertine' with some of the lyrics still ringing true today, watching them on stage it was like everything in the past had ever happened, they all looked so happy to be in each other's company and by now even John was waving to people in the crowd and Peter and Carl was both putting there hands into the crowd (they will be very brave to do that tonight) and then saying hello to people. It was an amazing atmosphere it felt like more of a homecoming sing-along celebration for a group of people that had gone missing than a gig.

Peter now having enough cigarettes from the 300 strong crowd to become a tobacconist started to chat to Carl and he joined him for a quick cig.

They went on to play some of the classics from the two albums including 'Campaign Of Hate' 'Boys In The Band' 'Tell The King' 'Death On The Stairs' 'Music When The Lights Go Out'.

As each song went by the pace they was playing at was picking up and with the traditional mic sharing and finishing each others lyrics, it was all in full flow.

Carl then put his guitar down as Peter started to play the opening riff to 'What Katie Did' and took to the mic, with Peter and the crowd joining in for "Shoop shoop, shoop de-lang-a-lang".

Carl picked up his guitar again and then went to straight into 'The Saga', It was then the track that every Libertines and non Libertines fan knows and it was always going to be an interesting one to watch them sing/play first time around again, with them both behind there own mics they started to play 'Cant Stand Me Now" a song that as all of you know is a very honest and raw song, with both of them looking to in the crowd they started to sing the lyrics, Peter then turned to Carl and sang the final section of the song but Carl looked on into the crowd.

It was one of the best song of the night to watch, and then without any afterthought and no more than a 10 second break when straight into 'What Became Of The Likely Lads' 'Don't Look Back Into The Sun' Where they shared the same mic all the way through and played at blistering pace and on to the, 'The Good Old Days' and 'Time For Heroes'.

They then lit another cigarette and had a laugh and a few jokes, Peter reminded the crowd "It's only a rehearsal and you got in for free anyway".

They played the opening to 'Radio America' before somehow but seamlessly blending it in to the classic that is 'Up The Bracket', after that they all waved goodbye to the crowd and Gary thanked everyone for coming along.

After about 10 minutes with the guitars re-tuned they returned to the stage with drinks in there hand, Peter and Carl done there arm in arm drink sharing routine and then just went for it, it was the first time that I had been lucky enough to watch them play live and after hearing all the live recordings and seeing the video's on Youtube you get a good idea of how good they were live, but the next two tracks didn't even come close to what I had seen before, they played them so fast and was bouncing off each other it was an amazing sight. For all the people what have said "It wont be the same as before" they was right, its was better than anything that I had ever seen before and had expected from them, and I think anyone who was there and saw them play 'What A Waster' and 'I Get Along' would agree with me.

So after a set which went on for just under an hour and a half, and consisted of 23 songs, it was an amazing gig, and it was great to watch and sing-along to, the passion was still there for all of them and for everyone to see, and I think towards the end of the set they was just starting to relax and get use to all being on stage together again, so if last night was anything to go on the next 3 shows are going to be very special. Maybe the Albion has just left the port again, who knows where the next stop will be?

Not to sure where to begin after my last blog, been really busy doing the groundwork on a few new Asylum nights one in Oxford, as its not to far from where I live and it has a uni so there will plenty of students to promote to, but as normal Facebook doesn't seem to like people who are using a friend profile to promote but nevermind there's always a way around these things, there going to be held at a venue called the Cellar so hope the first night is going to be later in the year.

The other night I'm launching which I'm really excited about is one in Vienna in Austria, I was lucky enough to travel there a few months ago with Adam Ficek when he was doing a Roses Kings Castles tour and the people out there are amazing and I've made some great friends out there, they really seem to appreciate live music, so the plan is to take a UK band/artist out there to headline and use bands from Vienna as support and in return if they want a show in London i will help them as much as I can.

I've got a great venue to use it's an old world war bomb shelter called "the shelter", I would love to do a night every 6-8 weeks, but again its not going to be ready to launch until later in the year, just need to sort a mailing list out and then a bit of press in Vienna.

Soooooo the next coming week or so, currently working on booking a few tours, trying to arrange a French, Spanish and also a full Austrian tour, Austria will be easy and Spain won't to be to hard but struggling at the moment with France, but just found a new agent out there so hoping it will be ok, but if your reading this in France give me a shout.

Will also be booking a mini tour of Ireland for Anto Dust and a date or two for a band i love called Kicaberry in Amsterdam, been spending quite abit of time with these guys in the last few weeks and there brilliant to be around make sure you check out there Myspace.

Not sure if im aloud to promote this but fuck it sure it will be ok, a dear friend of mine Jerome Alexander's band The Skuzzies are doing a very special gig this Thursday (19th) at the Pipeline on Liverpool Street, it's being filmed for an ITV program so it should be a great night, I've been working with Jerome for maybe a year or so now and he's became a good friend so I'm really happy things are going well for them and looking forward to hearing the new album, but its going to be a great night so if your in the area come along doors are at 8.30.

Oh yeah also working on a verrrrrry special one off gig in New York, but thats all i can say at the moment but if it comes off it going to be the biggest gig ive ever put on, but like everything it takes abit of time to arrange so hoping thats going to be something for early 2011!

Not to sure what to write about now, cant stop listening to The Beatles track "A day in the life" hate to say it but The Beatles has never really done anything for me but love this track. Oh yeah has anyone watch Inception, what the fuck is that all about? How do you ever write a film like that you must even have a great imagination or have took alot of drugs, but its a great film so watch it if you haven't already.

So, down the hatch, up the bracket and all along the watch tower!

Busy Week...

Ok sooooo last week and a bit, its been pretty good, quite a few nights and flights of fancy, went to Carl's Barat's gig a the 100 club in London for the charity "Little Episodes" it was a great night he played a set with a mix of DPT, Libs and some of his new solo work, looking forward to the new album, It was also great to have a chat to him before the gig as id never met him before.

So after the gig me and a few friends embarked on a wander into Soho, its a great place at night always full of some "interesting" characters after being kicked out of 2 bars in less than an hour we walked to Piccadilly Circus and stared at the bright lights for a bit and caught up with a few friends so it was a good night.

A few days later I did one of my "Asylum Sessions" nights in my home town I had London singer/songwriter Anto Dust and also folk duo Lucky Clover come to play and they where amazing, I started off booking a couple of shows in London for Anto last year and she is writing some amazing songs, she preformed one of her new ones and its just one of those songs that you just listen to and get drew into it and by the end of it your sitting there and thinking fuck that was brilliant, I've asked her to record it and post it on her myspace so hopefully she does, and also check out Lucky Clover they have a great sound and were lovely people.

The week was spent booking up gigs for various bands as well and trying to sort out some nights for myself, as much as I love doing nights in my hometown I think they could be coming to an end, its far to hit and miss, problem is there isnt a uni so nothing seems to change and your audience is only ever going to be so big, but it does mean alot to me as I do know so many people around here and there's been some amazing nights, but name one thing that lasts forever?

Ok Friday night was another one of my nights this time it was headlined by London band Krakatoa, I listened to there myspace before i arranged the night and I liked what I heard, but when they came to play they was something else, it was just the way I like my music, played really fast and loud there is a track of there's called "Esprit De Corps" its brilliant it keeps building up and gets faster and faster then peaks then goes again, check it out, it sounds even better live and Darien the lead singer has a great stage presents. Anyway they was a great bunch of lads and i can see them going on to big things, make sure you go and watch them if there playing near you and your see what I mean.

So after a few hours sleep on up to London to the Queen of Hoxton for "No time for heros" night where they had Coco Sumner preforming and it was good to see her again, I watched first at a small show maybe 2 years ago now, i think it was at Jazz after dark in Soho, and she did a show with Peter Doherty and she was brilliant, and then I seen her again at the St Mortiz club.

I was a huge fan of her older work, tracks like "Bohemian Love" "No Smile" and "Never be" where great and its a shame that she don't preform them anymore, would have been good just leave one or two of them on her myspace to see what people thought of them because they was beautiful songs but things has changed and maybe she wanted to launch a new sound when she got signed? But for a show in which I had only heard a couple of the songs before I thought she was great and cant wait for the album.

So yeah that was my week, this week is just about sorting some a new night out in a different area all together, so keep you all posted on that one and listening to all the rumours that's building up for a certain gig at the end of the month.......