Ahhh, the Libertines. Most people first heard about the English rockers -- which formed in 1997 -- because of their co-frontman Pete Doherty's bouts with drugs, rehab, messing around with Amy Winehouse, his relationship with Kate Moss, stint in jail... did we miss anything?
Unfortunately the band's lead guitarist and co-frontman, Carl Barat, decided to break up the band, despite their huge success on the other side of the pond, because of Pete's drug problems. Doherty went on to form Babyshambles, Barat formed Dirty Pretty Things, and the rest was history, right?
Wrong. After Doherty got out of jail mid-2008, he claimed to be a changed man. He performed the day after his release in London, and the show was strikingly different from his trademark wasted-beyond-belief performances. He was respectful, cleanly dressed, and looked and acted sober.
It's because of this that the band decided to reform in March of this year, and they played their first official reunion show on Wednesday. But why should this matter to anyone in the US?
Despite the constant fights between Barat and Doherty in the early '00s, they were, somewhat, part of the garage rock revival. They were one of the bands at the forefront of this movement in the UK, and both of the Libertines' full-lengths were produced by the legendary Mick Jones (lead guitarist of the Clash). They attribute the Smiths, Sex Pistols, and Oasis as influences, and have had a lasting effect on the British music scene, even after all of those years apart. As if that weren't enough, The Strokes got some of their influence from them, and played shows with the Libertines in the early '00s, too.
So as you might imagine, this show was kind of a big deal. A few publications mention that here in the US we probably shouldn't "care" about such a reunion, assuming because the Libertines didn't play any major shows in the US, they don't have much of a following. But now that they possibly have a new Libertines album in the works, that might change.
Watch some footage of their recent reunion show below, and let us know: Do you care that the Libertines have reunited? Do you think they'll cross over and start getting more US recognition now that Doherty's cleaned up his act?
