The Libertines

The Libertines, The Vines at London Camden Barfly, Thu 07 Mar

Review by James Westfox

Of course, some people will have you believe that Rock 'n' Roll is dead. That the guitar as a creative instrument finished around 1978. That the current music scene is like the 70's before punk. Well, on the evidence of tonight, it's like the 70's during punk. I really can't tell you how much I loved this »

Camden Barfly

Capacity: 200

Nearest tubes: Camden or Chalk Farm Road

The Barfly club used to be at a tiny venue called the Falcon. The Monarch, where it is housed now, isn't an awful lot bigger. Well, the bar is. You will enter a bar and then have to climb some stairs to get to see the bands, so god help you if you're drunk. There is a small bar upstairs too. Be warned: pints cost £3 at the weekend.

Has seen recent secret gigs by JJ72 and Puressence. Also played host to The Barfly Sessions (Channel 4 TV) and Coldplay played among others. Grrrate.

Every small band wants to play here. On a good night, the sound is great and there will be a decent atmosphere. Can get really stuffy and cramped on a busy night though.

You will get your hand stamped with INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH ink when you enter. This will not wash off for at least a week, so you might get away without paying again in that time. ;-)

- Adie Nunn

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The Libertines

The Libertines are...

• Pete Doherty - vocals, guitar
• Carl Barat - guitar
• John Hassall - bass
• Gary Powell - drums

Signed to Rough Trade by Christmas '01, to supporting The Strokes on their two reshedualled dates at the end of February the next year, The Libertines are set to carry on with the large impact they are sustaining. They've just finished a leg of four dates supporting Australian act The Vines at Brighton, London's Monarch, Nottingham and Bristol, and have made an impressive entrance on new ears as a band with no recorded material, or even bootlegs on the internet. With their current setlist of nine songs reminiscent of The Jam and The Cure, with the cocky lyrics of early Blur, they're following the path that The Strokes have made, they're destined enforce the late 70's punk rock movement and save the currect music scene from the yelling of nu metal. Six gigs into their career, The Libertines were garnering press attention for their energetic performances and seem to have the ability to stick in peoples heads and stir up a fair bit of praise via word of mouth.

Then they split up.

The Vines

• Craig Nicholls - vocals, guitar
• Ryan Griffiths - guitar
• Patrick Matthews - bass
• Hamish Rosser - drums
• David Oliffe - drums

Amid a whirlwind of publicity, The Vines emerged from Sydney, Australia to become one of the most successful rock bands of their generation. The group, founded by two former McDonalds employees by the names of Craig Nicholls and Patrick Matthews, were immediately heralded by the British music press on the release of their limited edition 7" single 'Factory'. Despite not fitting the general musical requirements of the Garage Rock movement, The Vines found themselves lumped in with the NME's New Rock Revolution and spent the majority of their early days building up an audience in the UK.

Both follow-up singles cracked the Top 40, the second of which, 'Get Free', topped many critic and reader polls at the end of 2002. Their album, Highly Evolved, a mixture of Beck-style eclecticism and post-Nirvana punk rock crashed into the Top 3 (No. 11 in the United States) and received universal critical acclaim. The Vines spent the rest of the year touring the States and Europe and causing controversy, with Craig Nicholls under constant observation from the press, after one article compared his volatile stage antics to those of the suicidal Kurt Cobain. Tom Edwards