Carl Barat - guitar/vocals
John Hassall - bass/vocals
Gary Powell - drums
Nick - 2nd guitar/vocals
Pete Doherty - guitar/vocals (currently not in the lineup)
The 250 capacity 7th St. Entry had sold out by around 9:30 when I arrived at the Libertines much-anticipated Minneapolis debut Saturday night. But before the Libertines were to take the stage we would endure an unmemorable first act, and hear a decent middle set by skinny St. Louis-based rock and rollers Living Things. Lving things struck me as a kind of The Strokes shoot smack and meet The Birthday Party in hell, which was interesting, but their set was marred by an overly-long and not too articulate anti-war speech by lead singer Lillian Berlin during which he used the working "f*ucking" for emphasis until it no longer added any. Yes, the band is political --check out the photo on their mission statement page which has them superimposed on a copy of the Declaration of Independence, or their t-shirts inscribed with "War is harmful to children and other living things."
The Libertines took the stage on schedule around midnight. If I were to compare seeing them to seeing two other overly-hyped bands, namely The Hives (First Avenue, 2002) and The Strokes (Entry, 2001), I'd have to say the Libertines did a pretty good job of living up to expectations, even without their troubled second lead singer Pete Doherty who among other things was recently arrested in London for burglary. However, with the backup vocals of bass player John Hassal and the Libertines' guitar tech (Nick something) filling in on second guitar as he's done at most shows since June I didn't feel much was missing in the live show. Other reviewers who have seen the band live with Doherty and Barat trading lead vocal duties had commented on the dynamic energy between the two, but never having seen that for myself I wasn't in a position to miss it.
The set opened with their typical opener, "Horror Show." Though the band has been compared to the Strokes, live I find them far more interesting and refreshing. One note though, is that while singing Barat does has a slight baby-face like resemblance to Julian Casablancas. But the similarities end there. Barat comes off as a far more seasoned front man.
The performance was consistent, loud and from what I've read, typical of most shows on this tour. What came across to some people as snootiness on the part of the band, especially from lead singer Carl Barat was more likely the result of typical tour ennui, or perhaps the fact that it must be hard for a band to look from the stage into the tiny 7th St. Entry and realize that in just a few weeks they'll be playing the main stage at England's Reading and Leeds festivals to a potential 50,000 audience members.
The gig turned out the cream of the crop of Twin Cities scenesters, musicians and fans and pretty much covered the full (small so far) discography of the band which includes a couple singles and their first full-length release, "Up the Bracket." I listed the UK Release of "Up the Bracket" as one of the best releases of 2002, but if you didn't just rush out and buy the important at that time, good news, as the US release includes the entire UK version of the album plus the singles. We were treated to the title song, second in the set, followed by "Vertigo."
A set highlight for me was the upcoming single "Don't Look Back into the Sun," which won't be released until August 18th in the UK, but has been getting heavy rotation on XFM for several weeks. If you're a fan of early 80's British Pop bands like the Only Ones, for example, you will love this song which features a guitar solo that is brilliant in its simplicity.
After a tad impolitely (but hell, it was a punk show) spraying the first few rows of the crowd with a shaken up beer, the band's two song encored featured their first two singles, the Jam-influenced ("Down at the Tube Station at Midnight") "What a Waster," and "I Get Along."
