The Libertines live at Mountford Hall, Liverpool, 04/12/2021, with support from Vona Vella, Dead Freights, and Ed Cosens – review by David Lancaster.

The last time I saw The Libertines was the summer of 2017, they were playing at Prenton Park, Tranmere Rovers stadium in Birkenhead and Jeremy Corbyn joined them onstage that evening, afterwards, in the player’s lounge, I was joined by Lucy Fallon for a drink, she’s one of the actors from Coronation Street, it was a surreal experience and a very memorable one, so understandably I’m looking forward to this evening’s event here in Liverpool. The weather is very different to that summers day in 2017, walking up Brownlow Hill we have gale force winds, icy rain, and even lightning, so I decide to take refuge in a Turkish barbers and I get a haircut and a shave as I have a bit of time to kill. 

Vona Vella_Credit:Billy Vitch

On to the show, and Mountford Hall is buzzing with excitement and our first support act tonight on a busy bill is Vona Vella, this Leicestershire two-piece are joined by their two pals on stage and I notice how good they look, really colourful and the band sound very fresh, the three guys out front are sharing the vocals and it’s a really nice sound. They sound funky, cool and at times I get a bit of a Magic Numbers vibe from them. 

Next up is Dead Freights, a four-piece from Southampton whose debut album is out soon. These guys sound hard, rocky, industrial but also have a fun, almost disco element mixed into their sound too. I guess we’ll just call them indie/ rock and roll. I hear bits of White Lies, Editors, Queens of the Stone Age, and indeed, The Libertines at times during their half hour set. These lads are great players, very entertaining with a charismatic lead singer, I want to see more of them when I get the chance too. 

Dead Freights_Credit:Billy Vitch

After Dead Freights we get a very lengthy, very loud soundcheck for our main act, but before they take to the stage, we get a few acoustic songs from Ed Cosens, he’s the guitarist from Reverend and the Makers, and his three songs tonight are full of melody, ‘The River’ and ‘If’ are well crafted tunes and I wish that Ed could have had a few more minutes tonight. 

The crowd is bouncing, the tension mounts and finally our four heroes take to the stage. The Libertines have been around for a long time now and they have become a bit of a national treasure I guess. Those first two albums from 2000 and 2004 were full of classics and so too is their set tonight. 

The lads open with ‘What A Waster’ and already booze is getting lashed everywhere and people are on each other’s shoulders. Pete and Carl are both wearing caps and they look slightly Dickensian, slightly Chas ‘n’ Dave up there.’Gunga Din’ gets the crowd bouncing even more and the boys are flying. ‘What Katie Did’ has everyone in the audience singing along, it’s a powerful and beautiful moment, this is ‘Last Night of the Proms’ for the cool kids. ‘You’re My Waterloo’ sees Carl sitting at an upright piano, the set looks great and it gives off a very intimate vibe, we could be in some Soho pub here eating pie and mash or maybe some stylish Parisienne bar smoking Gitanes, Carl suddenly picks up his guitar and plays a monster solo, spinning a web of sound.

The Libertines_Credit:Billy Vitch

Pete then tells the crowd about the previous bands that have played here and says he enjoyed looking at all the posters on the wall of the green room, he reminds us that The Libertines played here 20 years ago, next up is ‘Boys in The Band’ another crowd favourite, and this band really does mean so much to these people.’What Became of The Likely Lads’ has that glorious ramshackle sound that we all remember and love, this is followed by ‘The Good Old Days, in the middle of which we get ‘Maggie Mae’ by The Beatles and ‘The Only Way is Up’ by Yazz, the lads showing us what seasoned professionals they are with this little impromptu mid-song jam. Gary jumps on the mic as the other three walk off and he tells the punters that they “rocked” tonight, he then walks off in slow-motion, (or pretending to be in slow-mo), he gets a great cheer. We get the crowd singing ‘Fuck the Tories’ and ‘Maggie’s in the Mud’ during the break and soon the band are back on for their encore, we get four more songs, ‘The Delaney’ and ‘Death on Stairs’ whip the crowd up once more, and all over the hall, people are still on each other’s shoulders, clothes are getting thrown up in the air now and this whole place has gone crazy.’ Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’ is The Libertines great anthem, we really need some pyro in the crowd for this one, but the lads somehow move everything up another gear and the audience loves it. The last song is ‘Time For Heroes, a great guitar tune where Pete and Carl show us their skills. 

The Libertines_Credit:Billy Vitch

The quartet have been great tonight and they deserve all the love that has been showered on them here. The lads played 19 songs this evening and thoroughly entertained the troops on a cold wet night. I hope the rumours of a fourth album are true and I hope to see them again very soon.

 Words By David Lancaster

Photography BY Billy Vitch

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