Time for Heroes

A friend of mine from a local Detroit band toured with his band in Great Britain last summer, and one of the bands they played with was the Libertines, who happen to be British. When I saw my friend, fresh off touring Europe all summer, he was telling me about some of the bands they played with and he said that the Libertines were a sloppy mess onstage, but really knew how to party. By that time, I had already been enticed by the Clash references on the little sticker on the packaging and bought their first album. I liked it a lot, so I was a little bummed out to hear that they weren't that great live. Flash forward a year. They have a new album out, it's self-titled, they're out on tour, they've replaced their junky-with-issues guitarist Peter, and they're storming the US with Radio 4. Out of curiosity, I went to the show. Lately, I haven't been making it to many shows out of general apathy towards live music. I feel like I've been let down by some of the bands I've seen in the past few months. This is the thing, the Libertines could almost be called the British Strokes. Except the Libs are rougher and faster and more glam. They look like they sound, and they don't act like rich kids, cuz they aren't. I guess you could say they're a more real manifestation of what the Strokes are. Plus, I've seen the Strokes, and I know they had a reputation for rough and tumble shows, but I have yet to see that side of the band. When I saw them at the State Theater in Detroit last November (for free, thankfully), I thought they were pathetic and boring. They just stood there, and played the songs EXACTLY the way they sound on the album. There was no point, it was a waste of $40 for the people who actually paid to see that steaming pile of shit onstage. So, back to the task at hand, the Libertines did what the Strokes are now too important to do: they entertained me. Shit, there were people who were actually dancing, and the Dirtbombs or the Hentchmen were nowhere in sight! That's right, a Detroit rock 'n' roll audience was actually seen dancing at a show! Part of my current disillusionment with live music is that too many bands seem bored while playing. Not last night. The Libertines actually played for over an hour, I think they played almost every song they've released, and the faster tunes were twice as fast as they are on the albums. When they came out for their encore, the two guitarists were shirtless, and as my friend said, "that's quite gratuitous of them." Of course the ladies loved it. They then proceeded to crash and burn through several more songs instead of playing just one more and leaving it at that. Oh, and my friend was right, they definitely know how to party. There was a fifth of Jameson Irish whiskey onstage all night, and an empty case of Stella Artois (a high alcohol content Belgian beer that's getting popular with European partying types) outside of their tourbus. Cheers.