I was there for the Libertines primarily but got there early to make a day of it. After all, there were some other decent bands on and it cost £55...
The Last Internationale 7/10
This was the band that I knew least about before the gig. In fact, I knew nothing about them so it was quite fun to have them introduced to me like this. It was 1.30pm and the Libertines weren't on until 8.45pm so understandably, there was quite a thin crowd for this fairly unheard of band.
Musically, The Last Internationale are a pretty no-nonsense basic rock and roll band. Donning leather, the New York four-piece injected a classic rock into the ears of the small crowd that had gathered. Singer Delila Paz had bags of energy and charisma, oozing passion onto the otherwise fairly apathetic and already drunk audience. I suspect that they would've gotten a much better reception in a smaller, indoor venue full of people who weren't only interested in getting really smashed for the Libertines (more on that later).
Walking off after shouting "free Leonard Peltier", it became clear that The Last Internationale have a clear political message, unlike so many others among their contemporaries. I liked what I heard and I'm looking out for more.
The Enemy 8/10
After a break, we came to the main stage band of the day that I had heard of. It was pretty appropriate to have The Enemy play today, frankly due to how indebted they are to the Libertines. Quite a big crowd gathered for their performance showing that really, scheduling them this early was frankly a bit stupid. Their 45 minute set impressed and demonstrated how they're a band that can touch many people. The first flares of the day were seen during Away From Here and Tom Clarke's chat was good (although he might have said "fair play" a bit too much). The highlight of the set was unsurprisingly the best thing they've ever written: We'll Live And Die In These Towns. The crowd, full of people from towns like Coventry, where The Enemy hail from, to whom the song clearly meant a lot. It was a solid set that really should've gone just before the Libertines. I think they proved themselves to be the perfect warm-up act for the Libs.
Maximo Park 4/10
These guys were shit.
Before their 4pm set I only knew them in name so I was fairly prepared to be open-minded. They drew a sizeable crowd, slightly smaller than The Enemy but respectable. The tunes were fairly middle of the road, not really moving me to feel anything but indifference, the marker of average music. I might've been more sympathetic but frontman Paul Smith just really pissed me off. His hat was stupid. His singing was average. His chat was awful. He had the charisma of a Cbeebies presenter and he really annoyed me. Mind you, plenty of middle-aged white people around me were getting really into it so maybe I have the problem...but it's a problem I can live with.
Spiritualized 8.5/10
By 5.25pm, the crowd were well on their way to getting properly shit-faced for the Libertines. This was reflected by the relatively thing gathering for minimalist, psychedelic drone collective Spiritualized, with everyone opting to join the outrageous queues for beer. The queues at this point were so long that people were actually buying a pint, rejoining the queue, finishing it by the time they reach the front and buying a new one.
It was their loss because Spiritualized were awesome. Mammoth tunes like Come Together and Hey Jane showered down from the sound-system, bathing Hyde Park in glorious psychedelic spiritual goodness. I was personally mesmerised but it struck me as a strange booking for the day. This crowd was donning t-shirts of Arctic Monkeys, Stone Roses and Oasis, not Spacemen 3, Slowdive and MBV. I spotted several parka jackets, many moddish haircuts and even a few Oasis tattoos. No-one here was really in a mood for some actual, good music. This was shown when large portions of the audience started singing along to Aka...What A Life! when it came on over the PA straight after the set.
I bloody loved it though.
The Pogues 7/10
Unsurprisingly, there was a big draw for the celtic-punk legends and everyone was clearly really into it. The Pogues showed up and did their thing and it was great. They were pretty solid and they met expectations, playing all the classics like The Irish Rover and set highlight Dirty Old Town.
The main thing that most people gathered from this performance was just how unhealthy Shane MacGowan looked. He was a one-man anti-drinking advertising, hobbling up to the microphone and pottering off after a few songs to have a little rest. Luckily, his style has always been a sort of drunken mumbling so he still sounded pretty fine. However, he remains a bona fide legend and was greeted with great affection throughout the set, thought it's now affection for an old uncle rather than a punk hero.
The set was briefly halted by someone suffering from cardiac arrest near the front. This was only to be the one of several problems throughout the day for the organisers...
The Libertines 8/10
And finally, the main act!
Ok my opinion of this reunion has changed quite a lot. I've gone from
To "wait...this happened four years ago...haven't they got enough money? The last reunion provided closure and was super emotional. They made a film and everything! Plus they haven't put out any new songs since then and they're being flanked by massive "Barclaycard" logos, they're definitely just doing it for drug money...isn't it totally against the spirit of the Libertines to do a big 60,000 people park show the night before McBusted do one? What the fuck is this? The Libertines weren't built for "legendary veteran" status like the Rolling Stones were...this is going to be shite..."
And then when I got my tickets I went straight back to
All cynicism left when they walked on though and I remembered what was happening: the Libs were back and about to play my favourite songs to me! Opening with a shambolic rendition of Vertigo, the magic began again and it was all going to be ok...
But then halfway through Boys In The Band, the crowd troubles started. In a bizarre turn of events, Peter fucking Doherty became the health and safety officer, getting people to move back. Things started getting really squashed where I was as people started moving about crazily trying to get out. Some people were genuinely distressed and it was a bit shocking to see. This constant stream of people moving about meant I missed The Delaney trying to stay on my feet and not die. They had to stop again soon after and a lot of speculation over whether they would be able to continues arised.
Frankly, it was a total shambles. By this point there was a mad mixture of distressed girls trying to get out, butch men being nobs and really really drunk people who just weren't helping the situation at all. Massive fights were seconds away from breaking out at times and tensions were high. At times there were whiffs of Hillsborough and it was not comfortable. It was hard to breathe and hard to move at all. Staying upright became the primary occupation of the mind and it was a real struggle.
In 2014, this sort of thing should not be happening.
I 100% do not buy the argument that these things are caused by the crowd. The BST festival organisers should hang their heads in shame at just how much they fucked this up and be really grateful that it didn't go worse as it was really fucking close to being a total catastrophe. It could have been far more than 38 injuries and 8 hospitalisations.
In 2014, this should not be happening.
Mind you, the Libertines played a blinder.
As a band on that stage, the Libertines reminded everyone why they had paid £55 to come and see them on an overcast/drizzly afternoon. Once the initial crowd troubles finished, they relaxed and played all the favourites, including a rendition of the Babyshambles song Albion, with Carl symbolically singing along. After a third interruption caused by naked people climbing the delay tower and a raucous I Get Along (a true anthem), Peter and Carl closed by reciting Suicide In The Trenches by Siegried Sassoon. It's long been a Libertines staple but in the centenary year of WWI, it was a really nice touch. Really nice.
All in all it was a great gig. Shame about how badly it was organised though...a real shame. Especially as that's the only thing the media ended up reporting. Hardly anything was said about how great they played. I didn't really learn much new but I had fun.
