The Libertines have been announced as the third headliner for this year’s Reading & Leeds Festival. A heavy sigh of relief was the sound heard in many households around Britain as Zane Lowe announced the news that Peter, Carl, Gary and John would take to the stages of both Richfield Avenue and Bramham Park between August 28th and 30th.
Speculation about The Libertines headlining the festival has been irrepressible following the band’s Hyde Park comeback and new record deal at the end of last year. Festival rumour sites have been teeming with pages upon pages of chatter about the possibility of the boys lighting up the main stage with their trademark zeal, and tonight, an untold amount of prayers have been answered. Yes, The Libertines are back, and yes, they will be playing at Reading & Leeds Festival 2015.
Until now, many R&L regulars had been disconcerted, some even crestfallen, following the first two announcements that saw Metallica and Mumford & Sons as headliners. Although it is impossible to please everyone, the addition of The Libertines to the bill will add some degree of enthusiasm to the tedious wait that precedes the late August festival.
Although we expect the band to bring with them their ‘rough around the edges’ garage sound, it will be unlikely The Libertines performance will be hampered by pre-festival nerves, having already played R&L four times, most notably as part of their one-off 2010 comeback.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84Ft6EruIJk]
(If that doesn’t get you excited then I don’t know what will).
2015 is set to be a big year for The Libertines, as they seem to be here, there and everywhere; headlining an endless trove of festivals from T in the Park to Ibiza Rocks, all before the release of a third studio album that’s currently in the works.
Of this exciting time, co-frontman Carl Barât spoke: “Now we want to make beautiful things that we’re proud of and that stand the test of time. I hope we can do that. Our old songs stand up as much as they did when we first put them down. If we’ve got that in us, why rob ourselves of it, let alone anyone else?” This attitude will undoubtedly be the factor that separates The Libertines of today and The Libertines of the past, and will make for an atmosphere come August that will see fans in their thousands lose all sense of control as the boys in the band grace the stage for a fifth time.
Against all odds, The Albion sails on course. Next stop: Reading & Leeds.
Words by George