The Libertines – 2003-04-30 – CBGB, NYC

Cover art uses photos of the band in New York at the time of the gig.

1 Horrorshow 2:31
2 Up the Bracket 2:27
3 Vertigo 2:33
4 Arbeit Macth Frei 1:13
5 What a Waster 2:25
6 Mayday 0:54
7 Don’t Look Back into the Sun 2:18
8 Death on the Stairs 3:20
9 Boys in the Band 3:50
10 Time for Heroes 2:28
11 The Good Old Days 2:38
12 Tell the King 2:55
13 The Boy Looked at Johnny 2:22
14 I Get Along 2:05

Journalist Lizzy Goodman had a front-row seat for the rebirth of the New York music scene at the turn of the century. Here, she picks her five favourite gigs from the decade and explains what made the city the epicentre of cool again

The Libertines, CBGB, 30 April 2003
“The story of my book is about the energy that was coming out of New York during that period and how it radiated around the word. The Libertines were inspired by The Strokes when they played in the UK but these were their first two gigs in New York. I had the same romantic response to them as British people had to The Strokes. Pete Doherty and Carl Barât seemed like characters from Withnail and I to me, two total terrors who were also really sweet and adorable, jabbering on about how much they loved England all the time.

CBGB was one of the worst venues ever, but The Libertines were still brilliant. The Strokes were always coiled and tight on stage, very businesslike; they were like an engine that was calibrated to be really precise. The Libertines were the total opposite – they were so loose, they sounded like they were going to careen out of control the whole time. Carl and Pete would sing into each other’s microphones and kiss each other all the time. They were totally in the moment. Afterwards I saw them walking up Bowery together, arm in arm, in their military garb.

Physically, the New York of that period is a lost world, because so many of those venues have closed; it has all been squished by garish high rises filled with bankers. New York has always gone through periods of change, but I do think the internet culture has accelerated the bleaching out of parts of the city. By 2004, Manhattan was already over and everything was moving to Brooklyn and Williamsburg. Only four years earlier you couldn’t get a cab there; now Brooklyn has become a Disneyland of hipster culture.”
Lizzy Goodman