The Libertines might not mean much to U.S. audiences, but rock fans in the UK were stoked to find out that the band would be reforming for at least one show, headlining the British Summer Time Festival at Hyde Park in London.
The Libertines formally broke up during 2004 after a series of conflicts between vocalist/guitarist Carl Barât and guitarist Pete Doherty (generally due to the latter's addition problems). Americans are most familiar with the group because of Doherty's relationship with model Kate Moss, to whom he was briefly engaged.
The band also made its intentions clear that it aims to play a warm-up show before the huge Hyde Park gig.
"We did mention it would be nice to do a warm-up - I'm sure the people who look at that stuff are fully clued up enough to leave the options open," Barât said. "It'd be cool to do somewhere of a similar size to The Forum, somewhere where the audience is likely to be one that's really into it and potentially starved of it perhaps."
This won't be the first reunion show for the group. It came together in 2010 to perform a series of sets at the Reading and Leeds Festival. The band had similarly "warmed up" for those shows by playing at The Forum in London.
Black Sabbath, Tom Jones and Neil Young & Crazy Horse will be among the headliners of other night's of this year's British Summer Time Festival, and The Pogues and Spiritualized will serve as openers for The Libertines on July 5. Last year's festival drew attention for hosting the Rolling Stones, which played its first show at the venue since its historic 1969 show following the death of guitarist Brian Jones.
