10 Greatest Secret Music Concerts Of All Time
9. The Libertines
WHERE: 112A Teesdale St, Bethnal Green.
WHEN: All the time until they split up
The hold The Libertines had over their true believers made BTS' Army look like casuals.
Tattoos were just the start. These were people who bought into the band's ethos in blood, mind and spirit. Uprooting their entire lives to be a part of the ongoing soap opera that was Albion.
And your writer means that literally. Part of the band's appeal was their accessibility. Many people relocated to East London on the off-chance they could become part of the band's inner circle. Failing that, they could just go to Pete and Carl's flat for a gig or 14.
These secret shows, announced on the band's official forum days, hours, sometimes minutes in advance were the lifeblood of The Libertines. Mainly because they were put on to pay their dealer, but in a more romantic sense, they were proof this was less a band, more a secret haven of art, music and idealism, hidden away from a cruel world in a corner that will be forever England.
Not everyone agreed with them, namely the others tenants in their building who had to put up with it all. The video above shows one gig being crashed by an apoplectic neighbour who's called the cops on them (take THAT, U2!). With a single look, the band break into The Clash's Guns of Brixton, their audience roaring along to the opening lyric "When they kick out your front door / how you gonna come? / With your hands behind your head / or on the trigger of your gun?"
The kind of magic you couldn't make up. Shame about all the crack, though.