Watch The Libertines debut new ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ songs at intimate Margate gig

11 December, 2023

The Libertines

The Libertines have debuted new songs from their highly-anticipated upcoming album, ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’, over the weekend at an intimate gigs in Margate.

READ MORE: The Libertines talk being clean and connected: “We just want to write beautiful songs in the moment”

The concerts took place on Saturday and Sunday (December 9 and 10) at the 500-capacity Lido Cliff Bar in Margate. The band’s 18-song setlists featured live debuts of previously-released singles ‘Run Run Run’ and ‘Night Of The Hunter’, alongside other unreleased cuts from the album, namely ‘Oh Shit’, ‘Mustang’, ‘Man With The Melody’, ‘Merry Old England’ and ‘Have A Friend’. The full setlist from the concerts can be found below.

Watch The Libertines perform ‘Run Run Run’ and ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ cuts ‘Oh Shit’ and ‘Have A Friend’ at the Margate concerts below:

‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ will be released on March 8, and will be preceded by a tour of intimate club gigs across the UK in January and February dubbed The Albion Tour, which the band have described as a return to “[their] roots in these small sweaty clubs, where [they] can see the whites of the crowds eyes”.

Besides being a nod to Erich Maria Remarque’s ‘All Quiet On The Western Front’, ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ references their hotel, studio, restaurant and bar, The Albion Rooms, which they named after the infamous flat in East London which served as an early residence of the band and a guerilla gig venue, and opened in September 2020.

That year, Carl Bârat gave NME a tour of the new space, and spoke about the endeavour. “We wanted to have something for everyone,” he said. “If you came and you weren’t a Libertines fan but wanted to stay in a fucking decent hotel, then it’s that – but if you are into the band or just music and art, then there are little cyphers and coded messages all over the shop.”

‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ will be The Libertines’ first album in eight years, following 2015’s ‘Anthems For Doomed Youth’. Upon releasing their first preview of the record, ‘Run Run Run’, Bârat spoke about what fans can expect from their fourth full-length, stating: “Our first record was born out of panic, and disbelief that we were actually allowed to be in a studio; the second was born of total strife and misery; the third was born of complexity; this one feels like we were all actually in the same place, at the same speed, and we really connected.”

In October, NME spoke with Pete Doherty and Bârat about recording the new album, their sessions in Jamaica, and the inspiration behind its songs. On the overall themes of ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’, Doherty commented: “All we want to do is write beautiful songs. That’s what we’ve always wanted to do, but we got distracted – mostly by ourselves. On this occasion, we followed the pattern of writing songs that we believe in but there was nothing else to say; no fanfare, no cacophony. This is the album we’re proud of.”