The Ghosts of London Past (AKA, The Libertines) Played a Secret Gig in London Last Night

Over the past few years, the Libertines have become less of a real life band and more of an old London myth. Like winking ghosts from a Dickens novel, their existence is only confirmed when they occasionally dust off their trilbies, emerge from the city’s shadowy back alleys where they’ve been lingering, coughing up soot, to do an impromptu performance in a skaggy old North London pub that smells like sweat, centuries worth of ash and rusty old harmonicas. “Long live the great ship Albion!” Pete will slur, before stabbing the words to a long forgotten Emily Dickinson poem in the arm of an unsuspecting passer by.

Anyway, all that is to say that this happened last night, in Highgate’s The Boogaloo pub nonetheless. Apparently, rumours of a secret gig began circulating late in the afternoon, with the location becoming clear shortly afterwards. Tickets were £10 and the band appeared on stage at around 10:45 before performing for an hour a half.

We weren’t actually there, but in all honesty, now that the internet exists nobody needs to be anywhere anymore—we can just scroll through videos and images on Twitter and imagine what it was like, which looks like a whole load of sweat. With that in mind, please experience the Libertines gig for yourself below: