Ostensibly "just" an afternoon press conference to announce and confirm their reunion, which was reported earlier this week, the Libertines played an impromptu short live gig -- their first as a full band since 2004 -- in north London pub haunt the Boogaloo, on Wednesday.

Led by Pete Doherty (pictured) and Carl Barat, the band -- including drummer Gary Powell and bassist John Hassell -- regrouped for the press conference, only a mere 30 minutes late, to announce that "it feels like the right time" to reunite. The band will play this year's Reading and Leeds festivals on August 27 (Leeds) and August 28 (Reading).

As Spinner reported on Monday, the Libertines were listed in the Reading and Leeds lineup announcement, making the Guns N' Roses, Arcade Fire and Blink-182 headlined-event their much anticipated comeback. Speaking at the Boogaloo, Pete Doherty said it was "unfinished business" at the Reading festival, as the last time they were scheduled to play there the band's "amps blew up." So they are not so much going to play any new material this year, Pete says, but actually finally "play the old stuff."

On fine form, the co-pairing of band leaders Doherty and Barat -- putting aside past differences -- were charming, friendly and funny in the extreme throughout the 30-minute press conference, where they took questions from the floor. Asked about the fee and possible incentive offered to play the festival, Doherty said it was "actually £1.2 million," but that was just enough "to pay last year's tax bill." Doherty also admitted that if it wasn't for the band, he'd "be writing books or standing on a soapbox now."

Melvin Benn -- director of Festival Republic, who own the Reading and Leeds festivals -- told Spinner, "of course I know how much every artist is paid, but I couldn't possibly comment" on the fee the band claims to have been offered.

Libs fans, don't hold your breath for any new material -- Doherty admits it's "going to be hard enough to remember some riffs from the old days," although he conceded that he's "dying to play some of those songs with the boys and get some new things done."

Making light of his much reported troubles with the law and various drug-related arrests, a police car siren from the main road outside the pub led Doherty to raise his hand and yell "Taxi!" to much laughter from the room.

Asked whether the band would be playing any warm-up shows before the August Bank Holiday festival, the quartet became coy, with Doherty whispering in Barat's ear, "Can we tell?" The answer on the day was was no, but Barat diplomatically said that "time would tell" and "not to count chickens before they hatch" -- so it is feasible that more shows could be in the cards.

The regrouped band, perched on stools -- playing guitars just bought on the day of the conference -- proceeded to play a selection of Libertines songs immediately after the Q&A session ended, even offering to take requests from the floor.

Please let Doherty's share of the pay for the festival gigs be the final nail in his coffin. Such a tragedy

What's the aeitology of the hate?

He's just a waste of a human. He's done nothing but fuel his addiction and that's the ONLY reason he's semi-famous, as a drug addled musician who's helped make two albums of what a group of fans deem great.

Basically he's a weak, junkie loser, and that's why I don't like him. Maybe if the dude attempted to get clean and stay that way he could produce more music with this band you guys seem to love.

He's just a waste of a human. He's done nothing but fuel his addiction and that's the ONLY reason he's semi-famous, as a drug addled musician who's helped make two albums of what a group of fans deem great.

Basically he's a weak, junkie loser, and that's why I don't like him. Maybe if the dude attempted to get clean and stay that way he could produce more music with this band you guys seem to love.

Well that's not very charitable, stu. All junkies are by definition addicted and have physical and psychological variables that make it hard for them to relinquish their maladaptive behaviour, so 'weak' is a bit of a value-laden adjective. Also you must have known an addict or two before, you can't hate them all.

The addicts I've known have sought help. While they're still "addicts" and that will never change, they found "healthier" addictions. That's really beside the point when it comes to Pete Doherty. I have no sympathy for the guy, as I'm sure he enjoys the fame/notoriety showered upon him because of his drug-addled/loser image, but it's really the media's fault for continuing to cover the story.

http://www.nme.com/news/the-libertines/50477

Stu and Shiv failing hard.

For fucking real, like he's the first junkie rock star. Judging by the videos I've seen he's much more put together than the junkies and crack heads I've known. It's his life, maybe he just likes drugs, so what. To say he's famous just for doing drugs is a bit stupid, I mean he does make music that has sold millions of cds, maybe that has something to do with it.

Has Libertines and Babyshambles really sold millions? That means they're in the same company as Ricky Martin and Susan Boyle.

He's just a waste of a human.

It could be argued that the Libertines' reforming in 2010 is of a piece with the band's unerring nose for catastrophic timing. Their career was marked by an impressive dedication to imploding in drug-fuelled acrimony every time vast success beckoned.

Now, here they are, finally choosing to reconvene at exactly the wrong moment, when their once vast influence over British alt-rock has dwindled to almost nothing, when Pete Doherty and Carl Barat's subsequent careers have stalled commercially, when even the Metropolitan police seem to have lost interest in their band's most errant member – in a shock turn of events, Doherty hasn't been arrested for almost five months – and the Sun has moved on to making Amy Winehouse's life an even bigger misery than it would be anyway. Perhaps her usurping of Potty Pete's rightful bete noir role explains the boos that greet her arrival in the VIP area.

Even at the height of their powers, the Libertines were a live act with all the reliability associated with people on vast quantities of drugs, which presumably accounts for the weird intensity of the audience's reaction to their appearance.

There's an edge to their cheering that sounds less like celebration than people willing the band to be good. They get their wish. Typically, after squandering every opportunity when it counted, the Libertines choose the moment when it doesn't matter anymore to play a fantastic gig.

Often just sloppy live, tonight there's a taut force about their trebly racket and a surprising surfeit of light and shade to their sound: they shift from the din of Horrorshow to the sweetly affecting Music When The Lights Go Out. It's hard not to be carried along by the regretful emotion of the latter, or the similarly-themed Can't Stand Me Now. The Libertines were as good at predicting their own demise in song as they were powerless to stop it happening: with the audience bellowing them en masse, the lyrics seem more affecting now that everything they envisaged has actually happened.

You could argue that theirs is a no-risk reformation. It's hard to imagine what they could have done onstage to damage their legacy any more than Doherty's personal life has: what price a duff gig when your singer has been accused of forcing a kitten to smoke crack by the tabloids? You'd hesitate to call it a triumph: even the most anthemic songs – Time For Heroes, Don't Look Back Into The Sun – arrive trailing an undertow of wistfulness: they now sound like the work of a band who had talent to burn, but saw that as a cue to go about burning it. As a snapshot of what might have been it's almost perfect.

I'm not a fan but i've just read a review of the gig from Wednesday (i think), thought Dale & others may be interested. I did enjoy reading the comments (A barely more glamorous Chas n Dave. Doherty is a charisma vacuum).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/aug/26/the-libertines-live-review-forum

reforming, and not for $, but just because they want too.