The Libertines talk late nights, the magic of Glastonbury and “tantalisingly gorgeous” plans for new music
The Libertines caught up with NME backstage at Glastonbury 2025, where they told us about the magic of the festival, meeting Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, and teased “tantalisingly gorgeous” plans for a new album. See a snippet of the video interview above and read the full thing below.
The indie heroes took to the Pyramid Stage on the closing Sunday ahead of Sir Rod’s legends slot, where they played a smattering of classics and new fan favourites from 2024’s ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade‘ and landed as one of the highlights of NME‘s weekend.
As veterans of Worthy Farm, Pete Doherty and Carl Barat gave us a somewhat chaotic quick catch-up about what makes the festival so unique, their meeting with Michael Eavis, backstage run-ins, and the band’s next move.
NME: Hello, The Libertines
Doherty: “Are we on? Good, because this is gold. This girl was convinced that Carl has had touch-ups, facial surgery, some sort of work done. She tried to put her little theory on Youtube. She had this AI graphic vision of the face and everything. Now she’s mysteriously disappeared. The family haven’t seen her for two week.”
But for clarity, none of you have had any work done?
Doherty: “He [Carl] dyes his hair. Apart from that, it’s too late for me. Once you start using it, you’re alright. I’m already a little bit white in my hair. If I start dying my hair dark now, everyone will know, right? Anyway, speaking of Rudy Giuliani…”
Barat: “Have you a couple [of grey hairs] downstairs?”
Doherty: “What? The odd one…”
Barat: “Don’t they say that about the politician Alistair Darling? He had white hair, black eyebrows and ginger pubes apparently.”
Doherty: “No, that’s the Mayor of Le Havre.”
Barat: “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Doherty: “The Mayor of Le Havre.”
Barat: “Why the fuck are you talking about the Mayor of Le Havre?”
Doherty: “Édouard Philippe. He’s got a half-white, half-black beard.”
Barat: “I’m talking about Alistair Darling having Neapolitan hair.”
Doherty: “Wasn’t he in Blackadder?”
Barat: “What was that Rik Mayall quote?”
Doherty: “‘The last person I called darling was pregnant 20 seconds later!’”
Barat: “This is going well, isn’t it?”
Anyway, good afternoon The Libertines – I just caught you having a chat with Michael Eavis. What’s he got to say for himself?
Doherty: “Oh my lord. He’s an icon of merry old England, man. If I ever build my totem pole, which I’ve been talking about designing and planning for so long that it’s not going to happen, then he’s going to be on it.
“I don’t think England realises how much the rest of the world envies the music that comes out of this country and the Glastonbury festival in itself. Now listen – I’ve been around the block a few times now, and I’ve played a lot of festivals around the world but there’s nowhere like this. I’m not talking about here in the sanitised backstage area where you’ve got soap and shit like that. The thing that it is out there, that fucking mad psychedelic thing, it’s still there. They tried to make those fences deep, but I’m telling you there are still fucking tinkers and that getting in and having it.
“Jack Jones [of Trampolene] for example. He’s ruined his hands and put his kneecap out of joint, but he made it in.”
Barat: “Is he on Strap Originals [Doherty’s record label] by chance?”
D: “Yeah, of course he is. Are we getting free advertising space? Is that was this interview is?”
Speaking of backstage, we just saw Ronnie Wood rolling around
Barat: “He once gave me a guitar pick, randomly. It was one of those hard ones that I can’t play with because they snap, but it had some tits on it. Just painted on.”
D: “He has a way of just making you feel alright.”
Barat: “Yeah, like Supergrass.”
D: “He’ll give you a smile, he’ll slap you on the shoulder, and he’s a fucking good guitarist.”
Barat: “A fucking good guitarist – a really mellifluous guitarist.”
D: “And he can paint. He does all those oil paintings. But, I wouldn’t leave him in a room alone with the missus. I’m joking, I’m joking.”
Have you seen Rod?
Doherty: “Yeah, we’ve just been up to see him. We just politely escorted out of the family section. He’s wearing a full-on matador outfit. The kind of thing that [Carl] would have worn…”
Barat: “…had Rod not have worn it.”
Doherty: “He was having a good old fucking knees-up.”
Barat: “He’s brought Vegas to Somerset.”
Doherty: “It makes me think of Scarborough Steve [formerly of The Libertines and Babyshambles]. Back when I was susceptible to other people’s ideas and opinions, Scarborough Steve was the last word in cool for me. His icons were Johnny Thunders and Jim Morrison, but he also had a picture of Rod Stewart of his wall. It was the front cover of an album called ‘Never A Dull Moment’. He put it on one day and it made me think of Rod Stewart in a different way. I’d grown up with ‘Sailing’ and that, but then hearing this growling, dirty guitars, Faces thing…
“He’s a bit of a ledge, really. I know Glasgow Rangers fans hate him and all that, and he seems to be on a Morrissey, Nigel Farage trip. But that’s that generation, isn’t it?”
Barat: “The mood changed when he brought us some whiskey and sent it to our dressing room. Everyone who was in two minds suddenly changed.”
Doherty: “He’s just a bit of a ledge, isn’t he?”
Pete – Carl asked you a very good question on stage just now. When did you go to bed last night?
Doherty: “I went to bed fairly early actually. We took the babby back and we watched a bit of Glastonbury on telly with the babby and had a little dance.”
Barat:: “That’s not the answer he wanted. The answer he wanted is that you got into a sweat lodge at about 9pm…”
Doherty: “No, on French time I went to bed at about 11.30pm.”
Barat: “I went to bed on Thai time and had a really good hour.”
What did you get up to, Carl?
Barat: “Stuff that made me look like this. We had a good time, though. I managed to summon the Glastonbury spirit. I love the way that everyone marches to their own tune at Glastonbury. Everyone is the version of themselves that they don’t quite dare to be in normal life. There’s something very beautiful in that. Suddenly the mask is dropped. People’s peculiarities, eccentricities, bents, kinks, whatever – for all the world to see, and they’re very comfortable with that.”
Doherty: “The CBeebies Tent was unbelievable. They were all up there. I love Cbeebies. Mr Tumble was there, but it’s all about Bluey, really.”
Barat: “He says it’s all about Bluey, but when he turned up and Hey Dougie was there, he opened his arms wide, gave him a massive hug and then blushed.”
Anyway, that was an amazing set.
Doherty: “Oh yeah, Cbeebies smashed it. They did the ‘Hokey-Cokey’ and had the whole tent bouncing. Unless you’re talking about The Libertines set?”
I was.
Doherty:“I struggled a bit because we’ve started using these in-ears [monitors] – whereas I prefer the raw sound of the amp, the smell of the limanent, the roar of the crowd. But I’ve heard from people who’ve all said it was a good show. I just felt like we were all so far away from the crowd.”
Barat: “I can see the moments when you were a bit withdrawn, but I think that worked out.”
Doherty: “I never know what to do, like those moments when we lock eyes and we have to get on. If I try and do something silly then I look like a plumb on telly.”
Barat: “I quite like that bit where we went…”
*At this point, the duo start singing their song ‘Shiver’*
The new songs went down really well. Have you had any more thoughts on the follow-up to ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’? Pete, you said you wanted some jazzy Stevie Wonder vibes?
Doherty: “Nope, I never said that!”
Barat: “We’ve had some thoughts. A lot has changed across the pond and our visas are in jeopardy.”
Doherty: “We did have quite a strong idea.”
Barat: “It involved going to America.”
Doherty: “No no no, for the next album.”
Barat: “Oh yeah, keep that under wraps”
Doherty: “Alright, but we’ve got a really interesting, tantalisingly gorgeous idea that we’re keeping under wraps for now.”
Will there be new music soon?
Doherty: “I just released an album [‘Felt Better Alive‘] a month and a half ago man! What do you want? Blood?”
Sorry.
Doherty: “Anyway, I have to say all in all, it’s a game of two halves. At the end of the day you’re either chuffed as a lad or sick as a parrot. Did you see that fan with The Simpsons flag? It had Carl and me really fat with a ‘tasch playing the guitar. The fuck? Happy days, man. If Matt Groening is reading this, any time, anywhere man.”
The Libertines’ remaining summer tour dates include stops at Dreamland in Margate, The Eden Project, Halifax Piece Hall and their own curated day at London’s Gunnersbury Park. Visit here for tickets and more information.
Check back at NME here for the latest news, reviews, interviews, photos and more from Glastonbury 2025.
The post The Libertines talk late nights, the magic of Glastonbury and “tantalisingly gorgeous” plans for new music appeared first on NME.
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