The Libertines were forced to halt their set in London’s Hyde Park after just two songs last night (05.07.14).
The reformed rockers had blitzed through opener ‘Vertigo’ and were midway through ‘Boys in the Band’ when they stopped playing to urge the 65,000 crowd at Barclaycard British Summer Time to step back as those at the front were getting crushed.
Frontman Pete Doherty said: "We can’t carry on if you don’t calm down a little bit."
After a delay of around 10 minutes, the band were able to carry on, but things were halted during a stripped-down performance of ‘France’ later in the set as audience members were attempting to scale the sound towers.
Carl Barat warned: "If you don’t stop climbing the towers, Pigman can’t do his solo."
Elsewhere, the quartet delighted fans with their rousing, hit-laden set and despite their past differences, Pete and Carl seemed overjoyed to be back together, sharing several hugs and playful moments throughout the performance and at one point, Carl even leapfrogged over his bandmate.
Pete also praised his fellow frontman in a rambling speech to the crowd.
He said: "I wanted to drive my camper van into the backstage area. The security guards said ‘you don’t want to do that because of the traffic’. I wanted to drive it in and put union jacks on top. They said ‘you’ve got nothing to fly the flag for’ and I said what about William Blake? What about Johnny Marr? What about Carl Barat?"
To finish their set, Carl and Pete recited Siegfried Sassoon’s 1918 poem ‘Suicide In The Trenches’ before praising the armed forces.
Pete said: "We remember and honour those who gave their lives for liberty. We thought it was nerve-wracking coming out here tonight but leaving Kings Cross station with a rifle across your back in 1914 must have been really hard."
Prior to coming on stage, an announcement on the big screen revealed The Libertines will perform two shows at London’s Alexandra Palace on September 28 and 29.
Tickets go on sale on Monday (07.07.14).
Earlier in the day, Spiritualized and The Pogues were among the acts to perform on the main stage, while performances from artists including Graham Coxon and Swim Deep were scrapped due to "technical difficulties" inside the Barclaycard Theatre.
The Libertines halt set due to crowd fear
