Libertines rock Paris subway

PARIS - The Libertines have rocked Paris in what fans fear could be the last gig of a two-year blaze of drugs, busts, betrayals and reconciliations.

The band, whose raw sound is close to punk pioneers such as the Clash and the Jam, headlined with indie rocker P.J. Harvey at a party thrown by French subway authority RATP.

They played in a club in the northern Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, a location kept secret until the last minute in the 55-year-old RATP's latest advertising coup to bolster its image as a cool organisation in touch with its young users.

The band whipped up the fans with an hour-long set packed with hits such as "Vertigo", "Time for Heroes", "Boys in the Band" and a superb "I Get Along" to finish.

Lead singer and guitarist Carl Barat dropped his trademark tight leather jacket to reveal a skinny tie on a bare torso, driving the crowd's frenzy up a notch. But mounting talk that Barat had decided to break up the band for good hung in the air.

"I would have loved them to stick around for a third album but they gave us two superb years. It's better they stop now when they are at the top than carry on like The Cure," said Stephane, a 25 year-old Parisian fan.

Two years ago, The Libertines crashed the indie scene with their debut album "Up the Bracket", produced by former Clash guitarist Mick Jones, selling 175,000 records.

Hailed by the New Musical Express (NME) as "the aesthetic princelings among the lumpen indie proletariat", the band rapidly built up a cult following.

In an era of sanitised music, fans praised a spontaneity reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones and two charismatic, self-destructive frontmen in New York Dolls tradition.

The Libertines were named Best UK band at the 2003 NME awards but an internal tussle between the two leaders, made worse by other frontman Doherty's well-publicised drug addiction, cast doubt on their future.

Doherty started a brawl on the Top of the Pops show last week with a member of the audience who taunted him.

In a bizarre twist, Doherty was jailed in 2003 for six months for breaking into Barat's flat and stealing items.

The pair reunited briefly and recorded second album "The Libertines", which sold more than 250,000 copies in Britain.

The album, featuring auto-biographical songs like "What Became of the Likely Lads ?", was hailed by one critic as "a fascinating document of a band in meltdown".

"Carl wanted to give the second album a decent showing. But now he is looking to the future," a source close to the band said.

Rumours The Libertines were about to split for good mounted in recent weeks after Doherty started his own band Babyshambles.

And last week Barat played a gig under the name of The Chavs with members of the Charlatans, Razorlight and Primal Scream.

- REUTERS