There is a particular satisfaction in watching a band take over a room they once warmed up for someone else. When Mathew and Issey Cartlidge brought their headline set to a close at London's O2 Forum Kentish Town on Saturday, September 26, the occasion already carried the weight of back to back sold out nights. The finale pushed things further when Carl Barât stepped out to join the sibling pair for a run through The Libertines' 2002 debut single, 'What A Waster'.
The guest appearance wrapped up a 21-song headline performance, concluding the second of their two packed dates at the North London venue. For the Cartlidge siblings, returning to that specific stage meant looking back across half a decade. In December 2021, The Molotovs had stood on those same boards as openers for The Libertines, playing to the sparse crowd that filters in right as the doors unlock. Before Barât emerged, Issey took to the microphone to reflect on that timeline. She told the crowd about the 600 gigs they had racked up in the intervening years, expressing gratitude to the room for helping them graduate from opening duty to selling out the Forum under their own banner. In her eyes, the milestone was simply another step along the road.
Mathew introduced Barât to blast through the early 'Up The Bracket' single, sparking an immediate reaction from the floor. Barât had his own perspective to share on the pairing afterwards. In a statement following the performance, he recalled his first interaction with the duo years earlier outside The Libertines' Albion Rooms hotel in Margate. They were young teenagers then, braving miserable weather with instruments in hand, ready to busk. Barât commended the siblings for building their presence the old school way, putting in the hours on street corners and picking up support slots until they could command multiple sold out nights at the Forum on their own terms.
For Barât, dropping into the Forum is becoming a bit of a habit. Only last year, he appeared on the exact same Kentish Town stage alongside Suki Waterhouse to trade verses on 'Can't Stand Me Now'. More recently, he lent his voice to the expansive choir assembled for War Child's 'Help(2)' project. Yet this collaboration felt anchored in something more personal, rewarding a couple of young musicians he had watched grow from roadside buskers into headline draws.
The London shows sat at the heart of The Molotovs' current headline trek across the UK and Ireland, an itinerary scheduled to conclude this week with stops in Belfast and Dublin. Resting will have to wait, however. Later in the year, the pair are booked to provide main support for Razorlight as they celebrate the 20th anniversary of their sophomore record, 'America'.
That relentless work ethic matches their recorded output. The Molotovs have already penciled in April 9, 2027, for the release of their second studio album, 'Welcome To Urbia'. It has a significant standard to match, considering their debut full length, 'Wasted On Youth', entered the UK albums chart at Number Three upon its arrival in January. The band recently gave audiences a taste of the forthcoming record by releasing the title track 'Urbia', continuing a vision Mathew previously framed as a youth manifesto rooted in immediate surroundings rather than high-minded, distant concepts. For a band that spent hundreds of nights proving themselves on the pavement and in opening slots, keeping their focus fixed on what sits right in front of them has clearly paid off.
