The Libertines, comprising Pete Doherty, Carl Barat, Gary Powell, and John Hassall were the darlings of the new indie/garage rock movement of the late 90s, early 00s. And then it all came to a premature and abrupt halt in 2004 when Pete Doherty was sacked and the band split up without their controversial front man.

Ever since then, despite each of the members of the group going onto other projects, there has been a huge groundswell of demand for a Libertines reunion. Doherty seemed keen, Barat was unsure, while Powell and Hassall decided silence was the best policy.

Barat and Doherty have played together on stage since then but The Libertines seemed like a thing of the past, history. Except that three quarters of the band, Doherty, Barat, and Powell unexpectedly reunited for one night only on Saturday, May 16.

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I admit to being a little obsessed with seeing old groups reform. And hearing that Limp Bizkit and Blink 182 are doing just that over in the States doesn’t help with my problem. Unfortunately, it looks as though the great British reforming trend we’ve recently seen has come to an end. Although some people will be pleased to hear this.

I loved seeing Led Zeppelin reform, even though it was for one night only. Then there was The Verve, The Police, Blur, Take That, and a host of other brilliant groups getting back together. And of Spice Girls had a crack at it, and split again almost immediately.

Two groups I’d love to see reform are The Smiths and The Libertines. Unfortunately, along with Stone Roses, these two bands probably had the worst break ups in history, with various members falling out and not having spoken since.

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Lily Allen has never been backwards at coming forwards. A certain amount of it is definitely for show, with her sometimes controversial comments clearly getting her press coverage she otherwise wouldn’t get. But most of it is what she actually believes, and actually has a ring of truth about it.

Allen has recently invoked controversy and a certain amount of vitriol aimed in her direction due to comments she recently made concerning drugs and people who use drugs.

In an interview with The Word magazine, she said:

“The only [newspaper] story is that drugs are bad and they will kill you - I know lots of people that take cocaine three nights a week and get up and go to work every day, no problem. But we never hear that side of the story.”

Now personally I don’t find that comment very offensive. She isn’t defending drug use, or promoting it in any way, but merely pointing out that there’s another side to the story than the one blithely reported by the national newspapers.

But as The NME reports, that didn’t stop groups such as the National Drugs Prevention Alliance and Addaction getting on her case and arguing that the comments are unhelpful and misguided.

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The Darkness, where to begin? Some of you may not even be aware of The Darkness, especially if you’re a reader from outside of the UK because I don’t think they had much success outside of their native Britain. But The Darkness were huge for a few years.

And then it all fell apart, with the lead singer Justin Hawkins admitted to rehab to treat his alcohol and cocaine addictions. Yes, he was the male version of Amy Winehouse back in 2005 before he cleaned up his act and left Pete Doherty as chief druggie.

Before it all went pear-shaped however, the band had an incredible couple of years, releasing the bestselling Permission To Land, winning numerous awards and selling out huge arena all over the country.

Since the split, Hawkins has formed a new band called Hot Leg, while various members of The Darkness have attempted to continue the spirit of the band with Stone Gods, a new four piece including Dan Hawkins and Ed Graham.

But now there are rumors of the original band reforming with The Sun reporting that the U.S. entrepreneur behind the Dubai Desert Rocks festival has offered The Darkness a small fortune to record a new album and embark on an American tour.

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The Blur reunion saga, will they, won’t they, has been almost as long-running and confusing as the Led Zeppelin reunion debacle.

The latest news on Blur comes from former lead singer, Damon Albarn, who has stated that a Blur reunion is very possible, but not for a while.

It was over a year ago when the first rumblings of a thawing in the relationship between the band members became apparent.

The four original band members met up for lunch, and Albarn and Coxon, the two whose relationship fallout was claimed to be the main cause for the break up of the band, were civil to each other.

But then nothing more happened, with Albarn going back to work on his various projects, including Gorillaz, The Good, The Bad, and The Queen, and his rock opera, Monkey. A year then passed with nothing much being said on either side until Albarn claimed that Blur was over. This prompted Graham Coxon to write an incredible rant about the whole thing.

That seemed to be it, with Albarn not wanting to go backwards, and Coxon seemingly annoyed about the whole thing enough to move on. There have been rumors since that Coxon is working with Pete Doherty on either a collaboration or Pete’s solo album.

And so to present day, when Albarn has again brought talk of a reunion back up.

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Dirty Pretty Things, the band that rose from the ashes left by The Libertines, have split up. While lead singer Carl Barat has made it clear this isn’t because of any plans to reform The Libertines, could it be that this eventually could mean the return of the seminal band?

There were rumours circulating this morning that Dirty Pretty Things had split, and they have now been confirmed by an official statement issued by the band to NME. It reads:

“It is with some sadness we announce the farewell of the Dirty Pretty Things. It’s been a glorious three years which we all would gladly live out again, but it is time for us to try new things (not The Libertines).

“We are reluctant to give up touring but will give the last waltz everything. We have and are determined to go out as we came in, after which we all have other ventures to be getting on with and splendid future plans.

“Heartfelt thanks to all who made it what it was, much love and we’ll see you on the road.”

The band are due to kick off an 11-date UK tour in Glasgow on October 4th, and this tour is still going to go ahead. The last gig at Southampton Guildhall on the 18th is sure to be a doozy as it will mark the end of the band for good.

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I love and hate John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten in equal measures. Yes, he’s over the hill and should have stopped ranting on stage as lead singer of the Sex Pistols a long time ago. And yes, he only says things to cause controversy and buy himself and his band some cheap publicity. But he gives me some great stuff to write about.

His latest little rant comes in an interview with the Daily Record newspaper ahead of his headline act at the Live At Loch Lomond festival this weekend. Acts playing at the festival include Groove Armada, Stereo MCs, Roisin Murphy, The Happy Mondays, Ocean Colour Scene, and Idlewild, but Lydon decided to talk about just two people instead - Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse.

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Being the offspring of a famous celebrity is a double-edged sword: it can help you forge your own career in the world of entertainment purely by people knowing your name, or it can make you subject to unfair comparisons, and accusations of getting an unfair advantage.

A high percentage of celebrities offspring choose to follow their parents choice of career, and with wildly different outcomes. One who seems to be doing well at it is Coco Sumner, real name Eliot Pauline Sumner, who is the daughter of Sting from The Police, and Trudie Styler.

She performed an intimate gig at the Boogaloo bar in North London with her band, I Blame Coco, as part of the Trekstock event, and seems to have wowed everyone with her talent. Which is nice to hear after we’ve been subjected to Peaches Geldof trying, and failing to forge a career as a singer, and DJ.

Coco played an acoustic set, which according to Hello magazine, included a cover of Estelle’s American Boy. She also performed a song called My Name’s Not Sting, an obvious attempt at distancing herself from her famous father.

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Is Amy Winehouse a singer? I have to ask because I very rarely get to actually write anything about her as a singer these days. Instead, the only reason she’s in the news is due to drinking, taking drugs, refusing to go to rehab, and punching fans.

And here’s another one of those stories. This time, she’s been accused of punching yet another fan, this time in a pub close to her home, and her neighbours are threatening to have her evicted from her house due to the constant partying, and mayhem her presence causes.

First of all we have the alleged punching incident, with salesman Wayne Lindsay claiming that Winehouse punched him three times in an unprovoked attack. Lindsay claims that he was sitting in the Dublin Castle pub in Camden when Winehouse turned towards him and hit him in the face repeatedly.

The Telegraph report him as saying:

“She was wild. She just flipped. It was as if she had voices in her head.”

“Amy stormed out immediately afterwards. I was really angry she thought she could get away with it. But I let it go. I’m not an aggressive person. Amy was in no fit state to put up a fight. She looked out of it. It as as if she was in another land. She looked really unwell and quite frail. She seems unable to control herself.”

However, a spokesperson for the singer claimed it was a case of mistaken identity, with the singer retaliating after she had her bum groped. But even if that is the case, you can’t just attack someone and expect to get away with it as Winehouse seems to have done.

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Amy Winehouse has Emphysema, at least according to her dad Mitch. The only good thing about this latest news is that it means she hasn’t got tuberculosis.

Winehouse was rushed to hospital last Monday, and has been in there ever since having all the tests and scans she could possibly have. It was reported at the end of the week that she could indeed be suffering from killer infection TB, but that speculation has now proved to be unfounded.

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