The Libertines bring back 'the good old days' of early noughties indie to Castlefield Bowl with triumphant Up the Bracket anniversary show

'There are fewer more distressing sights than that of an Englishman in a baseball cap', sang The Libertines on early hit Time for Heroes. As true as that may be, watching a once vital band try and fail to recapture their glory days also has to be up there.

So it was perhaps with some trepidation that Manchester welcomed the noughties legends for their Up the Bracket 20th anniversary shows. The Whitechapel quartet's Tony Hancock-referencing 2002 debut remains a classic - and distinctly English - salvo from what was once dubbed the garage rock revival.

Back then, the relatively unknown Pete Doherty and Carl Barat were co-captains of the good ship Albion - a mythic cultural vessel we now know was on course for treacherous waters indeed.

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Yet, two decades later, here it is cruising into view again - but can this once infamous galleon still ride the turbulent seas of rock 'n' roll, or is it time it became a museum piece?

Taking to the stage against a backdrop of their debut’s now iconic artwork - depicting Argentinian riot police - the band move through the gears during openers Vertigo and Death on the Stairs. Those spiralling, splenetic riffs are present and correct as the band limbers up through faithfully ramshackle versions of the songs that introduced Up the Bracket to the world two decades ago.

But it’s on third track Horrorshow - that record’s punkiest and hardest-hitting tune - that they really hit their stride. And the crowd really gets bouncing during Time for Heroes and Boys in the Band - still two of the band’s strongest and best-loved tracks.

They look the part, too. Carl cuts a figure somewhere between Alex DeLarge, Joe