Pete Doherty opened a storming if haphazard set at Manchester’s Ritz, to Time For Heroes, and closed it with The early Libertines favourite, What A Waster.
That pretty much sums up the two opposing views of the Babyshambles singer – a hero to some, a waste of space to the rest.
I went alone to watch him perform a rescheduled show – he cancelled at the last minute in October – after friends who would normally happily come to pretty much any gig, all told me they would rather stick pins in their eyes than see Doherty. They are not Daily Mail readers outraged by Pete’s lifestyle, they simply think he’s not very good, and, probably, an annoying media whore.
I think they’re wrong.
Last night Pete performed alone, with just an acoustic guitar which he slung into the crowd, along with his hat, at the end of the gig.
Sure, he’s not the best guitarist in the world, or a particularly good singer. I wouldn’t say he looked like he had been living a clean, drug-free lifestyle. He was late. He dashed off suddenly, saying he needed a break, then returned to stage complaining of stomach trouble.
But you never know what you are going to get with Bilo. What he does have is bags of charisma – if a certain drug addled charisma – and some great songs, which will last far longer than he will.
Take the honesty of his lyrics. In Can’t Stand Me Now, he wrote the line: “Your light fingers through the dart, shattered the lamp into darkness it cast us,” for band mate Carl Barat to sing about the time Pete burgled his flat. Or talking of his own reputation as a waster in Babyshambles’ You Talk: “I never said it was clever, I just like getting leathered”.
Last night, Libertinesclassics like Time For Heroes, The Good Old Days, What Katie Did Next, Don’t Look Back Into The Sun and Babyshambles hits including F*** Forever, and Down In Albion, had an enthusiastic crowd of Pete devotees singing along to every line.
In fact in many ways, it was a sing-a-long with Pete, rather than a proper performance. Personally, I think the vast majority of his songs need to be performed by a band to get the full effect, but there aren’t many artists who can turn up with an acoustic guitar and still prompt the near-hysterical, hero-worshipping reaction he received.
I saw him perform with Babyshambles at the V Festival in 2007. Then he wasn’t performing to a room of Pete fans, in fact some people seemed to have turned up just to boo him. None the less, he was in his element. He looked cool, he sounded great and the band were superb. All in all, I thought it was the performance of the weekend.
But Pete will continue to polarise opinion. In Stoke-on-Trent, thanks to his various performances at The Underground, and the Sugarmill, he remains an icon.
A few of the reporters at The Sentinel have met him. One even allowed Pete to use her toilet. For fans, he is one of the more approachable artists who can sometimes be found hanging out with fans after a gig.
That is why he remains an icon, that and the quality of his songs. He doesn’t always get it right, in fact Babyshambles can be downright shambolic at times, but when he does get it right he’s pretty much spot on.
For me his best work will always be found on the two Libertines albums. And now he has reconciled with bandmate Carl Barat – who recently called time on his band Dirty Pretty Things – I’m still holding out hope for a new Libs album.
But for now, Pete will continue to be a drug addled pariah to some, and the best British songwriter of his generation to others. A hero or a waster….. Well, we can’t all be Coldplay.
Richie71's Weblog 