At last I finally get to write a review on perhaps my favourite musician ever, Mr Peter Doherty. To say I love him is an understatement and whenever he announces any live dates I always have the urge that I must go and see him again. The Libertines were a great band but that was along time ago, for me Babyshambles were the real deal and I feel/felt very sad when I heard the rumours that they were no more.The article in this weeks NME saying The Libertines are not to reform doesnt really bother me but the thought of not seeing Babyshambles again does. They were the band for me, sporadic, edgy, unpredictable, exciting and they always wrote and played great songs.
This tour however is just Peter Doherty solo which still excited me as last time he played in this very venue he was show casing his new solo album.  He had a full band then, 3 piece orchestra, Graham Coxon (Blur) on guitar, a full band and even ballerina’s. This time all we get is the ballerina’s and thats just for 2 songs.

I’m not going to run the show down because when you love someone so much it is a bit unfair but I did feel while standing there that the massive crowd including me were being ripped off a little bit. Ok, if he was playing a tiny club or pub an acoustic set of this nature would have been justified but an o2 academy tour, venues this size with no band or strings is a little bit like grabbing your money and running.

The venue had an 11 pm curfew which worried me even before I  got to the show as Pete and times  dont normally go together!. When we arrived at the venue I asked the doorman what time he would be on and was told 9.30 pm when he didnt come on stage at 9.30 I started to panic. I panicked even more when a female roadie came out onto the stage and freestyled a rap song for 5 minutes much to the crowds annoyance!

Pete finally strode out onto the stage at about 9.45 pm (panic over!!) and was greeted with a heroes welcome, he quickly launched into At the Flophouse , an early Shambles b side quickly followed up with two Libertines classics which had the crowd singing every word.

The set continued and he played alot of songs but sadly not that many new ones,  there was no inbetween song banter and joking that one would normally expect, perhaps due to his impending court case today (20th May) praying on his mind STOP PRESS!!! As I write this Peter has just been sentenced to 6 months in jail for cocaine possesion (What a waste of tax payers money)

The set continued for over an hour and as my good lady was the driver we left the gig just as The Libs classic Music when the Lights go out finished, just before 11 pm

His next live dates are in September, 3 dates in total one locally at the newly refurbed York Barbican, his sentence obviously now throws these dates into doubt but we will see.

I probably will give this date a miss unless he is accompanied by a full band as The Barbican is a big venue for one man and his acoustic guitar.

Finally to conclude, the support act was his old mucker Alan Wass, who was good to watch, much better than you would expect. Someone to watch out for in the future. He is similar to Pete, acoustic guitar and suit but still worth a listen.

Set list as follows, if anyone knows the song titles i am unsure about please let us know.

At the Flophouse

Dont look back into the Sun

Cant stand me now

Unbilotitled

Tell it to the king

Arcady

For Lovers (with Ballerina’s!)

Kilamangiro

Love you but your green

There she goes

Time for heroes

Tous les Jours (???) Excellent new song with Ballerina’s. Reminded me of music from a jewellery box

Lady Dont you fall backwards

Songs they never play on the radio (????)

New song (???)

East of Eden/Blue moon

Music when the lights go out

By Andy on May 23, 2011