Pete Doherty (Photo: Joanne Ostrowski / Live4ever)
Pete Doherty has one hell of a CV that is ridden with skills and accomplishments. Despite crafting a body of work that’s earned him worldwide admiration, he’s always lacked a quality that’s made it so difficult to love him – reliability.
An endless list of cancelled gigs and no-shows have tainted his reputation with the reliability expectations of a London bus. “He’s supposed to be on stage at 9.30, but it’s Pete, you know what he’s like,” muttered a steward outside the Brixton Academy.
This is a perception that Pete is clearly striving to re-brand, as tonight he showed up bang on time. He also surpassed expectations at last year’s Libertines reunions by throwing his heart and soul into those shows, evoking the passion, energy and talent that made the band’s early gigs so captivating to watch. Coherent, lively and beautifully shambolic – this was just like the good old days (if you’ll excuse the pun).
It was a bad night for the touts as tickets were still being sold on the door. This was a worrying sign as the show was announced quite a while ago and Pete has never really struggled to draw in the crowds before. It’s a far cry from last year when he headlined the Reading & Leeds festival with the Libertines, and it’s not as if he’s never played a solo show before. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he’s not got anything new to bring to the table. Whatever the reason, anyone who is familiar with Pete’s music will know that he can be just as powerful alone with an acoustic guitar as he is with a full band behind him. Most of the time.
Pete on a stage with nothing but his acoustic guitar is a refreshing sight. It’s a reminder of just how good these songs are even when stripped down to their bare bones. It also encourages an obligatory duty for the crowd to get involved, and tonight they certainly did. The experience is certainly more sobering than a Babyshambles or Libertines gig, but Pete raised his game to compensate the lack of activity on stage and just about pulled it off.
Libertines classics somewhat predictably got the biggest responses as he tore through the likes of ‘What Katie Did‘, ‘The Boy Looked at Johnny‘ and ‘What a Waster‘. Attacking his guitar with as much aggression and enthusiasm as he does with a full electric band, it’s clear that he still adores playing these songs, some of which are close to a being a decade old now. What’s also obvious is that the fans still love hearing them.
Pete could have done a Graham Coxon and played an entire gig solely consisting of new material, shunning the classics and really going out on a limb. This was unlikely. Via his own admission, this would be his last gig for a while, as he has to go away and write some new material. Has the well run dry? The show felt like an epitaph of Pete’s career as he cherry picked songs from all angles of his back catalogue. It seemed to mark the end of this phase in his career as we’re now well overdue a stroke of genius from the man that was involved in the composing of gems such as ‘Albion‘ and ‘Don’t Look Back into the Sun‘. Another Libertines reunion with nothing new to offer would be hugely dissappointing. We’ve already been there and it’s time for a new chapter.
The songs from his debut solo record did not whip up quite as much excitement as other tracks, which is not surprising as it is a rather mellow record that doesn’t warrant the mass sing-along’s that the likes of ‘Killamanjiro‘ managed tonight. The album is a satisfying effort that went underappreciated by a large majority of the record buying public. It was a shame not to hear more of it at Brixton as the venue lends itself well to acoustic songs.
The night’s gig repeatedly threatened to spill over into full pandemonium, and that moment finally came in the shape of ‘Fuck Forever‘, which sparked a mass sing-along. Hearing lesser known tracks was also a treat, as was a decent stab at Amy Winehouse‘s ‘Tears Dry On Their Own‘ – a dedication to the recently demised singer. The random appearance of female dancers during certain songs still raises questions – mainly ‘why?’ but we can overlook that because Pete’s stage presence completely overshadows them.
Maturer, wiser and if rumours are to be believed – healthier. If only this version of Pete had been around for the past 10 years then maybe the Libertines would be banging out their fifth album by now.
There seems to be a change in the tide and perhaps when Pete returns to the furore of the music business he can continue to rebuild his reputation and come up with some more magic to reaffirm his legacy.
(Matt Humphrey)
