Post by Fuggle on Dec 23, 2004 16:34:58 GMT -5
Babyshambles, Barrowlands, Glasgow
MATTHEW MAGEE
Not since Elvis has an announcement that an act is or is not in the building caused such an electric ripple through a crowd. But when the support act abruptly halts their set "because Pete is here" and clears the stage at 9.20, the question of the night – will he turn up? – seems to be answered.
Pete Doherty, the Libertines front man whose drug troubles have seen him temporarily ejected from that band, finally shows up on stage an hour later to a wave of foot stomping, arm waving euphoria. Relief and adulation is a powerful mix. Crisp, clean, loud and disciplined, Babyshambles are not a hastily assembled poor man's Libertines, but their tauter, leaner alter egos, though through their discipline they miss that sloppy groove that the Libertines pull off so effortlessly.
Doherty himself has lost none of his slurring indolence, and stumbles around the stage murmuring incoherently into his mic for half the time. For the other half, he lets his gloriously limited voice hit the barrelled roof of the Barrowlands in gorgeous plaintive cries. Though second-rate songs or below-par performances from Doherty make up around half the show, the rest is brilliantly simple, a punky stomp around some great tunes, from the bluesy flow of Albion to the shouty stomp of Wolfman. Doherty is the most natural of showmen, and has a vulnerability whose appeal and charm have no bounds.
At its best this was the kind of sweaty, full-throttle rock and roll gig that all bands dream of being able to pull off but which very few can.
MATTHEW MAGEE
Not since Elvis has an announcement that an act is or is not in the building caused such an electric ripple through a crowd. But when the support act abruptly halts their set "because Pete is here" and clears the stage at 9.20, the question of the night – will he turn up? – seems to be answered.
Pete Doherty, the Libertines front man whose drug troubles have seen him temporarily ejected from that band, finally shows up on stage an hour later to a wave of foot stomping, arm waving euphoria. Relief and adulation is a powerful mix. Crisp, clean, loud and disciplined, Babyshambles are not a hastily assembled poor man's Libertines, but their tauter, leaner alter egos, though through their discipline they miss that sloppy groove that the Libertines pull off so effortlessly.
Doherty himself has lost none of his slurring indolence, and stumbles around the stage murmuring incoherently into his mic for half the time. For the other half, he lets his gloriously limited voice hit the barrelled roof of the Barrowlands in gorgeous plaintive cries. Though second-rate songs or below-par performances from Doherty make up around half the show, the rest is brilliantly simple, a punky stomp around some great tunes, from the bluesy flow of Albion to the shouty stomp of Wolfman. Doherty is the most natural of showmen, and has a vulnerability whose appeal and charm have no bounds.
At its best this was the kind of sweaty, full-throttle rock and roll gig that all bands dream of being able to pull off but which very few can.