It’s not often that people start queuing outside London’s Koko at 5pm – the last time was for Madonna, and that was Madonna. Tonight though, the Doherty-ites are making sure Babyshambles’ UK tour kicks off in style. Inside, the venue – resembling, for those who haven’t been, a less opulent Olympia with lots of stairs – is gasping with the weight of the audience. On the balconies, people five rows deep are craning for a two-inch wide glimpse of the stage, downstairs, the pit is already a no go zone and the edge of the stage is populated by a small colony of hangers on, most of whom look like they’re auditioning for Flashdance.
The band walk out a mere fifteen minutes late. The swollen crowd, already baying for blood, spit, or anything else Pete Doherty might cough up, go entirely berserk as he flings his overcoat into the pit and launches into a rousing version of ‘Kilamangiro’. Yesterday’s departure of guitarist Patrick Walden from the fold sees Pete back in the role that suits him best. The guitar seems to anchor him to the stage and it’s clear that he’s enjoying being back behind the wheel as they tear through ‘Fuck Forever’, ‘Sticks And Stones’, ‘Albion’ and a selection of Libertine-era classics, ‘Don’t Be Shy’, ‘Time For Heroes’ and ‘What A Waster’, driving the crowd even wilder.
Now hatless as well as coatless, Doherty halts proceedings to make an unshocking announcement bringing us up to speed on his criminal exploits. He reads through a list of charges he’s up in court for tomorrow, I can only assume, in some misguided belief that we actually give a shit. (We came to hear the music, Pete.If we wanted to know what you’d been putting up your nose we’d have bought The Sun.) Still, as with pretty much everything he does tonight or any other, the fans eat it up like they’ve been on hunger strike. Proving beyond doubt that he’s no waster when it comes to performance, it’s sad to see him insist upon merging his musical life with his tabloid one. But with fans like that, they probably don’t even notice.