Wednesday, 13 December 2006

Babyshambles, Rock City

I'm to see Babyshambles tonight. I hope Pete turns up.

We catch the end of the Holloways, who are quite good.

There's quite an atmosphere, which is something you don't get much at gigs these days. Are they looking forward to seeing the band or have they just come to see if he shows up. Well, not only does Pete turn up this time but he's also bang on time. 9.30 on the dot and the band are on stage. He gets a big cheer when he announces that for the first time ever they have turned up for every night of a tour. He is also on form and is excellent entertainment.

In contrast to the 'Dirty Pretty Things' gig the other week when everyone was five foot tall at most, tonight everyone is six foot six, including most of the women. It is a lively gig, again almost a throw back to the old days. These days crowd reaction seems to be a thing of the past. Tonight there's also a striking reduction in the number of camera phones being used.

Opening with stuff off the new EP and then mixing loads of new tracks with stuff from 'Albion' and Libertines classics such as storming versions of 'Up The Bracket' and 'What Katie Did'. If Carl is appealing to the Mizz crowd then Pete seems to have hung on to the Libertines hardcore. The crowd sing most of 'Can't Stand Me Now', particularly the parts that Carl would have sang. There seems some irony in this.

'Killamangiro' almost causes a riot, then after a Nottinghamised version of Albion, they close with 'Fuck Forever' having played for an hour and twenty. A good innings by today's standards. There's no encore, no 'Loyalty Song', no '32nd Of December'. Is this their choice or the Rock City 11pm curfew. Can image if Rock City told them they'd only got time for one more song, he'd problem tell them to stuff it.