It’s difficult to overstate the importance of England’s ultimate prodigal son, Pete Doherty. Having written some of the greatest songs of the century, provided a blueprint for what cool can be, and then left for a new life in Normandy, Doherty’s return to the stage as one of the country’s greatest modern songwriters feels as shocking as it does sweet.
It seems that a new life has opened its hands to him; his two dogs dawdle on the stage like lazy back-up dancers while Doherty sips at drinks and picks at his guitar like he’s finding his feet in his own home.
Doherty pours out a cocktail of greatest hits and more meditative cuts in equal measure. There’s something for everyone in the crowd, whether they be the coal-eyed dandy still following in Doherty’s footsteps or the most louche of Libertines listeners.
An older man looking back to the days when he was still young, songs like ‘Music When The Lights Go Out’ hold a sweeter, sadder place now. Despite Doherty’s mad life on the run, his voice is still as fey and coy as it ever was, and even if he seems a little less confident in his place on the stage, he still performs to a crowd willing him to win. Perhaps they’re pleased that he’s there at all; after a string of missed appearances, his presence in Bristol feels more miracle than mere tour date.
People call out lesser-known songs and he tries his best to serve them up; Babyshambles’ ‘Merry-Go-Round’ is one such example. Even as he thumbs at the song in trying to spark its flint – never quite reaching a flame that bears much resemblance to the actual song – the crowd sing it back to him, helping him along with drunk voices and arms akimbo.
In a set that has all the intimacy of a pub retelling, Pete Doherty shows he will always be the darling of Albion in the eyes of his adoring. There’s nothing he could do to lose his role as pied piper, endowed with the ability to tame a drunken brawl. His English charm still calls out in its attempt to meet its maker.
The set finishes in a final ode to the generation Doherty was key in defining; the indie sleaziness of the early noughties. With ‘What Katie Did’, ‘Don’t Look Back into the Sun’, and ‘Time for Heroes’ playing in shotgun succession, Doherty promises that he’s still the most stylish of the kids in the riot; a boy still on the run, even if he’s learned how to be a man along the way.
Words by Kate Jeffrie @katejeffrie
Pictures Kirkland Childs