Rhythm Factory January 17th and 19th

Rhythm Factory January 17th and 19th

For anyone lucky enough to get to any of the Doherty/ Babyshambles gigs at the Rhythm Factory in Whitechapel on January 17th, 18th, 19th, I don’t need to say what a treat they were. But with only 400 tickets each night, there were not many of us experiencing these amazing gigs demonstrating all the reasons why fans are so enthusiastic about Doherty and Babyshambles.

The venue is intimate, low ceiling and a concrete floor with a long bar on one side. The stage seems to take up nearly one third of the space – and it is small. Ghosts of other performances flit past - Peter – on his own, with Babyshambles and most famously, with The Libertines, who played frequently at the RF.

The first gig was scheduled to be just Doherty, an acoustic set, and perhaps, we hoped, a chance to see glimpses of the quiet poet. The RF however, paid scant attention to the mid-week acoustic theme, and offered no less than six other bands of varying interest - including a well received set from Babyshambles regular, The General, with his reggae/ska style band. At about midnight, (precisely on schedule for those who may have doubts about his timekeeping) Pete came on and treated the rapt audience to two hours of delight. He spent a lot of time perched on a stool clutching his acoustic guitar and running from one song to another, in the intimate way of someone playing unplanned in a room full of friends.

We were treated to everything under the sun – lots of new material, a load of songs from the Libertines early days and only released on the internet, not much from either Down in Albion or The Blinding. The audience spent a lot of time shouting out requests, and although a few people annoyingly failed to wait until he finished a song before shouting out what he ought to play next, Pete maintained a good temper, chatting to people, as well as playing requests. When not stool bound, Pete balanced on the edge of the stage, and was joined for several songs by The General and Purple. Although we got rather more of them than most of the audience would have preferred, they added to the overall sense of informality, as did the ever vigilant presence of Babyshambles guitarist Mik Whitnall. Whitnall joined Doherty for the set as jack of all trades, guitar tech, support guitarist, and even reluctant singer (responding with obvious embarrassment, but good grace to having a teasing Peter shove a mic in his face to sing ‘I Wish’).

A wonderful evening ended at just after 2am when the management turned the lights on, forcing Doherty, who clearly would have played on, and the rest of us, who would have gladly continued to listen, to go home.



Two nights later, we returned to the Rhythm Factory for the full Babyshambles band. Having learned from the long wait on Wednesday, we showed up a bit later, but the Rhythm Factory outdid us. Instead of Wednesday’s six support bands, they offered no less than eight, with Babyshambles scheduled for 1:30am. I don’t know if Doherty and co have any idea of how long the audience, particularly those who want to be at the front, are prepared to stand in one place just waiting! A conservative reckoning is that between Wednesday and Friday evenings, EXCLUDING the actual headline performances, we stood for a total of about ten hours, most of those in one spot near the stage! The time was hard on the feet and back, but not boring. The Friday offering was mostly different from Wednesday’s (appreciated by all of us two nighters, of whom there seemed to be quite a few). The bands did include two repeat performances, The General, who remained in his Wednesday 3-from-the-end slot, and, last on both nights, Left Hand – complete with their own, well deserved fan base, in a sort of sub Rolling Stones sort of way.

The biggest problem on Friday was not that Babyshambles were late on, contrary to the fears being discussed in the audience, but the opposite. Pete arrived well in time, over an hour before his scheduled performance, and then couldn’t keep out of sight. He predictably joined The General for a song, which was great fun, but did have the unfortunate consequence that the forward crush of the crowd, usually reserved until the arrival of the main band, happened with two support bands still to come on! So instead of close compression lasting for the ninety minutes of the main act, we experienced it for nearly three hours – and the two last bands suffered the growing impatience of the crowd – and of Pete himself who seemed unable to resist popping out from behind the backstage door at regular intervals, making the last hour before Babyshambles seem a bit more like the performance was coming from the doorway than the stage.

By the time the band themselves hit the stage at gone half two, the exhaustion of the audience lifted into euphoria. The band were every bit as brilliant as the solo Doherty had been on the 17th – and yet totally different. Doherty exuded energy, the band were tight, balancing his personal brand of chaos and the set was electrifying. Still managing to play to the intimate atmosphere, Pete chatted to the audience, shushing us at one point to listen to someone at the back of the crowd playing harmonica, and chucking his drink over a couple of intolerant fans who booed a between songs rendition of football favourite, ‘you’ll never walk alone’. Every boundary between audience and performer was ignored, as Doherty spent much of his time balanced on the sound monitors hanging from the lighting bars looming over the audience below, literally dripping sweat on us. Pete dressed in his favourite smart suit and tie (which he removed and tangled up in the mic stand causing much mic stand falling over confusion later), turned into rock icon as his shirt rapidly became a slick-wet second skin making him look as if he had been standing in a downpour.

As on Wednesday, Babyshambles played lots of new songs, plus most of The Blinding, some from Down in Albion (not Albion itself, sadly) and a few Libertines oldies, including a riotous version of ‘Time for Heroes’ flowing from the introduction to ‘What Katie Did’. The band is so good around him, Drew McConnell keeping up a steady rhythm even when Adam Fieck’s tight drumming paused, and the wonderful Mik Whitnall, watching Pete and bringing songs to an end when Pete might let them drift on indefinitely. When you could tear your eyes away from the spectacle of Doherty at his best, they were fascinating to watch, communicating with each other all the time to make sure they worked together to give the music its underlying coherence.

Repeating the ending of Wednesday, but two hours later, at 4am, things were drawn to an abrupt close, giving the impression that had it not been for those nasty entertainment licensing regulations, we might have been there all night! Both events included too many hours standing in incredible heat and squish, but it was worth every moment. This is the Pete one hears about and always hopes to see, but doesn't always. Brilliant!

Alice.bigelow@virgin.net

January 2007

Glasgow Barrowlands 10th December 2006

So this was the rescheduled gig that was supposed to happen in October. I was excited, nervous and generally just panicking... something I had to do beforehand, and thankfully we saw Adam so it was done and dusted before I even had time to breathe or register what actually had happened.

We got into the venue at about seven thirty, freezing cold, soaking wet with my ticket in tatters but very excited. Headed over to the right hand side of the barrier, and wait for around half an hour for Odeon Beat Clubt to come on. They're a Scottish band, and while I've seen them twice before I don't remember much of their sets (though I do vaguelly recognise a song). To be honest with you; I'm not that impressed. Whilst I can't fault them on their enthusiasm or their songs (they sounded alright, really) I just think they lacked some sort of spark, presence; they were easily forgettable and I can't help thinking that they're going to stay a Support Act for the rest of their band-lives. It's a shame really as they're nice people, but...I didn't feel any energy from them.

Second on were The Holloways; a London band and one of my favourite to have come out of 2006. They really get the place going and are just generally wonderfull. Highlights from the set are Fuck Ups and Generator (happy songs about record players? what's not to love?). Throughout the set I couldn't help but get a proud feeling of how well the band were recieved; in October they played for us at the Classic Grand when the original Shambles gig went ahead, and the place was so small that we were practically dancing round the band, and tonight they managed to fill a stage as big as the Carling Academy with ease. It was wonderful to see, and they looked like they were having so much fun.

Then a man in full Scottish Atire came onstage with a Libertines bag, and started reading out poetry; cue him getting pelted with beer; i felt so sorry for him. It does actually strike me how odd it is that all these Shambles fans defend Peter's every move with the excuse "but he's a beautiful poet", but when it comes to listening to his poetry, or any poetry for that matter, they start chucking beer and hurling abuse at the person who does so. It's disgusting. Poor guy. Kerry and I made an attempt at listening to what he was saying through all the abuse being hurled at him, and some of what he was saying was quite witty; I can't quite remember what it was, but I'm sure there was some insults being muttered towards the Gorbals area itself hehe, which made for a much amusing few minutes for myself and my friends.


Then a few moments later, BabyShambles come on. They start with the Blinding, and I can't really remember the setlist's order, or all of it but i know they played

Unstookie - full band version of this made my stomach flip about twenty times a second, it was magical. Already one of my favourites, this just...completely outdone the acoustic. Fucking amazing. I couldn't believe that not many people knew what it was and it's such a shame beacause it was absolutely beautiful live. As soon as it started I knew that this was going to be the highlight of the gig, and it really really was.
Killamangiro
Beg Steal or Borrow
Sedative
You Talk
Back From The Dead
Cuckoo - it was wonderful, absolutely wonderful
Fuck Forever
What Katie Did
Janie Jones - as it always was going to be, fantastic, with Drew singing some vocals too which was wondeful. It would be nice to hear him have more of a part in the vocals of the group because he really is just absolutely fantastic.
Time For Heroes - Mick had clearly been practising the solo; it was almost brilliant, tops up to that man. Gave me yet another proud feeling in my stomach. Oh, those boys.
Delivery
108 (I think? Don't its' name) from the Shambles sessions
Albion
Pipe Down - fucking wonderful. He changed the lyrics to the chorus at one point (i think it was the chorus), but i didn't catch what he'd said. The song...it misses Patrick. I miss Patrick. Though Mick was wonderful; I honestly can't fault the man for coming in and doing what he's doing; he had some rather large shoes to fill seeing as Walden's piercing guitar almost Made the Babyshambles sound, but he's doing extremely well.

Terrible Pain - a New one with The General. No comment.

I'm not sure if there was any more, I don't think so, though the list looks awfully short.

The band played wonderfully; it was probably the tightest musical performance I've seen of them yet; particularly Drew and Adam (I actually cannot fault those two, I have nothing but the greatest respect from them both. Incredible musicians, absolutely incredible.). Though whilst the band played the best I've seen them, and they played Unstookie, I think there MAY have been a few too many new songs, not because i didn't enjoy them (i really did, i adore the new ones), but because a lot of the crowd didn't seem to know them, and so a lot of the usual Shambolic atmosphere was missing. From our side of the barrier anyway. I missed Loyalty Song and La Belle from the set too, but Unstookie, Janie and Cuckoo more than make up for this I think.

This would be a better review if I could actually remember more of the gig but this'll have to do. It was definitely a grand night though; thank you to the band and all who were involved in getting them here. I can't wait for the next one.


Jenna MacDonald.

Pics (please bare in mind that they were taken on a shoddy single-use camera, so they're the best that i could come up with);

- Poet
- Babyshambles Sign
- Bass
- Mick Whitnall, Peter Doherty, Drew McConnell
- Peter Doherty
- Peter Doherty
- Mick Whitnall, Peter Doherty, Drew McConnell
- Drew McConnell
- Mick Whitnall, Peter Doherty, Drew McConnell
- Drew McConnell
- Peter Doherty
- Peter Doherty, Drew McConnell

Monday 15th Jan 2007 Boogaloo

To start with, I could not believe that they would play yet another last minute gig!
I was so drained from the week-end, the past few gigs had completely tired me out, especially the one the previous night at the Dublin Castle which was well wild at the end, with a spectacular and hysteric, yet quite scary stage invasion.
Anyway, after pondering for a few moments on my friend’s myspace message, I realised I only had 1 choice: I rushed home straight after work, got ready and made my way up to Highgate to the chosen pub of the night, The Boogaloo.
When I got home, 4 hours later, I knew I'd taken the right decision.
What I got by going to see babyshambles that night was not just a gig, it was the perfect gig experience (in my opinion anyway).
No pushing, no crazy and insatiable hysteric fans, no 'Pete you are a fucking legend' chants, no crushing, no mosh pit.
It was 'just' beautiful music.
Don't get me wrong, I like crazy babyshambles gigs, but this one stood out,, it was so gentle.

I got to the Boogaloo at around 9.10pm, the first band hadn't played yet, went to say hi to a few familiar faces before getting myself a drink.
To my shock, after a short while I realised that Peter was there (early!!!), and again one thing I really loved about this gig was that nobody was making a big fuss about him being there mingling around, it was so chilled. I’m then told that apparently he is planning to get everyone to sing happy b-day to his girlfriend later.
At about 10.20pm babyshambles got on stage. It was fantastic, all those wonderful songs, exactly what I love about them, their heart was in it, all that passion, Peter was so into it, they all were, it felt very intimate and special.
At some point Peter introduced every member of the band...and then he went 'And on management...’ and then chuckled a bit when he said it, as if it was extraordinary for them to have management (which it is!!)
Anyway then Drew introduced Peter saying 'And on pipes Mr. Peter Doherty!' and that obviously raised few laughs... ahem..

set list (from what I remember and in no particular order):
Palace of Bone
Beg Steal & Borrow
I Wish
The Blinding
Sedative
Albion (wonderful, with the usual audience participation in shouting out bits of Britain in need of some consideration)
Back from the Dead
Carry on up the morning
Unstookie
Delivery (my personal favourite at the moment)
Unbilotitled
There she goes a little heartache
What Katie Did (quite rightly so, seen the attendees to the gig…..)
Side of the Road
Arcady (which was magic)
Baddies Boogie (cannot wait to have an MP3 of this one!)
The start of I wanna be adored (!)
La Belle et la Bete
Couple of new songs
and they closed with a glorious version of Pipedown

It felt like the time had stopped for a while and that the only thing happening in the world was the music floating in that pub, nothing else existed anymore, just that green rarefied light, those 4 boys playing a wonderful set of songs, and a stunned happy audience.
I felt I was under a spell for few hours and I wished I never woke up.

xxx

Written by Titania