A sold out gig , in a small über-fashionable but friendly Parisian venue, everything was in its place for a great rock n'roll night. Of course, rumours had it that either Doherty would not show up or would perform three songs before mumbling nineteenth century poetry. After his infamous gig at the Olympia where he was almost booed off stage, it wouldn't have been a real surprise. Neither of this turned out to be true though.
We had arrived just in time to grab a mojito, salute old and new friends and discuss past concerts. Doherty was supposed to get on stage at 11PM. Obviously, guess what, he was late. But it was all forgiven when after 45 minutes and the announcement "Yes, he has arrived, give him some time to get something to drink and he'll be all yours", Pete walked across the room, grabbed his guitar and started Time For Heroes. Scruffy, greasy greyish hair and face, bags under his eyes, despite all of that, Doherty turned out to be magic. Suddenly, you could only feel blessed to be there. His presence is messianic, his songs timeless, the venue a temple and the crowd an assembly of worshippers. And the tunes kept coming as if playing on stage was the most natural thing for Doherty to do.
I was never a fan of The Libertines or of Babyshambles though I never turned out the radio when their songs playes and actually quite liked the whole Last Of The English Roses and Fuck Forever period. I had even seen Pete live in 2008-9 but came out quite unconvinced of his performance. I have to say that last Saturday, Pete just blew me away. Then of course, he had to read some poetry written by a male fan. A preacher and a rock n' roll star. He even lent his guitar and his place on stage to the same fan who got the chance to play one of his songs.
By midnight, everything was over. We did get the chance to see Pete Doherty at his magical peak; let's hope he realises - like we did- just how much he's worth.
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