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Babyshambles review - Liverpool O2 Academy
It was with great trepidation that I went along to the o2 Liverpool to see Babyshambles. The last time they played it was nothing more than a farce. With band members arguing amongst themselves and ending in Pete Doherty crawling off the stage on his hands and knees. So arriving 20 minutes late did nothing to alleviate those fears but I'm glad to report that the gig itself was great.
Yes Pete was drunk and staggering around but managed to hold it together long enough to do the full 90 minutes plus encore.
Playing a good mixture of old classics and many a track from their new album "Sequel to the Prequel" the band seemed to have settled amongst themselves. Not that everything was perfect with both the band and Pete, at times, playing out of tune and singing out of tune at times (mainly Pete there), but it shed a good light on the new material.
Playing tracks like "Fireman" which is nothing but a full out, in your face, rock anthem and "Dr No" which has a heavily influence of Ska amongst other new songs showed the full potential of the newly revitalised Babyshambles.
Of course most people where there for the classics and the boys didn't fail. With songs like "Delivery", "Pipe Down", the crowd were t rocking along and throwing beach balls and trilby's at the stage which the band relished by heading and kicking them back to the crowd and at one point Pete doing an excellent catch of hat which he subsequently started wearing.
With the encore saw the them playing "Fuck Forever" which I have to admit was possibly the best rendition I've seen, building it to a crescendo of the crowd singing along up to the final note.
All in all I realised that with Pete you are never quite sure how it will turn out but it's always memorable in one way or another and gladly on this occasion all for the good.
