Shepherds Bush Empire, 22-2-09

Photo by Aurelien

We knew it would have been a fantastic night! Peter is on top form at the moment and put up a fantastic show, one of those things you store in your memory department under the tag "the best gigs I've ever been to". Everybody were pretty up for the night, not only Peter but also the magic Graham Coxon, the sweet Adam, the lovely Drew, the beautiful Dot, everybody included Stephen Street (although I'm still angry at him for what he did to New Love Grows on Trees). The crowd was very responsive too, with the hugest cheers going to Time for Heroes (of Peter's old band called The Libertines, whose ex-members should try and see what great shape Peter is in at the moment instead of going around whining like old acid hags). OK, we're not here to whine either, so let's enjoy Peter's new course as much as we can!

"Pete Doherty kicked off his solo UK tour earlier tonight" says NME.com "by playing a Shockwaves NME Awards show at the London Shepherd's Bush Empire, at which he was joined by guests including Blur's Graham Coxon. Coxon, who plays guitar on Doherty's forthcoming solo album 'Grace/Wastelands', played for most of the set, which also included solo acoustic stints from the Babyshambles man plus a rendition of Libertines classic 'Time For Heroes'. Doherty, wearing a dark suit and hat, opened the show with an acoustic rendition of The Libertines' 'Music When The Lights Go Out'. Later he was joined by Coxon plus Babyshambles bandmates Drew McConnell and Adam Ficek, as well as a three-piece string section.Later in the set guests including singer Dot Allison, producer Stephen Street (who played guitar) and guitarist John Robinson made appearances on stage.The sold-out crowd, meanwhile, featured The Who's Roger Daltrey, TV presenter Tim Lovejoy and footballer Gareth Ainsworth, the player/coach for Doherty's favourite team, Queen's Park Rangers. Doherty kept chat to a minimum aside from introducing his guests plus asking the crowd what they thought of his "brand new set" before playing a one-song encore of 'Time For Heroes'."

Setlist: 'Music When The Lights Go Out', 'Arcadie', 'Last Of The English Roses', '1939 Returning', 'A Little Death Around The Eyes', 'Salome''Through The Looking Glass', 'Palace Of Bone', 'What A Waster', 'Never Never', 'The Lost Art Of Murder', 'I Am The Rain', 'Sheepskin Tearaway', 'Lady Don't Fall Backwards', 'Sweet By And By'', New Love Grows On Trees', 'Broken Love Song', 'Albion', 'Time For Heroes'.