Should we talk about DATES?

And I don't mean supermodels or weird religious stuff (actually all religious stuff is weird), I mean LIVE DATES. We need a little order in all this mess don't we?

So, let's give it a try.

Fucking Babyshambles

April 16 - Printemps de Bourges Festival, Bourges, France (headliners of Le Phenix Stage)

April 18 - Festival des Artefacts, Zenith, Strasbourg, France

April 20 - Les Paradis Artificiels Festival, Zenith Arena, Lille, France

April 27 - Love Music Hate Racism Carnival, Victoria Park, London

May 31 - Papillons de Nuit, Mairie, Saint Laurent des Cuves, France (headliners)

June 6-8 - Rock am Ring Festival, Nurburgring in The Eifel, Germany

June 12-15 - Hultsfred Festival 08, Huktsfred, Sweden

June 21 - Rock-A-Field 2008, Luxembourg

June 23 - Hove Festival / Hovefestivalen 2008, Tromoya, Norway

July 3 - Rock Werchter 08, Werchter, Belgium

July 4 - Les Eurockéennes de Belfort, Belfort, France

July 11 - Festival Musilac, Ais-lex-Bains, France

July 17 - FIB Heineken 2008, Benicassim, Spain

July 18 - Vieilles Charrues, Carhaix-Plouguer, France

July 19 - Saturday Night Fiber, Madrid, Spain

August 14 - FM4 Frequency 2008, Salzburg, Austria

August 22-25 Reading and Leeds Festival, UK

Peter Fucking Doherty

April 23 - Grand Rex, Paris, France

April 26 - Royal Albert Hall, London, UK

June 27-29 - Glastonbury Festival, Worthy Farm, Somerset, UK

August 2-3 - Live at Loch Lomond, Balloch Castle Country Park, Loch Lomond, Scotland

Dirty Pretty Fucking Things

April 6 - Snowbombing Festival, Mayrhofen, Austria

May 14-28 - UK Tour (see here)

May 24 - 28 - Dot To Dot Festival, Nottingham, UK

June 14 - Where The Action Is 2008, Stockholm, Sweden

August 22-25 Reading and Leeds Festival, UK

Note: DPT are reportedly a "strong rumour" at the LMHR Carnival.

Plus: Carl Fucking Barat is dj-ing at Club Nirvana, Wigan, Lancashire, on April 11.

More about The Torriano Pub

Photo by Paleyounanglican

From The Camden New Journal:

Pete pulls in the punters for ‘Save the Torriano’ pub gig. Ex-Libertines star adds his voice to campaign as developers threaten to call last orders. HE’S better known for speaking out about his relationships but it seems former Libertines frontman Pete Doherty also feels passionately about his Kentish Town local.The musician played a 40-minute gig at the Torriano pub in Torriano Avenue on Thursday in support of a campaign to prevent developers converting the top floors of the three-storey building into flats.He followed pop icon Sting’s daughter Koko Sumner on stage for a set that included Back from the Dead, What A Waster and Can’t Stand Me Now. The current face of Robert Cavalli’s fashion advertising campaign told the audience: “They’re trying to close this place or take this place back and turn it into flats.”The singer whose battle with drug abuse and on-off relationship with supermodel Kate Moss has rarely been out of the tabloids then invited landlady Susie Martin onto the stage, quipping: “Votes for women.” She said: “We are on the verge of being shut down. We were bought up by property developers about a year ago and the buggers are trying to close us down.“We hope to host many more of these events and we are battling hard to put everything into the pub for our community.” Manager Andy Boyd had received a call from Doherty at 3pm on Thursday, saying: “Let’s do a Save The Torriano gig.”Mr Boyd, 30, said: “I just organised it on the day. The way it works with Pete is that unless we do these things on the night it’s never going to happen.” He added: “I love the pub. It’s a stone’s throw from where I live. I really don’t want to see it go.” About 60 fans attended the one-off gig, paying £20 a ticket. Landlord Dean Guberina, who has been at the Torriano for seven years, said: “It’s a community pub. People come and make friends from all walks of life. We’ve never had any trouble here.” He added: “He [Doherty] was on top form. We got lots of new signatures on our petition. It definitely helped to raise awareness.” Pub regular Claire Sopel, 28, cancelled her plans on hearing that Doherty was playing the Torriano that evening. The clothes designer said: “It was really nice to know that he feels passionate about saving the pub. It was very intimate and he played lots of good songs. The basement bar is very small so everyone got a good view. It certainly brought lots of new faces to the bar that night.”

Our friend Nearerdark filmed the show and put it up here, in case you want to see it.

And now some random news:

• New rumors abound about Peter collaborating with Amy Winehouse. These new rumors stem from some photos published yesterday and showing Pizza heading to Wino's pad carrying a guitar and a book of Albion. Whatever.
• Apparently Peter cancelled his support slot at the Sonics gig for personal reasons.
• The Libertines official site is defunct.
• Don't know about Carlos but Anthony Rossy is alive and planning to tour with... The Mighty Boosh. Seriously.

Peter's not the supporting type

No show of the Pizza last night at the Sonics' awesome gig at the Kentish Forum. NME.com says: "Pete Doherty has cancelled his previously-scheduled support slot with The Sonics at London’s Forum venue tonight (March 23). A spokesperson for The Sonics told NME.COM that Doherty's management had informed him that the Babyshambles man was in his Wiltshire home and was unable to make the gig". Well, of course you can't be in two different places at the same time can you? That's quite understandable. Jokes aside, unfortunately French Dog Writtles seems to be unable to work as well and the chances we know the real reason behind the cancellation (if there is any) are quite slim at the moment. However, the crowd was not too disappointed by Peter's absence. Somebody even cheered. Someone else asked for refunds (ha!).

And yet Peter had started this week on a high. Three gigs almost in a row, with a brilliant appearance at the Woodbury Tavern on Saturday night (here's a short clip). Was it too much? Well, it was Easter after all, and probably a support slot, albeit for a legendary band, wasn't enough to get him going.

The Libertines on BBC1

At 7pm GMT (8pm CET) on April 2 (Wednesday next week), Zane Lowe, well-known music DJ at Radio 1, will be playing 'Up The Bracket' as part of the second round of a series called 'Masterpieces'. The album will be played out in full, gaps and all, no interruptions. There will be interviews and loads of other info about the album and the band, showcasing their influences and the people they then went on to influence. If you live outside the UK, you can listen to the show on the BBC website.

This is what BBC1 says about Bracket: "Pete Doherty's exploits aside, we think it's important to keep our eye on the music and highlight a band who started a vital scene that spawned some of our favourite bands. Their debut album is still lyrically and melodically one of the most adventurous modern indie records of all time". The other masterpieces of the series are Radiohead's "OK Computer", Public Enemy's "It takes a nation of millions to hold us back" and Guns and Roses' "Appetite for destruction".

Still on the Libs subject, the NME has issued a ridiculous "Greatest band of all times" poll. While I'm writing the Manic Street Preachers have taken the lead (which tells you how serious this stuff is). By the way if you wanna vote for the likely lads, click here.

Peter at the Torriano

Peter played another solo gig at the Torriano Pub in Kentish Town last night. Apparently it was 20 quid at the door, so much more than on Wednesday night, but he also played much longer. I wasn't there so I leave the word to Alicepooh and her beatiful review:

"The Torriano – March 20th, 2008. By all accounts, last night’s [i.e. Wednesday] Pete Doherty gig in Kilburn was a pretty odd experience. Too many people packed into too little space, and a strange, aggressive crowd thanks to numerous XFM Radio announcements. People who not only didn’t know the music, but several not even knowing what he looked like (no mean feat considering the number of pictures of Doherty that have appeared in the tabloid press over the past couple of years). Several people said they overheard discussions about whether Alan Wass was in fact Pete. Round this off with an excess of paparazzi anxious to get photographs, and you have the makings of, at best, a mixed experience. It was therefore with some trepidation that I headed to The Torriano in Kentish Town this evening. Again, the gig seemed to have had a different scale of publicity than the usual last minute Shambles or Doherty show, this time, announced on the NME website. None of the ‘post it for five minutes and delete’ approach. The information said the show would be at 9pm. At half past 7 the pub was populated by a small handful of likely fans, by eight there were a few more, and by nine, the pub was busy. But not overflowing. Which was just as well since it was little, and the basement performance space was said to hold only 50. The presence of Adrian from Lazy Eye, Pete’s manager, reassured [actually it wasn't Adrian, it was Andy, the other manager], but no one really seemed to know what was going on. However, the crowd was laid back, the atmosphere in the lovely pub was relaxed, and it was a nice place to have a drink or two. Lots of friendly people, familiar faces, chatting. When Pete arrived, no one mobbed him, a few people said hi, but the mood remained easy. Finally we were let downstairs to the smallest performance room I’ve been in. They weren’t kidding that the capacity was 50, but it was OK, cause there weren’t really more than that in the whole pub. A mic stand and guitar indicated the stage area, and Pete stood about talking to people – there was really nowhere else for him to be. A turntable played Velvet Underground. Just like in the old days. At about half nine, Pete made his way to the mic and welcomed everyone and announced a ‘warm up’ act, Coco. A young woman with an incredibly distinctive voice came up and sang three songs. She was remarkable. Breathy, raw and beautiful. And the crowd clearly thought so too, giving her attention and fulsome applause, and welcoming the ‘extra’ fourth song she played at Pete’s request. An amazing start to the evening. Then Pete came on and played a truly wonderful set. It was close up, intimate and breathtaking. The audience was quiet, managed to convey enthusiasm without undue pushing and shoving, singing along without drowning out the man we’d all come to see, joining in to provide backing vocals rather than a full blooded sing along. Doherty looked well, focussed, and was very chatty, despite a few tentative moments. It must be daunting to play a crowd, however small, when there is nothing between you and them. No stage, no barrier, no security. When it works, it’s lovely. But if the crowd had been one of those pushy-shoving-getapiceofhimquick it could have been horrible. Fortunately, the audience was calm and allowed the intimacy of the event to wrap around us and the performers. But you never know beforehand. Couldn’t have been a greater contrast with Wednesday night in Kilburn. We could all relax and enjoy the moment. I’m not sure if this is the full set list. It’s certainly only in approximate order. But it included: Back from the Dead, Ballad of Grimaldi, Dilly Boys, Whole World is Our Playground, Albion, What a Waster, Death on the Stairs, Smashing, Beg Steal Borrow, Pipey McGraw, Music When the Lights Go Out, What Katie Did, Can't Stand Me Now. Smashing included an approximation of the French bit, although it seemed as if he was making it up as he went along, and that without conviction. He began Beg Steal twice, deciding he’d done it wrong after he’d sung about a third of the song, and a bloke shouting out ‘bravo’ made him lose his place in Grimaldi. The mood was unbelievable. Supportive, warm and happy. And it makes such a difference to the overall feel of the event. About half way through Pete made an announcement about the pub, which is, apparently, threatened with closure, a property developer has acquired it and has plans to convert the site into flats. The landlady came onstage and gave a little talk about this, ending with a plea for everyone to go onto the pub;s website and ‘sign’ a petition. Well worth doing, folks, it’s a really nice pub. What makes a good evening is partly the performance, there’s no doubt about that. But the other people there can make all the difference between something truly magical and something faintly unpleasant. Tonight was positively in the ‘magic’ end of the spectrum. Not to be forgotten in a hurry."

Thanks a lot to Alicepooh for her report of course. Now, listen to this. The Torriano Pub is in dire straits and likely to be closed soon. Adrian Hunter sent this appeal to FDW, asking to spread the word:

"This is mine and Andy's local. It's under severe threat of redevelopment. i.e. flats which will RUIN the area and the community therein. So please sign the petition Do it via Facebook or email (suzanne_martin902@hotmail.com), and tell her you support this. All of our locals are on their way out, but try and help. It's got a special place in my, Andy and Peter's heart and if it goes .... it's just a little step further towards the death of Camden Town. Spread the word ... BB".

Another fucking gig tonight

The Torriano Pub

From NME.com:

Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty will play a gig in London’s Torriano pub in Kentish Town tonight (March 20). The show will follow on from a solo show last night at the Powers Bar, during which Pete Doherty had an altercation with a fan over a football shirt [for heaven's sake...]. Doherty is due onstage at the venue in the north of the city at 9pm (GMT). Tickets will be available on the door. The venue is extremely small so fans are advised to arrive early to guarantee entry.

Peter's "surprise" gig went down well

Photo by Docile333

It seems Babybear has to learn something from Adam when it comes to announcing surprise gigs! Word was out in the middle of the evening, the thing was picked up by Gigwise and Xfm, and the place was crammed, too crammed maybe, with people who couldn't tell Peter Doherty from Alan Wass! But after all, who cares. The gig was pretty good and Peter looked on top form, all in black and with his hair trimmed. Earlier in the afternoon he had dropped in a music shop in Reading where he had bought a brand new guitar.

Setlist: East of Eden, Can't stand me now, Lost Art of Murder, Breck Road Lover (wow, the blog!), Killamangiro, What a Waster, Death on the Stairs (Carl, you little sucker, he's doing it now!), Pipey McGraw, Playground, Dilly Boys, Albion.