Pete Doherty live at Glasgow Barrowlands

May 20 2008 By Carla Callaghan

Doherty plays solo gig in Glasgow

Monday 19th May 2008

Post-prison, Doherty’s short notice gig at Glasgow Barrowlands was eagerly anticipated by his army of devoted fans.

With a long wait to see the man himself, bored fans play penalties with bouncer’s heads as pints skiff by them. The atmosphere of excitement is rife and as the house music fades, a lanky, shadowy figure emerges from the background of the stage.

A suit-wearing, surprisingly clean-cut Pete is greeted with rapturous applauses and showered with pints, fans ‘boo provoking more pint-throwing. Trilbies, t-shirts and a Union Jack are fired on stage, Pete begins with some Libertines hits and a mix of his own set, including acoustic beauties such as "Lost Post on the Bugle", "At the Flophouse" and "The Good Old Days". Libertine songs such as “Albion”, “What Katie did” and “Don’t Look Back Into The Sun” went down a storm as Pete encouraged the audience to sing along. Swaggering cockily across the stage with hundreds of camera flashes lighting up the dark hall, Pete seems to be enjoying himself as much as the hyped-up fans.

Vocal-wise, he’s on top form all the way through the gig, belting out song after song with the occasional speech to the audience. Set-wise, the gig was far from fluent, with roadies intercepting to change guitars and Pete losing the place in some points, but this non-conventional style only added to the magic of the night.

Finishing off the night with a nod to his recent release from prison  with Oasis hit “Whatever”, the crowd go wild as Pete struts around onstage, before nodding to fans, waving and skimming his trilby into the frenzied gaggle of people.