Peter Doherty: Glastonbury Festival - Other Stage

Sunday 28th June 2009

This is a Crackerjack review of Peter Doherty. Do you agree? Rate and review this event.

Crackerjack rating: 6 / 10.

It’s amazing what difference an ‘r’ makes. When he was plain old Pete, Doherty was way more famous for his drug habit and Kate Moss than for his music, some of which was very good and an awful lot more wasn’t.

Now he’s Peter and he’s made an album, Grace/Wastelands, that’s pretty good; full of proper tunes rather than the can’t really be bothered, written in half an hour, Cockney knees-ups that he’s been guilty of in the past.

In front of a big second stage crowd, he was on time, looking healthy and not off his face; so it’s not just Doherty’s music that has cleaned up. The Last of The English Roses was an excellent start; a dub bassline, melodica and strings fleshing out one of his best songs as a pair of dancers gyrated away next to him. A Little Death Around The Eyes was equally ambitious, with its cinematic feel, and Salome, by far and away the most grown-up thing he’s done, was a sweeping ballad. Another highlight from the new album was Sheepskin Tearaway, a drug ballad on which he was joined by former One Dove singer (and occasional Massive Attack live vocalist) Dot Allison.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Pete(r) Doherty if he didn’t play one or two paper-thin, sixth-form poetry songs but fortunately he seems to be getting that stuff out of his system. And he also dipped into his back catalogue and dug out the odd Libertines and Babyshambles song, with In Albion, For Lovers and Don’t Look Back Into The Sun getting huge cheers from the very youthful audience.

It looks as if the man who was living out the words of his song What A Waster is finally getting it together.

PAUL DALLISON

This is a Crackerjack review of Peter Doherty. Do you agree? Rate and review this event.