July 12th 2008: Gig at the Royal Albert Hall

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Guardian Review:

Pete Doherty's appearance at the Royal Albert Hall was always going to be controversial. But having braved indignation and incarceration, the indie icon turned tabloid whipping boy breezes through the crowd and on to the hallowed stage looking carefree and only a few minutes late.

Originally scheduled for April 26, this, Doherty's biggest solo show, was postponed when he was sentenced to 14 weeks in prison for breaching probation. He served just 29 days, but the angry reaction from fans has clearly wounded him. "I got a few letters when I was in Wormwood Scrubs about how inconvenient it was. I thought 'Yeah, it must be really difficult' as I sat in my little cell," he says, coolly.

Aware that the public's much-tested sympathy is finally running out, it's a focused and self-professedly sober Doherty that picks up his acoustic guitar. Dark-suited and brown-booted, he's on good form, the colour in his cheeks and twinkle in his eye perhaps due in part to his reported renewed contact with ex-love Kate Moss.

But Doherty is here for his music. The reality-rooted romance of Lady Don't Fall Back melts into Bollywood to Battersea, but it's the Libertines' Time For Heroes that temporarily ignites the atmosphere.

Doherty's disciples are used to intimate, sweaty venues where they can demand requests and their pound of flesh. But tonight holds a different allure. "People said, 'Pete, play the Royal Albert Hall, it's the silence between songs, the respect from the crowd'." He pauses, sighing: "You ain't heard my lot, mate."

While most are content to merely shout out to their hero, one unsteady fan in the front row invites Doherty's ire - chatting on his mobile and throwing a soft-drink bottle at the singer - and has to be removed by security guards. Still, Doherty plays with tenderness and warm affection. Rather than selecting songs from his yet to be released solo album, he gets "all nostalgic", with a run of Libertines favourites including The Likely Lads and Vertigo, though curio You're My Waterloo and a rendition of Siegfried Sassoon's Suicide in the Trenches wash over less knowledgeable fans.

Back after an interval and two rum and cokes - "I can't see straight," he jokes - Doherty is joined on stage by the Wolfman, whose out of tune vocals sabotage This Is For Lovers, while his lack of personality only heightens Doherty's charisma. Babyshambles guitarist Mick Whitnall plays harmonica on the hymn-like Albion, with Doherty skilfully building tension until his voice explodes in a husky, desperate cry.

Fuck Forever is as British an anthem as anything the Proms has brought to the Albert Hall and Doherty's finest moment. But just when it looks like he's escaped without controversy Doherty returns for an encore, I Wish.

Helping eager bodies to clamber next to him, he is soon swamped by more than 100 fans. Not used to such irreverent behaviour, security guards lose control of the stage invasion, which soon turns dangerous. One girl is pushed off the stage, while others fall under feet as they try to get closer to Doherty, who disappears out of a side door, his reputation for trouble intact but musicianship reaffirmed.