Pete Doherty – Sam Sallon  – Mensah Cofie, Royal Albert Hall, London

I have been waiting for this gig a long time, originally scheduled for April 26, it was cancelled then due to Pete being held at Her Majesties Pleasure at Wormwood Scrubs Prison in West London.

It is ironic that the venue should be The Royal Albert Hall which was built by Queen Victoria. This has to be the most historic venue I have ever been to. More famous for hosting The BBC's summer prom concerts it has also played host to the likes of The Who, Cream, Oasis and The Wombats.
This is the twelfth time I have seen Pete Doherty in concert, twice with The Libertines nine times with Babyshambles and now a solo show. Though he has had troubles in his private life he has always come up with the goods when I have seen him play live. As for tonight's support I have  not heard of Sam Sallon but I have seen Mensah Cofie with his band The Thirst live and I look forward to seeing him again tonight.

Tonight for once I arrive at the venue early I get into the building and scale the many steps to my seat and sit down. I have to say I am blown away by the scale of this place. I have often visited places I have seen on television and been disappointed, but that is not the case here, it is huge. That said my seat in The Circle though high up, affords me and excellent view of the stage. On arrival I am greeted by old rock and roll numbers. I don't have long to wait for the first act.

Sam Sallon arrives on stage with a guitar already waiting for him. As he begins to play I can hear a bit a Crowded House like sound. The second song he plays has a kind of Leonard Cohen/ REM dourness. The third song he plays is called 'One For The Road' it is a soulful ballad with political overtones. The song has a bit of a /Laurel Canyon sound to it. He is well worth further investigation. 

Mensah Cofie (from The Thirst) Arrives on stage soon after Sam Sallon goes off. He is dressed in a manor very much in keeping with Pete Doherty. The Thirst hail from Brixton and were my band of the week number 10. When he begins to play I hear that it is not only his look that is in keeping with Pete.  The music is relaxed and not a million miles from the first act in style though there is a bit more ska on their songs. After a short time he joined on stage by another member of the band. I particularly enjoy their version of The Thirst's 'I'm Falling'.  I feel that this has set the tone for the evening very nicely. 9/10

Pete Doherty.After a wait of about half an hour after the last act has gone off Pete appears on stage from stairs at the side of the stage. I notice that quite a lot of seats have yet to be filled that said he does get a huge round applause. He wastes no time in launching into 'Lady Don't Fall Backwards'. Straight away the hairs are stood up on the back of my neck, Pete has such stage presence and he just oozes creativity, when listening to him I just can't help but be inspired. The first song is very relaxed and in a way eases the audience into the show. Pete's playing sounds great on his trusty Gibson acoustic.
The second song is the wonderful 'Bollywood To Battersea' already he sounds like a musician at the top of his game. His third song is the classic libertines standard 'Time For Heroes' which causes the place to erupt. At about this time a member of the crowd offers Pete his hat by throwing it onto the stage. Pete duly puts it .. throwing it randomly back into the crowd. The set continues along the same vein of  older  Libertines and Babyshambles numbers along with some of Pete's solo offerings. The show allows Pete to show off all his skills as a song writer and performer. In between 'Can't Stand Me Now' and 'Time For Heroes' Pete asks an audience member to hang up their phone which gets a round of applause from the audience. The next incident from the crowd is when an audience member in the front row foolishly throws a bottle at Pete. He is immediately ejected, there is a tussle with Pete on the way out and the person seems unwilling to let go of Pete's hand. Pete berates the man before continuing the set.
He dedicates Libertines anthem 'What A Waster' to his father. Before playing his final song of the first half (Tell The King) Pete explains at some length how somebody had  told him the secret of playing the Albert Hall was the silence but he said he didn't expect that from his fans.
After a twenty minute break when some people where still just arriving Pete returned to the stage joined  by Wolfman aka Peter Wolf to play For Lovers. During the set Pete has shown us his razor sharp wit as well as his great charm even producing binoculars at one point to make the point of just how big this place is.
At one point he asks where people are from and it looks from the response he gets that people have come from all over such is the allure of Mr Doherty. Everyone enjoys the brilliant 'Unstookietitled' which incorporates 'Fuck Forever' and includes a section from Ian Brown's  'Deep Pile Dreams'. Other highlights from the set for me are Music When The Lights Go Out, Beg Steal Or Borrow and the new to me 'Suicide In The Trenches'.
The set eventually finishes after around about two hours of playing and 26 songs, well worth every penny, when Pete is joined on stage by Babyshambles band mate Mick Whitnall to play harmonica on the already classic 'Albion'. After that The two go off the stage to rapturous applause and hysteria it seems for the night. However the fans demanded more by stamping so hard on the floor that it seemed that the building might fall down. Then crowed then starts singing the coda from 'I Wish' and it isn't long before Pete and Mick duly oblige and come back on to the stage to perform that very song for an encore. However it isn't long after that when some loser has ascended the stage followed by another then another, before long Pete and Mick are swamped by a mob and ushered of the stage by the woefully inadequate security. In the frenzy it is rumoured that a guitar was stolen. And so the show came to an end in perhaps an appropriate fashion with the police called and the audience being asked nicely to leave. 10/10

Conclusion:
Tonight was a great gig with first rate support and a magnificent performance from Pete. He is a true professional. He is as good at an acoustic performer as he is with the band. As for the way the show ended, well children will be children. The security who are more used to dealing with a few rowdy toffs at The Last Night of The Proms were clueless and lost control of the situation.
All in all a classic.