Well, the clue is in the name I suppose. The UK tour of Babyshambles ended in, erm, shambles on Saturday night after another Doherty no-show. Following Pete's shabby performances in Blackpool and Liverpool last week, the band's Sheffield date on Thursday night reportedly went without incident, raising hopes that Saturday night's Astoria date would come together after all. But when, by 2am, Doherty had failed to show for his midnight set, the gig's promoters decided to tell the increasingly impatient crowd that Babyshambles would not be playing after all, reportedly leading to something of a stage invasion during which 150-200 people attempted to trash the band's equipment.
One audience member told NME over the weekend: "Several of my friends say that they saw Pete arrive at the venue - whether that is true or not I don't know. Whatever happened, Babyshambles didn't play and after two hours of waiting, the curtains were lowered on to the stage and an announcement was made. Seconds later what could best be described as a riot began to take place. The curtains were torn down, drinks were thrown, the drum kit was smashed and essentially the entire contents of the stage were destroyed. The security forced the kids back to the other side of the barrier".
A spokesperson for the Met police confirmed they had been called to the venue at about 2.30am but said that when they got to the Astoria any incident that had occurred had come to an end and no arrests were made.
Presumably the real Babyshambles fans in the audience weren't too annoyed - a high possibility of a Doherty no-show now very much part of the Babyshambles 'brand'. Though said fans are probably due the fun of a small riot when such a no-show occurs, if only to justify the ticket price.