Well, now that the tabloids seem to have really got it in for poor old Pete Doherty (that's what a famous girlfriend does to you) we feel we ought to reinvent ourselves as the defender of Doherty. So here goes. Doherty and his band Babyshambles did their bit for the tsunami-aid appeal on Monday night by putting an a storming set at a benefit gig at London's Garage venue.
With new drummer Adam Ficek seemingly at ease, the band wowed the crowd with a 30 minute set that included Libertines track 'What
Katie Did'. According to the NME, Pete was on fire with a performance featuring plenty of ìcrowd surfing, stagediving and beer".
The only drama of the night was the task of keeping the hungry crowd from crushing their idol - proving that Doherty is still the consummate performerÖ well, he is when he remembers to show up.
Babyshambles topped a bill which included sets from both Ed Harcourt and
The Rakes. The charity show had been put together by, among others, Samantha Morton, Pearl Lowe, Supergrass drummer **Danny
Goffey and actor Rhys Ifans**. Talking about the event Goffey told NME: "We've been trying arrange this show for the last two weeks. The original gigs fell through at the Astoria but Sam Morton has been amazing in setting this up and I'm really pleased that we've finally got these bands together tonight to do this because we've raised about two grand."