On 15th December we wrote up a post with the title: The Last Pete Doherty Story Of The Year? With another 16 days to go to the end of the year, we all knew there was easily time for at least one other story, especially with Babyshambles still touring.
NME.com goes for the lazy (but less esoteric than ours) option with its headline London Gig Ends In 'Shambles', reporting that Babyshambles failed to play their end-of-tour gig at the Astoria on Saturday night. The NME says that, "According to eyewitnesses, this sparked a massive stage invasion by between 150-200 people. While security attempted to regain control, crowd members were seen attempting to destroy the band’s equipment."
We don't know about you, but if we were anywhere near the band's equipment, we'd be trying to half-inch it, not destroy it but that may say more about us than the Babyshambles fans. Certainly the Met seemed happier with what happened. The NME quotes one of the boys in blue as saying, "When we got to the venue no offences were reported and no arrests were made." (Funny, the police never seem to take that 'blind eye' approach at football matches, as England fans can testify.)
Perhaps Pete Doherty was trying to steal the limelight back from the Libertines who played what might be, according to the ever-reliable NME, their last ever show last Friday night in Paris. It's a crying shame if it's true - what made the Libertines a great band is also what destroyed them. The line between genius and madness is a blurred one and it seems Pete Doherty's line is more blurred than most. Unfulfilled potential is one of the saddest things in this world and, for all the crap that's generated around Pete Doherty and The Libertines, we hope there's still a future for them. To paraphrase: What a waste, what a fucking waste...
