Pete Doherty Doesn't Show Up To Play, No One Seems To Care

According to NME, ramshackle British band, Babyshambles, recently performed a show in London without lead singer Pete Doherty. Without getting booed. Since popular knowledge previously defined Babyshambles as the new band of the junky that used to date Kate Moss, pulling off a show not just without their biggest draw, but also without the guitarist, Mick Whitnall, defies the mechanics of the universe.

300 contests winners arrived at an NME sponsored party expecting to see the recently somewhat less of a train wreck Doherty, but due to “illness,” he was unavailable to appear. Instead of revolting with hurtling pint glasses a la the scene in Control, in which Ian Curtis is too depressed to bother to go on stage, prompting the manager to pay someone else to go on in his stead which did not appease the audience, the NME party crowd allowed the the Babyshambles members who actually bothered to show up to entertain them. Bassist Drew McConnell and drummer Adam Ficek played a song on their own before pulling a fan out of the audience to take over singing and guitar duty for another song, followed then by the original duo playing some covers before ending with Babyshambles’ only hit song, “Fuck Forever.” Despite the band having everything going against them, the crowd cheered throughout. Does that mean that even Pete Doherty’s own fans don’t even like him?

When asked later to clarify why Doherty didn’t show up, McConnell cryptically responded that “it wasn’t right for him to come out,” further saying that Doherty wasn’t on drugs, while unabashedly affirming that the absence was related to Doherty’s rehabilitation. While Doherty’s antics have gotten the band dropped from their record label in the past, if the group still draws in a crowd despite the criticism, scandals, and blatant disregard for obligation, they’re future in music has achieved a perverse security.