Great Escape 2009: Babyshambles, Audio

Last year on the same temporary stage Levi’s hosted the weekend’s big event when they snatched We Are Scientists, hot off the back of their second album, for a ‘secret’ gig to kick off the festival’s last night. This year, in terms of the furore created, they have outdone themselves. From the moment the festival’s text service alerts half of the city that Babyshambles are in town, at roughly 2 o’clock, there may as well not be a single other band in the district. Forgive me if I am wrong, but Babyshambles aren’t that good. Are they? Maybe the fire is fuelled by the rumours that fill the air; Mick Jones is in town with Dirty Stop Out, Carl Barat and Gary Powell played with Pete at the Rhythm Factory the night before, is there something special about to happen?

After press and delegates there is only room for around fifty lucky fans inside the Audio beer garden, but many more queue around the venues walls, climbing upon bus stops and trying their luck any which way to grab a glimpse of Doherty and Co; and the bar next door, which offers as good a view as the venue itself, does its best business of the year.

After an hour and a half of waiting and having seen other band members mingling the old doubts creep in, and then there is the notion of putting the frontman armed with a guitar and a bottle of Maker’s Mark several feet up in the air on an unguarded stage; something is bound to go wrong, surely.

But other than a brief slip after perching himself precariously on a speaker everything appears to go to plan. The band sound as tight as is possible in the strong sea breeze and ignore the feedback that would disrupt lesser men. Kicking off with a powerful take on ‘Side of the Road’ with Mick Whitnall the real star, a bruising version of ‘Delivery’ whips the crowd into shape before Doherty stops for breath and a little banter with the crowd. Leading his army in a rendition of “I do like to be beside the seaside” that won’t ever make the music hall and then heading a foam football back into the crowd he duly ignores the crowd’s attempts at starting a Queens Park Rangers chant.

Relatively subdued versions of ‘Pipedown’ and ‘Beg, Steal or Borrow’ follow before, after just four songs, the band settle into their stride for the big finish. When not playing guitar Doherty often cuts an awkward figure but the way he attacks ‘Killamangiro’ and ‘Fuck Forever’ is admirable; the latter finally comfortable in its guise as an indie anthem, living up to all expectations so gloriously made before it had even been demoed. The jagged, breaking guitar lines and staccato vocal almost manage to echo in open air and the words, lost in the wind under Doherty’s murmur are thrown back by those in and around the venue. It is the early Babyshambles songs that benefit the greatest from the prevalence of this well-rehearsed and most stable of incarnations, but this big finale comes far too soon for those that waited all afternoon for just six songs.