I was a fan of The Libertines back in the day. Not one of those “Pete is god. This is the greatest band ever,” sort of Libs fan, but of the nature that I can appreciate good, original songwriting that sounds a lot like The Clash. The Ledge and I even went down to London to see them play at Brixton Academy, a gig which began with Chas n’ Dave and ended with Pete having a strop on stage when he thought Carl looked at him sort of funny during “Can’t Stand Me Now” and promptly attempted to destroy the stage before being chased off it by the band’s own security and re-emerging about 10 minutes later bleeding from what appeared to be a knife or razor cut down his chest. Lovely. Yet the band were captivating on stage.

So, I did feel that as I think Dirty Pretty Things have released a decent album which pretty much sounds like the Libertines that I should go see them at least once. I really shouldn’t have bothered. While The Ledge was off enjoying Danielson and while Arab Strap were gracing Manchester with their idiosyncrasies for the final time, Dirty Pretty Things were putting on one of the most boring and uninspiring shows I’ve seen in ages.

It started ok, we got down to the Apollo in time to catch the tail end of Hot Club de Paris who I think are great. Sadly, the DPT fans disagreed and they were booed and bottled. That should have been an indication of things to come. Then Larrikin Love rocked up on stage and we walked off to the bar. I heard a bit of Larrikin Love, they weren’t as bad as I expected, but it was pretty much another young group trying to emulate their heroes – Pete n’ Carl.

Finally, DPT. Now, we’d had a lovely time in the crowd before the gig. People were very friendly, we’d been chatting to some lads who had offered to pick me up so I could see the gig. Strangely enough, however, I was stood behind some small females and could actually see the stage, even from halfway back at the Apollo. Shortly after the band came on, Bricking Chick bolted for the front and the lads behind me disappeared. As the band did a set-by-numbers off their album, barely looking up from their instruments, ignoring each other and the crowd, and I listened to the chattering around me (every time I go to the Apollo….) I stood and debated whether or not I should move forward to try and get some atmosphere or stay where I could see. I opted to stay put, mainly because I wasn’t in the mood for a mosh pit. I was treated to some 18-year-old idiot girl who thought she was in the mosh pit, banged into me about five times and then screamed at me for being in her way. Apparently I was meant to apologise for standing with my hands in my pockets because when she slammed into my elbow and nearly knocked me over it hurt. I wasn’t even trying. If I had been trying it would have hurt a lot more. She got told to “**** off” and spent the rest of the gig jumping up and down and glowering at me. I think she was maybe out on day release from the institution for the first time in a few years.

In any case, that was the highlight of the set. The band disappeared and then re-emerged to play a cover of “In the City” by the Jam which sounded more like the original than the original sounds before finishing off with two Libs songs, something I can’t remember the name of from the first album and then “I Get Along.” Strangely, the crowd didn’t even seem to realise they were Libs songs. Either that or they actually thought they were watching the Libs. I was relieved when they finished because it meant I could find Bricking Chick and go get a drink. When I did find her, outside the venue in the midst of all the bootleg t-shirts, the first thing she said to me was “That was shite. I need beer to erase the memory of its shiteness” and we sloped off to Matt & Phreds where, shockingly, the nameless jazz-bar-by-numbers band was actually more inspiring than Dirty Pretty Things. Still, you live and you learn. I learned that even though Carl Barat may look pretty, he puts on a robotic live performance.

Video: “In the City” – The Jam

Video: “Deadwood” – Dirty Pretty Things

Video: “Don’t Look Back Into the Sun” – The Libertines

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 5th, 2006 at 9:35 pm by JustHipper and is filed under Gig Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.