Peter Doherty Brings A Flavour Of Old And New To An Eclectic Evening At Whittles – Oldham Greater Manchester 14 March 2025

March 16, 2025
International Concert Reviews, UK Concert Reviews
by Michael Bond Photographer/Writer

WORDS AND IMAGES MICHAEL BOND

Tonight’s very much anticipated Pete Doherty’s ‘Anywhere In Albion’ tour rolls into Oldham and more specifically the 450 capacity whittles nightclub. At first it might seem random for someone like Pete to be playing in a backstreet club in an old northern mill town. But you don’t need to look too far back in history to see that Pete and more specifically The Libertines have played just round the corner at the Castle nightclub, back in the early 2000’s as they rose through the ranks as part of the NME tour.

Walking up to the venue early, you cant miss the tour bus parked out front and almost stretching the full length of the venue, just puts into perspective what a privilege tonight’s show is going to be, having the opportunity to see someone in such an intimate venue that would usually be headlining multi thousand capacity venues or festivals.

Even before the doors were open, a queue of eager fans are already lining up, waiting in the bitter wind as we slowly file through into the venue. Immediately after getting past the ticket kiosk the scene of the evening is set, when my eyes land on Pete, as he saunters across the room carrying his 2 year old daughter. Straight away I can tell the evening is going to be informal, personal and a one off. As the evening progresses, ticking down to the first planned support and more excited fans file in, Pete takes to the stage, acting a compere and offering homemade fanzines containing poetry and stories. letting the crowd know there has been some additions to the evenings performance. Explaining a local musician had been waiting outside the venue earlier in the day on the off chance of getting an opportunity to perform, which he seemingly pulled off.

As Zeny is introduced, a timid young lad makes his way onto the stage to get his acoustic guitar plugged in, which just to jangle his nerves, doesn’t go to plan. With the PA not picking up his kit. But this technical issue couldn’t have gone more to plan as the Tech picks up another guitar sat on the stage. So going from being outside on the street to being given this potentially once in a lifetime opportunity, Zeny is now holding Pete’s own acoustic guitar. Looking slightly dumbstruck as he pulls the guitar strap over his head, turning to Pete to confirm ‘this is your guitar, isn’t it’ to which Pete replies with a nod. After this initial blip, Zeny begins
playing original material to the early attendees, and if he couldn’t think this evening could get any better, Pete moves in from the wings, sits himself down at the drum kit and starts playing along for the second and final track of Zeny’s surreal evening.

Next up, and another opportunist who got down early on the off chance they could read some poetry, a girl who’s name I cant remember, but Pete affectionately refers to her as the ‘Manchester Cinderella’. Delivering a powerful and emotional poem about loss, she also grabs this opportunity with both hands as she resights the pain she went through and how she turned to poetry as an outlet to help process her emotions.

Following this powerful recital, we are back on track with the evenings proceedings as opener Ellis Murphy, another acoustic act, shows off his talent. Taking influence from the likes of Jake Bugg and Bob Dylan, with one song in particular almost mirroring the pace and flow of Dylan. You can see how he has ended up being given the stage tonight and at only 20 I can see him making the most of more chances like this in the future as he makes more of a name for himself.

With not much kit on stage to be moved, the stage turnaround is quick if non-existent. Giving more time for the ‘Manchester Cinderella’ to read poetry to us, in the second of what would turn out to be three points through the night. Following this Pete wanders back on stage to introduce the next band, as his dog plods around the stage behind him, temporally having a lie down and occasionally meeting the crowd. Explaining ‘this was meant to be an acoustic tour’ but on hearing GANS he explained he had a change of heart, and boy did these two turn up.

Comprising of a striped back drumkit and bass guitar these two lads definitely brought the noise with them. With similarities to Slaves, now Softplay, these two were an Absolut highlight for me. Taking that raw garage punk rock, with every drum hit holding the intention of tearing through the snare drums skin, thundering bass riffs and dual vocals. In such a small venue these guys are interacting with the crowd and at one point drummer and vocalist Euan Woodman joins Thomas Rhodes at the stage barrier where they both stand eye to eye with the front row of the crowd. This raucous set is brought to a climactic end with a top notch cover of fellow black country trailblazers Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’.

After this very loud set, its now time for a more chilled and stripped back performance, but of what I wait eagerly to see. On the tram over I was debating if the set would only consist of solo material or if Pete would dip into his extensive back catalogue of both Libertines and Babyshambles music as well. But with the wait over it was now time to find out.

Initially heading out on his own and opening with ‘She is Far’, taken from his second solo album ‘Hamburg Demonstrations’. My previous questions is quickly answered as next up is Libertines track ‘What Katie Did’, which is followed by ‘Music When The Lights Go Out’. Even after two songs I could tell we were in for a good mix of new solo material and a whole lot of nostalgia. picking up the new vain, current single and album title track ‘Felt Better Alive’ and ‘Calvados’ both go down really well as Pete maintains a good selection, hitting back with a run of Libertines tracks, the likes of ‘Horrorshow’ and ‘The Boy Looked at Johnny’ all be it sometimes odd hearing the normally duet Libertines songs without Pete’s counterpart Carl Barat. Next up is ‘You’re My Waterloo’ which sees Pete’s friend accompany him on electric guitar and Pete’s wife & keyboard player also join him on stage, staying for ‘Sheepskin Tearaway’ too. This is then followed up with ‘Cant Stand Me Now’.

Other newer fan favourites from the most recent Libertines album ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ come in the form of ‘Night of the Hunter’ and ‘Songs They Never Play on the Radio’, with the set coming to a close on another new track ‘Fingee’ as he asks us all to imagine the song being played with accompanying strings and other band members.

With the break before the encore short lived, we were now in for a good old singalong as the set is brought to a close on 3 back to back Libertines tracks, ‘Run Run Run’, ‘Time for Heroes’ and ‘Don’t Look Back Into the Sun’, which the crowd absolutely love as we all bounce along. Whether it be as a solo artist or within the Libertines, Pete is still current & relevant as an artist, and the romance of his poetry still strikes a chord. This is no more apparent in his new material, with him on the cusp of releasing his new solo album and heading out on an album tour later this year.