OCCASIONAL ROCK star and full-time tabloid fixture Pete Doherty is many things. Punctual is not one of them.
Doherty turned up a magisterial two hours and 20 minutes late for his date at the Trinity Philosophical Society yesterday evening, apparently a victim of the chaos at Dublin airport. Fans who queued for an hour in the freezing cold and waited two-and-a-half hours in the crowded GMB at TCD had their patience tested to the limit, but still raised the roof when Doherty arrived clutching a bottle of Bavarian beer and smoking a cigarette.
They were the lucky ones. Dozens had been turned away. “The biggest queue since Al Pacino,” said interviewer Hot Press’s Stuart Clark, referring to the louche star’s drawing power.
Doherty’s musical output has long been eclipsed by his notoriety, most notably his drug addiction and his high-profile relationship with supermodel Kate Moss. Even last week his landlord was threatening to throw him out of the filthy country house he was renting in rural England.
“I’d start brushing my teeth,” he said to one fan who asked him what he would change about his lifestyle. He described his public image as the “evil twin” that he did not recognise. Then again, he didn’t recognise Paul McCartney “because of the medication” he was on. He made the audience laugh with a series of one-liners. “I’m not dropping names, am I?” he said referring to his friendship with Shane MacGowan.
The students who gathered yesterday evening were clearly fans. They wanted to hear about the music, about his time in The Libertines, Babyshambles and his forthcoming solo album Grace/Wastelands.
A fan asked him if he really believed in “Arcadia”, a constant theme in his music. Doherty rose from his seat and spoke of Arcadia as a place of freedom. “This is why I’m here. You don’t bother anyone and they don’t bother you.”
Then he sang The Last of the English Roses, the first single from his new album. The crowd listened enraptured and for once you could understand what all the fuss was about.
