Carl Barat The Old Queens Head, London 21/3/11
4/5
By: Clara Burtenshaw
What became of the likely Libertine? A small crowd assembled at the Old Queen’s Head on Monday night expected a smatter of songs from the past and the two hits from Dirty Pretty Things (can you name the others?), long disbanded. They got a set which was more reminiscent of The Libertines’ glory days - note-hazard, intimate and interactive, a failed yet earnest attempt at audience requests such as ‘Billy Jean’ and ‘Oliver's Army’, and a new direction involving a family of back-singers (more a 60's take-on the Sisters of Murphy than The Corrs).
Carl Barat did not seem plagued by the stage fright that has impinged previous sets of his; entertaining before songs with flair and asking the audience for their opinion before buying certain of the noisier members a placatory sambucca. Opening the set with 'The Majors', a song from his forthcoming EP, Barat showcased a sound which was violent in its visceral contempt for lost love, what might have been, and a sense of mistreatment by those around him post-Libertines.
Such darkness was abundant in the three other new songs played, including one with an eerie circus theme which had a sense of Bowie about it. Assisted by the four Langley sisters (comprising a cellist, violinist and backing singers )and ex The Cooper Temple Clause guitarist Didz Hammond, it was clear that Barat has found adequate musical support to take his songs solo.
With The Libertines, one always got the sense that the sum of all its players was greater than the individuals, but renditions of ‘Death on the Stairs and ‘The Man Who Would Be King’ demonstrated to the frenzied crowd that if Peter Doherty was the melodramatic, beating heart of the band it would have been nothing without this man, a fellow who can more than ably carry these songs by himself, with not a little soul.
Tickets supplied by Boxfresh.
Artists in this article: Carl Barat
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