For lovers? For masochists more like.
Let's be honest right from the start, the whole Libertines thing, the Pete is God, Carl is a saint and everyone is a genius totally bypassed this writer. So where better to give Carl a chance but in Barcelona, away from the hysteria and the maniacal fans who stalk his every move in the UK.
The thing with Carl is that Pete holds all the media sway and celebrity popularity, so this sets Dirty Pretty Things apart immediately, almost challenging the listener to take them more seriously than Babyshambles. Realistically though, Barat hasn't even written a song as good as one by The Libertines ex-bassist, with John Hassall (Yeti) having 'Never Lose Your Sense of Wonder' up his sleeve and the lack of striking song writing is the downfall of this set.
There's not much variation at all with every track having a similar jittery and stuttery feel and all jumping at the same place. DPT do the fast chug along track and the slow chug along track and anything else is just a variation on them.
Carl Barat gets by in not being Pete. He gets a lot of sympathy for what he had to put up with and there's an element of people trying to be cool in liking him over Doherty. As they were a famous duo, many pundits tried to liken them to Lennon and McCartney, which is laughable really. A fairer comparison would be Simon and Garfunkel, in that Garfunkel never wrote any songs. Carl is Art....and that's as in Garfunkel, not the creative style.
Of course, DPT are not a one man show, they also got Didz in on a Bosman deal from The Cooper Temple Clause, which again gave rise to indie pontification about a supergroup! Good lord, bring back the 1970s and we can see what supergroups were really all about, aside from meandering bass line and nicking cigarettes from all and sundry, Didz's key contribution during the show was providing screaming vocals of "You Fucking Love It." It can only be hoped that wasn't a question as the answer would be highly negative Didz, highly negative indeed.
For the one positive moment of the show, the trumpet intro of 'Bang Bang You're Dead' gained a positive response from the crowd and credit where credit is due, it's not a bad song and has certainly grown in stature from the first few listens. Okay Carl, good point, take that Art Garfunkel, 1-0 to Mr Barat.
That aside, including a few Libertines songs, the set never once grabbed the interest and the future for Carl doesn't look too bright.
Bring on the backlash? No need really, Carl is probably more deserving of a hug and a cup of tea than any criticism, the poor boy has been through a lot of late.