Pete Doherty recalls sitting outside gig while fans ‘tore the place apart’

‘I won’t even tell you where my head was at, it was so weird, people wouldn’t believe me,’ musician told Kirsty Young

Pete Doherty recalled how he once sat in a taxi outside a London music venue suffering from hallucinations, while fans “tore the place apart” because he’d failed to show up for the gig.

The Libertines frontman, who recently announced a new solo album, appeared on Kirsty Young’s Young Again podcast on BBC Radio 4 where he reflected on his past antics and the messages he would send to his younger self.

Doherty, 45, explained how he “had a slight problem of hallucinations” when he was a child from a head injury. The hallucinations would resurface when he wasn’t getting enough sleep, he said, and “stupid” and “criminal” things would happen.

As Young questioned whether he would tell himself to stay away from certain people and scenes where he might land in trouble, he responded that he was “as bad as everyone else”.

“It’s just, ‘be kind to yourself every now and again, get some sleep for god’s sake’, because all the serious things that went wrong, like, we’ll end up in jail or end up missing concerts (when that happened),” he said.

“I missed the concert at the Astoria because I was so freaked out, I won’t even tell you where my head was at, it was so weird, people wouldn’t believe me.

Pete Doherty recently shared a health update with fans (Instagram/PeteDohertyOfficial)

“I ended up sitting in a taxi outside the venue, not going in, while people who paid to see the concert, who are now being told to go home, they tore the place apart, and there was loads of people battered because they attacked security.

“All this going on, (and) I’m just in the back of the taxi, in quite a peaceful state, but I was really hallucinating, you know, on ketamine and crack, and so things like that could have, (but) do we want to tamper with history.”

Doherty, who recently shared a positive health update, admitted that he’d “always been really confused” about the notion of giving advice to his younger self.

Thinking about the question “upset” him, he said, as he clarified that this tumultuous period of his life “wasn’t all dark” and there was also “a lot of laughter”.

“In my mind, I can imagine myself looking at myself saying this, ‘just get some sleep, just get some sleep from time to time, just get your head down’,” he said.

“Get some sleep, because that was always where things would go seriously wrong, two or three days up and then stupid things, like criminal things, where you don’t really don’t know what you’re doing.

“Maybe I’d actually just get myself, tie myself up, put him in a boot, take him out to a forest and give him some tough love. Actually, in fact, I wouldn’t even offer any advice, I’d just say, this is for your own good.”

As well as his solo album, Doherty has shared his hopes for a tour with his band Babyshambles for 2025, which will mark the 20th anniversary of their album Down in ALbion.

The full interview with Doherty can be heard on Young Again With Kirsty Young on BBC Sounds.