 | | Dirty Pretty Things (pic: Karen McBride) |
Thanks to this, we know all about Dirty Pretty Things without actually knowing anything the music. There's the single, Bang Bang You're Dead, currently receiving blanket airplay. There's an album, recently recorded but not yet released. And then there's the lead singer. Ah yes, the singer. He was in The Libertines, apparently. Make no mistake, tonight's crowd are not here to see a band - they're here to see what Carl Barat did next. And that’s the biggest problem DPT face. Getting people to come and see them is easy. The true test will be getting people to come and see them and walk away thinking, 'I like that band’, rather than, 'They're not as good as The Libertines' (unfair at this stage) or 'They're better than Babyshambles' (not hard at any stage).
 | | Dirty Pretty Things (pic: Karen McBride) |
From the moment the first chords are struck, it's clear it was Carl Barat's guiding hand that gave us The Libertines' most sparkling pop moments. In a set that bristled past in an instant, everything is familiar - yet not quite the same. That trademark jangly guitar sound, that pounding rhythm and the swagger are all there - but the ramshackle edge has understandably gone. Carl's not stupid though - he knows his core audience. Within 30 seconds of coming on stage, he's sharing a microphone with Didz, instantly igniting the crowd. A banner that read ‘THIS IS A BAND, YEAH, NOT MY SOLO PROJECT’ might have said it better, but his way cleverer.
 | | Dirty Pretty Things (pic: Karen McBride) |
And although he's the most famous man on stage (how many other singers of mid-selling indie bands get a personal security guard watching by his side?), there's no doubting there's the seeds of a group dynamic taking hold of DPT. Didz looks like he's been freed from the complicated electro shackles of The Cooper Temple Clause; Gary can't stop smiling behind those drums. It would have, of course, been easy for Barat to pepper his most famous songs throughout the 45-minute set but it's at least half an hour before we get Libertines material - Death On The Stairs provoking the kind of salivating response usually seen among groups of double-glazing salesmen at Stringfellow's.
 | | Dirty Pretty Things (pic: Karen McBride) |
Set closer I Get Along is, inevitably, a riot - albeit a controlled one. But it is the response to Bang Bang You're Dead - the most familiar DPT material - that provides the glimpse of where this band could go. The roar of approval equals, if not surpasses, those afforded to the Libertines tunes. For those that reveled in his former band's unpredictability, Carl's subsequent direction will be unwelcome. For those they annoyed and who longed for them to knuckle down and hone those brilliant tunes, Dirty Pretty Things are nothing short of a revelation.
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