The 'Shambles Are Back: A Babyshambles 2025 tour review

Babyshambles take to the stage at O2 Academy Brixton.

It seems that 2025 has been the year of reunions, with those partial to an indie tune or two faring particularly well. We’ve seen the return of Pulp with an album, a tour and a (not so) surprise Glastonbury set and the Gallagher brothers putting their differences aside to give us an Oasis tour. Given that over the last 18 months Peter Doherty has released an album and toured with The Libertines, as well as doing a tour to promote his solo album Felt Better Alive, it’s no surprise that (to the glee of the ex-indie kids from 2005) a Babyshambles tour would be next. I was lucky enough to catch them at both their London and Bristol shows, and 20 years on they delivered exactly what you would hope for.

In O2 Academy Brixton, it was clear that the London crowd was ecstatic to have the ‘Shambles back, with Brixton being the third stop on their first tour in eleven years. Opening were GANS, a punk rock duo who brought great energy to the already buzzing former theatre.

02 Academy Brixton, a former theatre.

The band was well and truly set up for a great comeback show, and they delivered. In true eccentric Babyshambles style, they came on stage accompanied by The Simpsons’ theme tune, before crashing straight into the tumultuous Killamangiro, followed by the equally energetic Delivery. The band sounded clean and mature, while still perfectly capturing the rawness of their early albums. Doherty’s vocals were clear and contained his usual charm, particularly in the ska track I Wish, a feelgood tune that brought the crowd to life and could be heard being chanted in the foyer as we filed out after the show. Behind the band an image was projected of the late Patrick Walden, Babyshambles’ original guitarist who is responsible for the incredible guitar on Down In Albion.

Babyshambles playing in front of a projected picture of the late guitarist Patrick Walden.

 The show was run like a tight ship (the good ship Albion you might say, if you know your Pete Doherty mythology), with Doherty, rather unusually, only stopping once to talk to us in a rather surreal moment in which he asked the crowd about their dogs. One might assume this would be followed up by French Dog Blues, but instead we were surprised with Crumb Begging Baghead, reigniting the mosh pit for the encore. The frenzy continued as they finished with two of their most energetic and boisterous tracks, Pipedown and F**k Forever. There was a feeling of nostalgia in the crowd as we jumped and shoved each other in gleeful unison, united by a love for a band that we didn’t expect to resurface from the chaos of the 2000s indie scene to give us a reunion tour in 2025.

If the Brixton gig was a somewhat organised event, the show in O2 Academy Bristol was the beautiful shambles that you would expect from a band called Babyshambles. The two support acts, Keeley and Hak Baker, did a great job of warming up the crowd, with the latter in particular captivating the audience with his charming lyricism and cheeky delivery. Long before the band were due to come on, Doherty made appearances on stage to introduce the supports, as well as to deliver the poetry-like lyrics in Hak Baker’s final song.

Hak Baker and Peter Doherty perform together.

Finally, Doherty came on and (much to the amusement of the crowd) posed the question: “But what about the written word?”, before bringing on poet Damon Young to deliver two of his poems.

Damon Young performs his poetry.

It was truly lovely to see the promotion of the arts by a band that clearly values putting small artists and musicians in the spotlight.

Babyshambles started their set with even more energy than their Brixton show. I overheard a voice in the audience observing that the band seemed more relaxed than during the London performance, and I have to agree- they played around with the songs and engaged with the audience in a way that felt like they had truly settled into the tour. There She Goes was introduced with a tribute to Amy Winehouse, her eyes watching us from the screen as we danced along.

Babyshambles play There She Goes with an image of Amy Winehouse projected behind them.

Carry on up the Morning morphed first into the opening of Up the Morning, before slowing down with UnBiloTitled, a melancholy song that was beautiful performed live.

Guitarist Whitnall spoke to the crowd, denouncing fascism, before the band played the start of Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, leading into A’rebours. People were pulled up onto the shoulders of others as the first few chords of Albion played, the iconic song bringing the crowd together as always. The main set was ended in an energetic fashion, with 32nd of December followed by new “reggae-ska-pop” single Dandy Hooligan. Finally, the band returned for encore, and beautiful chaos ensued. After a brief special guest appearance onstage by Gladys (Doherty’s dog), a man clambered onto stage, stood on a table and then was tackled by security, spilling Doherty’s drink in the process. The lyrics of F**k Forever were revised to complain of the “purgatory” of “New Labour and Reform”, and the messy climax of the song was punctuated with Doherty launching his guitar into the crowd. As his team then emerged to recover said guitar from the crowd, it appeared to be the perfect metaphor for the reincarnated version of Babyshambles: a band that retains its messy and chaotic charm yet has matured since its slightly more shambolic days in which more gigs were missed than played.

Peter Doherty performing 8 Dead Boys.