Peter Doherty and the Puta Madres, Album Launch at Rough Trade East

Friday 26th April, the day of Peter and his new band’s first album launch. The backroom stage of Rough Trade’s East London store is set and lit for the band’s arrival and album rendition.

Their new record is filled with an unprecedented kind of folk sound for Peter. The result is magical, emotive, and simply lovely. This is echoed and amplified in the band’s performance at Rough Trade East that night. With a set that lasted just short of an hour, Peter and the Puta Madres packed a mountain of emotions in, ranging from the pure joy and ecstasy of a group guitar solo with its ever-increasing intensity, to the whimsical sadness that characterises much of Peter’s artistic work. Frequent moments of intimacy were shared between Peter and Jack Jones – a welcomed echo of his and Carl’s onstage Romantic presence – as well as Peter and Katia, and the band with the crowd. Heckles of love met with genuine care and enthusiasm, and a total celebration of the new sound and collective Peter has assembled. New songs were excitedly embraced, and old classics were lovingly prized. An undeniable highlight was the band’s rendition of Libertines classic ‘You’re My Waterloo’ – performed beautifully with both the new faces leaving their mark(s) on the song and Peter swapping the classic guitar solo with his own harmonica solo: echoing the folk-y magic of his and the Puta Madres’ unique sound.

The beautiful gig ended too soon. A miniature and magical world was created at the back of that East London record store, where artists and their crowd stood existing in a state of pure celebration and adoration. Thankfully, the gig was followed by Peter and the band committing to meeting each of the crowd’s individuals via an album signing, allowing their mutually-created world to expand and become personalised to its many inhabitants.