Watch Pete Doherty cover The Smiths’ ‘Panic’ and ‘How Soon Is Now?’ with Mike Joyce
Pete Doherty has been performing a cover of The Smiths classics ‘Panic’ and ‘How Soon Is Now?’ on his 2025 European tour featuring the iconic drummer Mike Joyce. Check out footage below.
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As announced last month, the legendary sticksman has been behind the kit as an “extra special guest” for select dates of The Libertines and Babyshambles man’s UK and European tour in support of his upcoming album ‘Felt Better Alive’.
While on the continent, Doherty and co have performing of The Smiths’ 1986 single ‘Panic’ as a closer, while one show saw the band play a segment of the 1984 classic ‘How Soon Is Now’ spliced with ‘The Last Of The English Roses’.
Joyce is scheduled to perform with Doherty at his show at The Great Escape in Brighton next month, during his slots at Port Talbot’s In It Together Festival, Bolesworth’s Together Again Festival, Southend’s Lazydays Festival, Hitchin Priory, East Brighton Park, and at other concerts in Europe. Visit here for tickets and information.
Last year saw Joyce talk exclusive to NME about ending his decades-long feud with Johnny Marr, as well as the recent reunion row and plans for a mural in memory of late bassist Andy Rourke.
Doherty has been a lifelong and vocal fan of The Smiths, with Morrissey and co particularly proving an influence on 2022’s ‘The Fantasy Life of Poetry & Crime’ – his collaborative album with Frédéric Lo.
Due for release on May 16, Doherty’s fifth solo album ‘Felt Better Alive’ is said to deal heavily with hope over mortality and the passage of time.
“There can be something uplifting about resignation, but at the same time you’re not just sat at home moping and singing these things to yourself,” Doherty recently told NME of the album’s character. “You’re still going out there and singing them. I think there’s enough melancholy in this record to fill a good-sized jerry can. The idea is to splash it on the audience and see if it ignites or not.”
He added: “[The songs] all just sit well together. They were all written around the same time; around the time I was working on The Libertines’ new album [‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’, 2024] but they didn’t seem right for it.
“It’s not that they were rejected by the band, but in order for it to be a Libertines song, it has to be really me and Carl [Barat]. These are songs that are me, really.”
The Libertines will also be touring throughout 2025, including a headline show at London’s Gunnersbury Park on Saturday August 9. Visit here for tickets and more information.
Meanwhile, Doherty has also teased that a Babyshambles reunion “is on the cards” for 2025, after a few members of the band got together on stage again back in March.
The post Watch Pete Doherty cover The Smiths’ ‘Panic’ and ‘How Soon Is Now?’ with Mike Joyce appeared first on NME.
Andrew Trendell
NME
