Baby Shambles: Up the Shambles - by Robert Lake - This DVD reminds me of being a teenager. The music isn’t quite the same, but the experience is similar. The production value is low, and while not bootlegged by one lone cameraman standing 50 feet back from the stage, the production is similarly gritty. There are about five to six different cameras at work here, and you get a fair shot at viewing Patrick Walden’s guitar work and Peter Doherty’s absolute crack-headedness up close, but the shooting is all done by a handheld and the lighting is as basic as it gets. What you get here is an early Baby Shambles show, shot September 2004 just after the band got together. You see Doherty slurring his words and repeatedly swigging from a big, open bottle of booze; chain smoking and passing cigarettes to Walden; and, in typical Peter Doherty style, progressively undressing himself. There really aren’t many frills here, though there is some good acoustic bonus material, both on and back stage. The main show is just the original Baby Shambles members (Walden, Doherty, Drew McConnell and Gemma Clarke) rocking away, doing their thing with a special appearance by Dot Allison. (She’s kind of a bore though, and detracts from the energy of the rest of the show.) The music is great on the whole, a good mix of Baby Shambles originals and Libertines material. As far as I’m concerned, Patrick Walden is the star of the show. Pete Doherty is a character and a clown and probably contributes enormously to the songwriting, but Walden’s guitar work is consistently inventive and makes the most of the songs. If you dig the Libertines and early Baby Shambles material, this is it. If you’re looking for a DVD with a whole lot of extras, look elsewhere.