Say what you like about his music but the news that the old bill have trashed the Moonfest event to prevent Pete Doherty’s band Babyshambles taking to the stage is a worrying step.
Not content with telling people how, if and when they can protest it seems that the cops now want to act as censors of the type of music we enjoy as well.
According to Moonfest’s website:
“Using section 160 of the licensing act 2003, the magistrates revoked our licence for Friday 29th August. With Pete and Babyshambles being our headlining act for the weekend, this draconian action taken by the Police make it impossible to run the event at the end of August.”
This decision was taken after Wiltshire old bill decided that the band’s tendency to “speed up and then slow down the music” could create a “whirlpool effect” and spark disorder. Which is fucking nonsense.
Event organiser John Green offers a more plausible explanation claiming police told him privately that they hate the fact Doherty lives in Wiltshire and they don’t want him on their patch.
In 1994 the Tories introduced the Criminal Justice Act which made it a potential offence to play music consisting of repetitive beats at night, an act rightly condemned and marking the first time in British history that a genre of music was effectively criminalised.
It seems that the police and their chummy masonic mates on the Magistrate’s Bench want to take that one step further. Event organisers take note, your gig may be prone to censorship and cancellation should the local Chief-Super decide he doesn’t like the lead singer much.
