It was a bit of a risk lining up Peter Doherty and his band Babyshambles for a secret gig.

A few years ago, at the height of the tabloids’ addiction to his antics with supermodel Kate Moss, Doherty was notoriously unreliable and would either turn up several hours late or not turn up at all.

OK, so this gig was still delayed by more than an hour, but that probably had more to do with the complicated logistics of setting up a temporary stage and making sure no one sneaking a peek from outside got run over by traffic.

When they did get out to play, Babyshambles could not have been more professional and blasted their way through half an hour of classy indie-punk.

Say what you like about Doherty but the man has rock star quality running through his veins.

Dressed in an Arthur Daley-type jacket and trilby, whether he’s mumbling into the microphone, spraying beer into the delighted crowd, swigging whisky from the bottle or falling backwards over his monitors, it’s hard to deny his sheer presence and allure.

It also helps that the rest of Babyshambles are such grizzled industry veterans who provide a sensible, seen-it-all-before counterpoint to their frontman’s antics.

This secret gig was a risk, but one that paid off handsomely.