Carl Barat and Pete Doherty may never be Lennon and McCartney but they've certainly got an interesting tale to tell.

People of a certain age can scoff all they want, but for a glimmer of a sliver of a minute it looked as if the likely lads who fronted The Libertines could have blazed a trail as bright as The Beatles.

That all disappeared in a puff of Pete's crack pipe. But Carl was here tonight to show not all the magic evaporated with the smoke.

Dirty Pretty Things, his new/old band made up of former Libs drummer Gary Powell, guitarist Anthony Rossomando and Cooper Temple Clause's bassist Didz Hammond have, unsurprisingly, attracted great interest.

The Libertines are a pretty big shadow to step from under and they just about managed to make the stride.

The set got off to a great start.

Barat and his band have still got an ear for a great riff and his scratchy, high-pitched vocals can be tough and vulnerable.

They're also tight as a Scottish vice. Unlike contemporaries Franz Ferdinand, DPT don't rely on clever hooks but sudden breaks and lively, well-executed changes of pace and direction.

The first few tracks fizzled along in a funky, pop-punk groove until their first Libs track, Death On The Stairs. The naive rawness of the track jarred with what had gone on before, and the band looked as if they were playing because they had to, not because they wanted to.

Although the set took a dip, Barat and his band had enough musical imagination to produce at least one interesting flourish in each of their tracks.

Things exploded back into life with Bang Bang, You're Dead, the first single from DPT's debut album Waterloo To Anywhere.

It's as good a rock 'n' roll song as anything Carl's old band ever produced and seemed to take the pressure off the band, so much so they rushed into a noisy, sweaty encore which finished with The Libs' track I Get Along.

They may lack the chemistry that threatened to make their first incarnation legendary, but Dirty Pretty Things are still pretty damn potent.