They were a punk-rock band before the term was coined, and were pioneers in the field of men dressing as female prostitutes. But the New York Dolls garnered all the kudos and none of the cash in their feather-boa-wearing early-Seventies pomp, so few can begrudge their survivors the chance finally to profit from their influence three decades on.

In fact, this tour and its accompanying belated third album are about as credible as comebacks get. The Dolls first reunited in 2004, not through greed and anger about not getting their due, but at the polite behest of Morrissey, no less.

See pictures from the gig here

While they barely inspired the music of the Smiths, they certainly coloured the teenage years of the bespectacled singer, who adored them enough to become president of their UK fanclub and then bring them together for the Meltdown music festival years later.

Not being the original line-up hasn't damaged their integrity either, because the reason the others aren't onstage is not some tacky legal dispute, but that a tragic four of them are dead. Most recently, bassist Arthur "Killer" Kane succumbed to leukaemia not long after the Meltdown reunion, and had the song Private World dedicated to him yesterday evening.

Left to absorb the applause were rhythm guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, a taxi driver during the wilderness years, and singer David Johansen, who still has one of those striking faces, drawn from Mick Jagger's blueprint, that mean he could never be anything other than a rock and roll star. Struggling to fill out his skintight trousers, and talking as if he had just been punched in the mouth, Johansen still strutted and sang with the careless insouciance of a man completely at home centre stage.

Guitarist Steve Conte competently filled the yawning chasm left by Johnny Thunders, whose solo track You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory was aired in tribute. Completing the new line-up were ex-Hanoi Rocks bassist Sami Yaffa, and a drummer Johansen insisted on calling Brian " Fancy Pants" Delaney. You have to be going some to become the New York Doll who is classified as having fancy pants.

Purists may have found the new band too tight compared to the Seventies lunatics, though the squalls of guitar were still entirely nerve-jangling, even on scuzzy new songs such as Dance Like a Monkey and Fishnets And Cigarettes. An encore of Personality Crisis still sounded punk in excelsis, regardless of who was playing it.