Starting last night, finishing on Sunday and featuring a smorgasbord of acts from Paul McCartney to Reverend & The Makers, the BBC Electric Proms is fast becoming a London institution after only two years.

It began with Mark Ronson, the London-born New Yorker and stepson of Foreigner's Mick Jones. At the age of 32 he has transformed himself from the ultimate backroom boy (DJ to Manhattan's social elite and producer) into a non-singing star, via the crafty idea of hiring famous friends to sing reworked versions of contemporary hits.

Had the stars of Ronson's Version album turned up, the event would have been special indeed. Alas, the prospect of Radio 2 and BBC2 exposure failed to entice Lily Allen, whose very name was mercilessly jeered, or Robbie Williams or Amy Winehouse, neither of whom Ronson could bring himself to mention, out to play, even with the BBC Concert Orchestra adding stately gravitas.

Gallery: Electric Proms: Mark Ronson

So Ronson had to settle for the somewhat headscratching presence of Adele, who wore a sack; splendidly shouty rapper Wale who thinks his name is pronounced "way-lay"; and Daniel Merriweather, who wrestled with The Smiths' Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before and, as much to his own surprise as anyone's, won.

Far from at ease with the limelight, Ronson hardly helped his own cause by compering in the manner of a mildly flustered flight attendant. Meanwhile, the Roundhouse has, for some reason, started to smell of toast.

Despite everything, this was an evening to savour. Charlie Waller of Rumble Strips added priapic zest to Winehouse's Back To Black. The View's Kyle Falconer was as mischievous as The Zutons' irresistible Valerie warrants. Ronson's childhood friend Sean Lennon made a sterling fist of The Beach Boys' Sail On Sailor and Kaiser Chief Ricky Wilson looked genuinely delighted to discover his band's Oh My God now features a trumpet solo halfway through.

Curiously, the guest-free instrumentals, Maximo Park's Apply Some Pressure and a version of Coldplay's God Put A Smile Upon Your Face, which evoked Dexys Midnight Runners' majestic peak, worked remarkably well, suggesting it's not all about who you know. And now, Ronson knows who his real friends are.

Earlier, the ever-resilient Coral were introduced as "Liverpool's finest", something that may surprise those who own an Icicle Works album, let alone something from The Beatles catalogue.

Their musical gifts and the glorious Fireflies notwithstanding, they remain a band of Ringos, but they trumped Ronson on the guest front when Oasis's Noel Gallagher added guitar to In The Rain. He came, he nodded, he neglected to unbutton his jacket and then, with a wave but without a word, he left. Bless.