Potty Pete pilgrims: Couple pay £15,000 for concert in Pete Doherty's front room

For that price, Californian computer games tycoon Greg Thomas was surely expecting an unforgettable appearance from his musical hero - but when the appointed hour came, the wayward Babyshambles singer was, according to his friends, barely able to stand.

But rather than curse and demand his money back, Mr Thomas calmly waited seven hours until Doherty was sober enough to perform.

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Having been led to believe that the gig would start at 9pm on Friday, Mr Thomas was eventually chauffeur-driven to the house in Burbage near Marlborough, Wiltshire, at just after 3am, and the concert began an hour later.

It was all, of course, in the best traditions of the super-rich paying their favourite pop stars to perform privately.

In 2005, retail tycoon Sir Philip Green hired Destiny's Child for £750,000 for his son's bar mitzvah held in the South of France.

But on that occasion the artists were flown by private jet to the fan - not the other way round.

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The private audience was arranged after Mr Thomas emailed a member of Doherty's entourage.

While waiting for the gig to start on Friday night, the singer's friend and "literary agent" Paul Roundhill said: "This guy loves Pete. It's going to be really great. I just hope Pete is straight enough to perform.

"I think someone might have given him some drugs as he's out of it at the moment. But I'm going to wake him up when they get here."

After a frantic series of phone calls, 31-year-old Mr Thomas, looking understandably nervous and refusing to comment, eventually arrived with his wife Cynthia, 26.

They were ushered inside by the singer, who exclaimed: "Great to meet you."

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The still night was then broken by the echoes of an acoustic guitar and for the next hour Mr and Mrs Thomas were treated to a personal performance by the singer.

Doherty's rented home, a red-brick farmhouse, was in darkness aside from two dim lights at the back of the property.

He has "personalised" the house by daubing paint over the windows to create a stained-glass effect at night.

He uses the garages to store his collection of Jaguar cars. The house was intended as a refuge for Doherty away from bad influences which have derailed his battle with drug addiction in the past.

But neighbours say it has recently begun to attract "undesirables" and a string of groupies.

One said: "Most of the time you wouldn't know who lived there if you drove past, but when it gets dark there are some very strange comings and goings. Taxis are arriving and leaving at all times of the night and you can often hear girls squealing from inside."

Mr and Mrs Thomas stayed at the house until late yesterday morning. Before they left they ensured they got plenty of souvenir photographs with Doherty and even filmed part of the performance on a video camera.

They refused to comment as they left in a taxi bound for London but appeared happy and delighted at their night's entertainment.

A source close to Doherty said: "They certainly got value for money. They had a real insight into who Pete really is.

"Not many fans get to spend such quality time with their hero. Obviously it cost them, but Pete has to think about the business side of his life as well as the party side."

Later yesterday morning, Doherty, wearing a brown hat, emerged blinking in the sunlight to beat the dust from a rug.

He said: "The gig went really well. It was really nice. I got to try out lots of new material. These people were real aficionados. They certainly know their stuff. Everything I played went down really well, from old songs all the way through to my new stuff which no one's heard.

"They were a really nice couple as well. They've got three children and it was just nice all round, all for a bit of pocket money."

Mr Thomas, who lives in a £1million home in in Novato, a picturesque town north of San Francisco, became one of Silicon Valley's youngest dot.com tycoons after founding games company Visual Concepts in 1988 when he was in his early 20s.

The firm created more than 75 hugely popular titles, including the 2K series of sports games.

In 1999, Thomas sold the company for an undisclosed price to a giant Japanese software manufacturer, Sega, where he became a senior executive.

Sega sold the company on for $24million (£12million) three years ago.

It is not the first time Doherty has performed at home for fans.

On New Year's Eve 2005, he held a "guerrilla gig" at short notice in his North London flat, where he showcased some of his solo work.