“The first time we ever performed in Manchester we were really worried,” Pete Doherty mumbles wistfully into his mic as a pint of beer flies through the crowd.

“We just presumed everyone was really good at guitar.”

It’s hard to imagine The Libertines – who burst onto the music circuit as the kings of indie rock in the early noughties – being intimidated by a small gig crowd.

The group instantly became the UK’s coolest band on the scene – unapologetically swaggering their way to the top of the charts with numerous energetic hits while flicking the vs and partying with Amy Winehouse.

In fact it’s hard to overestimate their influence on mainstream culture at the time.

Pick up a tabloid newspaper in the early 2000s and you’d most likely see an image of rake-thin Pete Doherty splashed across the front page in his trilby hat at Glastonbury – a fag hanging out his mouth and supermodel Kate Moss on his arm. The drug-taking wild boy of rock became synonymous with the grungy indie revival of the era.

Fast forward 20 years and Doherty cuts a different figure in the Albert Hall. The front man has a long mop of grey hair and is wearing a cowboy shirt under his jacket. He’s swapped class A drugs for the occasional puff of a disposable vape on stage.

The band are performing in Manchester to promote their new album, All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade.

It’s been a while since the band released any new music.

Back in the early 2000s, the group had huge commercial success with songs like Can’t Stand Me Now and Don’t Look Back Into the Sun.

But tensions between frontmen Pete Doherty and Carl Barât overshadowed their success, as well as stories of Doherty’s spiralling drug use.

They eventually split and have appeared on stage for the occasional reunion tour since. They released their third album Anthems for Doomed Youth in 2015.

The band didn’t produce any new music for nine years. This time last year they announced they were launching their fourth album, All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade, and would be going on tour to the promote the new music.

The album reached number one in the UK album charts.

The fans at Albert Hall on a mild Thursday night in Manchester are a mixed bunch – as I enter the venue I’m greeted with the sight of a sea of bald heads in plaid shirts sipping IPAs. Interspersed among them are groups of Gen Z music lovers, and then the occasional tattooed men in skinny jeans and eyeliner trying to look like casualties of the Camden set.

Then out of nowhere some footie lad desperately tries to start a droning chant of Wonderwall.

But as soon as the band start their set it all makes sense. The crowd are united as one – jumping around and belting out hits like Up The Bracket and You’re My Waterloo like it’s 2004 all over again.

They may be older and less edgy than they were back in their heyday, but the chemistry between Barât and Doherty is as strong as ever. The pair have had notorious bust ups over the years, but they perform as one, riffing off each other – their vocals the perfect match.

Doherty often strides over to his band mate’s microphone to harmonise on songs like the melancholic track What Became of the Likely Lads.

At certain points, things get a bit rowdy at the front of the audience. Security take it upon themselves to set up an efficient production line to escort out a steady stream of young lads who get over excited in the mosh pit. One by one the sweaty revellers are spat out of the crowd and into the arms of the venue staff. But it’s all part of the fun.

The band end their set with the anthemic Don’t Look Back Into The Sun and the crowd go absolutely crazy. It seems like we are all in desperate need of some pure noughties indie nostalgia in these troubled times – and The Libertines more than delivered.