Live bands fronted by record producers tend to be led by ageing knob twiddlers who keep the same hours as Dracula. However, N*E*R*D, the rock/hip-hop/soul band fronted by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, production whizzkids the Neptunes, are drenched in sex and showbiz.

Part of their fabulous entrance involves Williams removing his Day-Glo sunglasses, putting them on again, and beginning an almost imperceptible series of dance steps. There is, as your grandmother might have said about Elvis, something faintly outrageous in the way these boys move.

For an hour and a half N*E*R*D (which stands for Nothing Ever Really Dies) throw a huge party which introduces bits of pop history that were probably not meant to be such friends. The atmosphere is part Haight Ashbury hippy, part late-70s George Clinton/Chic, part 90s Rage Against the Machine and - undeniably - essence of boy band.

It's this element which has attracted thousands of laydeez. "He's gorgeous," purrs one while another, bizarrely, refers to the rake-thin star as The Beautiful One.

Without the grin, Williams could be bordering on misogyny but he is at pains to express a sensitive side. He coos blue-eyed soul, makes a political speech about "my fuckin' president" and conducts female voices in the audience like a choir.

The man behind Justin and Britney's hits knows how to press the right buttons, and you feel like you've been had by a serial seducer. But, in the end, it's difficult to resist.