Troubled rock star Pete Doherty is back in the headlines for the wrong reasons after reportedly being involved in incidents at a concert then again later outside his hotel.

He was said to have brandished a microphone stand at fans in the front row of the concert by his band Babyshambles in Rome, then become caught up in a brawl with a photographer at the hotel.

Italian newspaper the Corriere della Sera described how Doherty, 27, clashed with fans at the famous Piper club.

A missile thrown from the crowd hit the band's drummer, who was forced to leave the stage, and Doherty brandished the mike stand towards spectators in the front row. Nobody was injured.

After checking on how the drummer was, Doherty himself started playing the drums, but then the injured band member returned.

Doherty traded insults with the crowd, then after the final number he took the mike stand and smashed up the instruments on stage, including the amplifiers, the newspaper reported.

Doherty had been drinking vodka on stage, broke a bottle, cut himself with a sharp object and played on with blood on his chest, it added.

Later there was more blood, according to London's Evening Standard newspaper, when Doherty was involved in a brawl with an Italian photographer outside the hotel.

One witness said Doherty's head was "dripping with blood".