It’s all par for the course. No wide-eyed wonder at all those people staring, cheering and gushing at their every chord. No “I’d like to thank my mother, father, uncle Fester” acceptance speeches or “Oh my god! We’ve finally made it!” backslapping.
Tonight is a triumph. Totally, utterly. In just a year, Razorlight have transformed themselves from scuzzed-up street urchins with a burgening knack for a tune to stellar, (almost) chart-topping wannabe-titans. Their live show is symptomatic of the transformation. Their entrance alone is light years removed from the turn-up-and-play attitude of their early shows: the lights go down, the intro music kicks in, drummer Andy Burrows appears under a spotlight and frantically rolls the band into ‘Rip It Up’. It’s jaw-droppingly ace.
The crowd lap it up; almost every song played could be a single, dropped like H-bombs; ‘Rip It Up’s post-punk jar is followed by the pounding relentlessness of ‘Don’t Go Back To Dalston’ is followed by the jagged love story of ‘Vice’ is followed by Supergrass-Are-Young-Again adrenaline-shot of ‘Leave Me Alone’. In between, they run around the stage, covering every inch. Johnny jumps into the audience at regular intervals, even diving in headfirst at one point. Kudos is also due for the way they despatch ‘Golden Touch’ a third of the way through in what would’ve been a predictable contender for encore material.
Instead, it’s left to ‘Stumble And Fall’ to bring the chaotic, brilliant wreckage to a halt, as the band collide into each other, racing to their mikes at the very last second so each line is delivered in pummelled, excited breath. In two months, Razorlight play another sold-out show at this venue. In between that time, they’ll play a sold-out show at Brixton Academy. But they won’t stop there. They won’t stop til the world is theirs. All we’re left to do is give up and give in.