Unfortunately for his knockers, as anyone who has ever seen Razorlight live will tell you (and that number is growing), it's really hard NOT to like Johnny Borrell when he plays you his songs. Never mind if you don't appreciate some of them, or can barely hear others over the screaming girls in the audience. His enthusiasm is infectious; his belief in those songs and his band is intoxicating. He's a rock 'n' roll star and he knows it. Annoying to some - inspiring to many.
Arriving on stage at the Cockpit after a bit of delaying tactics to build the buzz (or at least the sweat dripping down the walls), Razorlight jump straight into Rip It Up, a mass of spiky guitar and furious drumming released last year as a single and destined to be a centrepiece of forthcoming album, Up All Night. Older members of the audience recognise it as Television-by-numbers, the youngsters don't care what it sounds like - they just know it's terribly exciting.
But excitement is what Razorlight deliver in spades and as the temperature rises, so does the speed and delivery of the tunes. To The Sea comes and goes within minutes, Rock and Roll Lies prompts the first huge audience reaction, while Golden Touch, staggeringly, is dropped without a hint of warning right in the middle of the set. How many bands can get away with playing (what is destined to be) their biggest hit seven songs in? Only the handful that know they can back it up with more.
By the time they unleash In The City and set closer Stumble and Fall, Johnny is doing just that. Ripping across the stage like a demented, sweat-soaked, guitar-wielding general, he knows he can mentally check Leeds off in his list of cities to conquer en-route to world domination. They might be riding on the back of the re-discovered love for English guitar-rock, but with the killer combination of confidence and tunes there is no doubt that Razorlight will rise to the top.
Mark McGregor