Razorlight @ Leeds Metropolitan University - The Guardian - 3rd October '04
			Razorlight frontman Johnny Borrell has made countless extravagant claims about his talents, so it would have been a welcome gesture if he had spared us the digital timer counting down to his band's arrival on stage. Yet the boy whom the Libertines wrote a song about has finally found some justification for his arrogance. His band returns to the touring circuit with a platinum-selling debut album and two top 20 singles under their metal-studded leather belts. The wide range of ages in the audience testifies to their appeal. Razorlight possess the requisite devilish attitude and sharp cheekbones to keep them on the NME's cover for some time to come, but they also have enough classic rock references to win them an appearance on Parkinson and older fans. The band have only three great songs, which they scatter through an otherwise mundane set: Vice, Golden Touch and Up All Night. The third of these sees Borrell make like Jarvis Cocker impersonating Springsteen; but they all have the audience surging towards the stage. Elsewhere, the lapses into American drivetime cliches are a little more disconcerting, as the London-based quartet deliver lines about white Cadillacs and reading Bukowski. There's nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve, but these feel like borrowed sentiments. Borrell is a thirsty scholar who has seemingly learned his craft from the records of Television, Tom Petty and Elvis Costello. He has probably spent years in front of the mirror rehearsing for tonight. The references may be studied and plentiful but the exuberance is entirely home grown. By the encore it is hard not to be swept away. Steve Pill