Razorlight & Mohair @ Bowery 2/27: Majorly Distracting
An invitation to see the sold out Razorlight show at Bowery? Um, yes please. Since falling for the song ‘Golden Touch’ in 2005, I’ve been dying to see the group live.
Thoughts on a night at The Bowery Ballroom with Razorlight and 600 British fans:
SCORE! Just got the coveted front parking spot right in front of the venue. I want to climb on stage and lead everyone outside to look at my primo space. This means I can leave my coat in the car and run inside.
Got here just in time to see the openers, Mohair. The lead singer looks as if he belongs in the film Withnail and I (“We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!”), has a v. Roger Daltry look to him.
With The Darkness caput, they seem to be taking over for them a bit, though their music floats somewhere in-between Razorlight and The Darkness, definitely not a glam rock revival band. They are very charismatic, very charming, very young and very very good. The entire crowd seems to be all on board.
As per usual when a British band plays New York, every Brit in the city has come out to see the show. Mohair’s Withnail tells us they are from Watford and is greeted with a surprising round of applause. The Englishman behind me says to his girl, “Watford is a shit town.”
Huge applause when Razorlight comes out. They open with ‘In the morning’ and by the third song have already played, basically, the reason I have come, ‘Golden touch.’ ‘Golden touch’ is a great, poppy, very quintessential British radio BBC 1 song, which doesn’t make it any less brilliant than it is. There is a massive sing-a-long at the final chorus and Johnny stops singing to hold the mic out over the audience.
The next eruption from the full house is when ‘Fall to Pieces’ starts up 5 songs after ‘Golden touch’ and soon the band is back on track, blazing through ‘Somewhere else,’ ‘America,’ and ‘Kirby’s house.’ Before that, the crowd’s attention had begun to wane and the security guard standing next to me even whispered into his walkie talkie, “The crowd’s not feeling it.” He’s right, I wasn’t. Though Johnny Borrell is a great, very spot on, live singer, he is not the most charismatic, or even likable, on stage. Razorlight’s songs are good, but not great enough to warrant a close mouthed singer (a la Julian Casablancas). That being said, the two incredibly irritating English girls next to me who would not stop shouting “Johnny, it’s my birthday! SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. All I kept thinking was, “maybe if I punch them in the head, they’ll shut up.” They were very distracting and rude, ruining the experience for a fair amount of people. This is not cool, please consult your concert going handbook next time ladies.
Label mates, The Noisettes, were in the balcony looking utterly fabulous, stylish and oh so cool.
The NME were in the crowd and chatted to Johnny afterward about the supposed quarrel he had with his bandmates on stage in Lyon earlier this month, starting rumours that the band are only really together for financial gain. The story is not all that interesting in a shrug of the shoulders type of way.
Go here to see a jpg of the setlist (via a MusicSnobbery commentator).
Overall, it was a good show. Razorlight are popular because they consistently put out singles people can't seem to get out of their head. They aren't turning the musical world upside down with their innovation, they are simply making music you can sing along to in your car.
MP3: 'Golden touch'
Thoughts on a night at The Bowery Ballroom with Razorlight and 600 British fans:
SCORE! Just got the coveted front parking spot right in front of the venue. I want to climb on stage and lead everyone outside to look at my primo space. This means I can leave my coat in the car and run inside.
Got here just in time to see the openers, Mohair. The lead singer looks as if he belongs in the film Withnail and I (“We want the finest wines available to humanity. And we want them here, and we want them now!”), has a v. Roger Daltry look to him.
With The Darkness caput, they seem to be taking over for them a bit, though their music floats somewhere in-between Razorlight and The Darkness, definitely not a glam rock revival band. They are very charismatic, very charming, very young and very very good. The entire crowd seems to be all on board.
As per usual when a British band plays New York, every Brit in the city has come out to see the show. Mohair’s Withnail tells us they are from Watford and is greeted with a surprising round of applause. The Englishman behind me says to his girl, “Watford is a shit town.”
Huge applause when Razorlight comes out. They open with ‘In the morning’ and by the third song have already played, basically, the reason I have come, ‘Golden touch.’ ‘Golden touch’ is a great, poppy, very quintessential British radio BBC 1 song, which doesn’t make it any less brilliant than it is. There is a massive sing-a-long at the final chorus and Johnny stops singing to hold the mic out over the audience.
The next eruption from the full house is when ‘Fall to Pieces’ starts up 5 songs after ‘Golden touch’ and soon the band is back on track, blazing through ‘Somewhere else,’ ‘America,’ and ‘Kirby’s house.’ Before that, the crowd’s attention had begun to wane and the security guard standing next to me even whispered into his walkie talkie, “The crowd’s not feeling it.” He’s right, I wasn’t. Though Johnny Borrell is a great, very spot on, live singer, he is not the most charismatic, or even likable, on stage. Razorlight’s songs are good, but not great enough to warrant a close mouthed singer (a la Julian Casablancas). That being said, the two incredibly irritating English girls next to me who would not stop shouting “Johnny, it’s my birthday! SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely. All I kept thinking was, “maybe if I punch them in the head, they’ll shut up.” They were very distracting and rude, ruining the experience for a fair amount of people. This is not cool, please consult your concert going handbook next time ladies.
Label mates, The Noisettes, were in the balcony looking utterly fabulous, stylish and oh so cool.
The NME were in the crowd and chatted to Johnny afterward about the supposed quarrel he had with his bandmates on stage in Lyon earlier this month, starting rumours that the band are only really together for financial gain. The story is not all that interesting in a shrug of the shoulders type of way.
Go here to see a jpg of the setlist (via a MusicSnobbery commentator).
Overall, it was a good show. Razorlight are popular because they consistently put out singles people can't seem to get out of their head. They aren't turning the musical world upside down with their innovation, they are simply making music you can sing along to in your car.
MP3: 'Golden touch'
Labels: concert review, mohair, razorlight
posted by JK | 1:17 PM
5 Comments:
Dude! They weren't asses because they were English girls... they were asses because they were... well, asses!
Um, DUUUDE. Did I say they were annoying because they were English? I was just painting a picture. If they had Brooklyn/Southern/Swedish accents, I would have pointed that out instead.
Show, don't tell Skye.
In fact, I would just like to say, for the record SKYE, that I really like the English. I would not have spent four months in London and a year and a half in Scotland if I did not.
You spent a year and half in Scotland because you like the English? *nitpicks*
Actually, given that it was St Andrews, you're probably fair enough.
Exactly Skye, it's St. Andrews.
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