Since one pre-show question on more than a few Razorlight fans’ minds is often “Will Johnny wear black or white?”, to get this small detail out of the way, it must be mentioned that Johnny Borrell wore, given the cold, damp November night, always appropriate black, topped ’til a few songs in with a fitted trench.

With a fist pumping confidence worthy of Rocky Balboa and a set of anthemic songs playing out like universal slices of the average twenty-something’s life (bittersweet opener “In the Morning” repeats a chorus of “In the morning you know he won’t remember a thing…”), Razorlight brought their Brooklyn crowd to their dancing feet and kept them stomping to near-classics like “Hold On” and “Golden Touch” until the lights came up.

Sports dude (not quite soccer hooligan) chants of “Olé, Olé, Olé…” drowned out any chance of a lag between set closer “Somewhere Else” and the band’s fiery, two-song encore.

Swedish guitarist Bjorn Agren and bassist Carl Dalemo were the calm, cool and collected counterparts to Borrell’s brash and Jagger-like ways. Borrell strutted about the stage, punching the air and belting out his strong, long notes as if he was back playing the massive stage at Live 8 rather than a quaint Polish hall.

This much bravura doesn’t come easy. Borrell sweated it out like the biggest of frontmen and kept the set’s energy at full tilt until the band’s final note. Razorlight had this crowd in raptures from the start.  A room of fans singing all the words, cell phones raised, screens glowing in place of lighters, don’t lie. Not bad for a band that only played its first show at London’s tiny Dingwall’s pub in 2002.--MVW/photos by Aishah Roberts

Set list:

In the Morning
Hold On
Golden Touch
Back to the Start
Dalston
America
(new one)
Fall to Pieces
In the City
Los Angeles Waltz
Can’t Stop This Feeling
Somewhere Else
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Who Needs Love?
Pop Song