London Camden Barfly @ The Monarch
February 7
Ex- Libertine�s garage rumpus. Watch this space
�Let go! Get on the dancefloor!� hollers Johnny Borrell, corkscrew-curled singer-guitarist in Razorlight. Clearly Johnny is a man in a hurry. So would you be if you�d just seen your former band The Libertines stumbling around on Top Of The Pops like they rented a bedsit in the place.
To his left, bassist Carl Dalemo flicks his fringe out of his eyes to signal he�s seen us: It�s enough. Guitars jack-knife; drumrolls build and collapse like peace negotiations at the United Nations. If the soundman wasn�t asleep, it�d be a classic.
Next stop, �Rock�N�Roll Lies� (no, we�re not making this up). �You�re all tied up with your backstage lines/And you just cant move a muscle�, croons Johnny from deep within a blizzard of guitars. Who could he mean?
Insistent pop assaults called things like �Which Way Out?�,� Action� and �Get It And Go� zip by. They�re the musical equivalent of a public phone ringing in a call box. In the end, someone�s got to pick them up.
To finish, Johnny hits us with his own take on Bob Dylan�s �Subterranean Homesick Blues� entitled �In The City�. �The boys are at the bar mixing up the medicine/Girls in the basement trying to get reception�, he drawls, as the band cave in and burst into garage standard �Gloria�. Girls scream; Johnny ignores them. Stardom beckons.