Concert Review: Razorlight, with Mohair

Saturday, March 3, 2007
Martyrs Pub - Chicago
Razorlight: @@@@ (out of 5)
Mohair: @@@@1/2

In their native England, Razorlight plays 15,000+ seat arenas; in Chicago, they played a bar with a capacity of 200-300. I was about 10 feet away from them. They are not among my very favorite current British bands, but they are pretty good and showed some nice growth from their first to second (and current) album. I was supposed to see them in September, opening for Keane, but that show and a rescheduled one in December were canceled due to Keane's lead singer going into rehab. I did not hear about this show when it was announced, and I guess it sold out pretty quickly, largely to British expats based on the crowd. I would've taken a pass, but I became curious about the opening act, Mohair, when I saw the concert listing. Mohair's 2006 debut album was strongly reviewed on AllMusic.com, so I downloaded it. It is really, really good (probably @@@@1/2). So I went to Martyrs without a ticket and was fortunate to get one outside, albeit for a good bit over face value, but that had only been $13 so it wasn't too bad. Mohair was really enjoyable, young guys who were quite personable and obviously enjoying what is likely their first American tour. The crowd really loved Razorlight, and I enjoyed them too, but with only two albums in the can, there is a disparity between their 4-5 really good songs and the rest. It also didn't help that they didn't play my favorite tune of theirs: Rock 'n Roll Lies. On this night, they certainly merited their headlining status, and I can see why England loves them, but I can even more promising things for Mohair, at least musically if not in stateside popularity.