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Razorlight are an Anglo-Swedish Indie rock band formed in 2002 by singer-songwriter Johnny Borrell.
Razorlight's debut album, Up All Night, was released on June 28, 2004, reaching number 3 in the UK album charts. The critical reception was generally good, receiving good reviews from NME, Q magazine and Billboard, although they were also accused of lack of imagination and unoriginality for allegedly borrowing ideas from other influential bands such as The Strokes.
The band became very popular on the London music scene. Large demand caused the band to play extra shows, including a 7,000+ capacity gig at Alexandra Palace. The album was heavily marketed in the UK. Up All Night is now recognized as one of the pre-eminent albums of 2004.
Up All Night was re-issued in April 2005, including the previously unreleased single "Somewhere Else", which peaked at Number 2.
In July 2005, the band performed at Hyde Park, London as part of the Live 8 series of concerts. However, the band came under fire for not donating their extra revenue to charity. The band subsequently claimed that due to their "fledgling status", they were unable to make such a commitment.
Razorlight supported Queen + Paul Rodgers on July 15, in front of 60,000 people. This gig had been rescheduled following the July 2005 London bombings. In December of the same year, they supported Oasis, at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium. They also supported The Rolling Stones at their gigs in Cologne and Paris.
During the Christmas season the band played an intimate show at the Railway Inn in Winchester. They were supported by up and coming London band Captain Phoenix, who are fronted by drummer Andy Burrows' younger brother Ben.
Razorlight contributed the song "Kirby's House" to the charity album Help-A Day in the Life.
Continuing their association with The Who which started at the Live 8 gig, Razorlight debuted some of new songs from their forthcoming second album live on March 30, 2006 in one of a chain of Teenage Cancer Trust concerts, organised by Roger Daltrey. Later that year, on July 2, they played to a sellout Hyde Park Calling gig, where they were preceded by The Zutons, and opened for The Who. The band went on to play on Brighton's West Pier on July 12 in a free concert as part of a Vodafone TBA event broadcast on Channel 4.
Razorlight released their second album Razorlight on July 17 2006 in the United Kingdom and it debuted at #1 in the UK Albums Chart a week later. It received mainly positive reviews, Q magazine giving it a rare 5/5 rating. The leading single from the album, "In the Morning" was released as a single on July 3 2006 which peaked at #3 in the UK Singles Chart. To date, it is their third biggest single after "Somewhere Else", which peaked at #2, and "America", which peaked at #1. It also reached #2 on iTunes' top songs chart.
The band played their biggest tour to date in October-November 2006 and also supported Richard Ashcroft in his homecoming gig at the Lancashire County Cricket Club on June 17.
In 2007, Razorlight were nominated for two BRIT Awards - one for 'Best British Band' and the other for 'Best Song', "America". However, they were also nominated for 2 NME Brit Awards for 'Best Band' and 'Best Album'.
On March 19th 2007, the band were confirmed to be headlining the Reading and Leeds Festivals in August 2007. They will play Reading on Friday 24th, and Leeds on Saturday 25th. They will also be playing the Main Stage on Saturday 19th May in Preston for Radio 1's Big weekend along side bands such as Kasabian and the Kaiser Chiefs.
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