Razorlight rolled back the years on Saturday afternoon at Isle of Wight Festival.
They fired through a greatest-hits set that reminded everyone why they once ruled NME covers and Topshop playlists in equal measure.
But the moment that hit hardest — and weirdly, most tenderly — came when they dropped “Who Needs Love?” into the set.
You could feel a ripple go through the crowd. A flicker of recognition. The kind of reaction that only comes from teenage muscle memory. And then it clicked: Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. That’s where it’s from. That coming-of-age classic that taught a generation of girls about kissing, humiliation, and the absolute importance of the perfect party outfit. Razorlight’s lovelorn anthem had been the soundtrack to all of it, and here it was, live and loud and back in the bloodstream.
Johnny Borrell, still somehow both chaotic and composed, delivered the track with that same scratchy, ragged charm that’s kept Razorlight interesting even when the indie landfill took a nosedive. “Who Needs Love?” might not have been their biggest single at the time, but live in 2025, it had weight — and a nostalgic ache that caught plenty of people off guard.
Of course, they didn’t leave it there. This was a set built for maximum recognition: “In the Morning”, “Before I Fall to Pieces”, “America”, and a rowdy-as-hell “Golden Touch” that had arms in the air from the first strum. Borrell still moves like a frontman who believes he was born for it — half messiah, half menace — and the band sounded tighter than anyone expected.
It might not have been the flashiest set of the day, but Razorlight came out swinging, reminding everyone that their catalogue still hits. And when “Who Needs Love?” rang out over Seaclose Park, it wasn’t just a throwback — it was a proper indie comfort blanket. A little reminder that even in 2025, some songs still feel like a teenage diary entry, set to guitars.
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