Razorlight @ Audley End House and Gardens (13/08/2023)

Where: Audley End House and Gardens – Saffron Walden, England (UK)

Venue rating: 10/10 (Not a single complaint. Is it next August yet, so I can go again?)

Who I went with: Myself

Where I stayed: Premier Inn Saffron Walden (Very friendly/helpful staff. About a forty minute walk to the venue)

How I travelled there: Via practically every form of transport, except boat!

Beverage of choice: Rosé… It had the highest alcohol percentage, plus The Feeling have a song called that, so it was appropriate

SETLIST:

Rip It Up
In The Morning
Stumble And Fall
Keep The Right Profile
Golden Touch
Vice
I Can’t Stop This Feeling I’ve Got
In The City
Violence Forever
Get It And Go
Wire To Wire
Rock ‘N’ Roll Lies
Los Angeles Waltz
Who Needs Love
Before I Fall To Pieces
Somewhere Else
Don’t Go Back To Dalston (Encore)
Good Night (Encore)
America (Encore)

I had just seen and loved Toploader at Strathpeffer Pavilion when I came across an advertisement for this amazing event on Facebook. I couldn’t resist seeing four bands I really enjoy on the same day, even if the venue sounded like a bit of a pain to get to. Two of the first albums I ever bought when I properly got into music were by Razorlight and The Feeling, two of the four bands announced to play at Audley End House and Gardens as part of Heritage Live’s concert series throughout August. I heard someone say they didn’t host concerts there until last year but I can’t find evidence of this online. ‘Razorlight’ (the self-titled album) and ‘Twelve Stops and Home’ were both released in the summer of 2006 and taught me how fun, beautiful and relatable music can be. Before then, I was only exposed to bands and singers my friends liked but I didn’t feel strongly about at all. The early 2000’s were a strange time for Pop music. Although there are some gems in the mix, I learned my taste definitely leans on the rockier side of things. ‘Nature’s Law’ by Embrace is one of my favourite songs ever written and it also came out in 2006, which was clearly a fantastic year for music. I didn’t know their other songs except ‘Ashes’ and ‘Gravity’ but made sure to listen to each of their albums before this event came around. I was actually hoping to see them at The Music Hall in Aberdeen last year but I already had too many things booked. I have no idea why I didn’t make an effort to explore Razorlight’s newer albums, after listening to ‘Razorlight’ on repeat for ages. I spent the last couple of months doing a deep-dive of their entire discography and I am extremely impressed with the songs I found. My new favourite of theirs is ‘Carry Yourself’, which they didn’t perform on the night. It didn’t matter, since they were brilliant anyway. I didn’t need a refresher course for Toploader or The Feeling, as I was confident I would already know all of their songs.

I travelled to Cambridge from Inverness on Saturday morning, which gave me plenty of time to find my bearings and make it to Audley End for 3pm the next day. Paul drove me to the airport extremely early in the morning and I know there is no way for me to repay him, since he has done too many unpleasant favours for me now. I caught a train from Gatwick Airport to Cambridge, which I nearly missed because my breakfast was late! I made it with less than a minute to spare. I felt like the luckiest person in the world, clambering on to that train at the last possible second like I was in the world’s worst action movie. The journey took a little over two hours but I was in a good mood and the sun was shining. I dropped my bag off at my hotel when I arrived and headed into the city centre to see what Cambridge is all about. I’d been a few years before but all I could recall was practically the entire population of the city riding bikes. There are still a lot of them around but they weren’t as dominant as I remembered. My favourite part of my extremely rushed city break was the famous Mathematical Bridge and the boats carrying people along the river beneath it, stopping now and then so they could purchase a glass of Pimm’s! It was entertaining to stand and watch the charade, especially with people on the adjacent bridge chanting “Fall! Fall! Fall” at the people steering the boats. I tried to see a couple of the universities out of curiosity but they weren’t the easiest things to catch a glimpse of. Probably for privacy reasons. I ended up retiring to my hotel room earlier than expected as I was exhausted and wanted to feel refreshed the next morning, so I could fully enjoy the concert.

I caught a bus to Saffron Walden on Sunday morning and checked into my hotel early. I forgot Premier Inn now charges £10 for early check-in but it was worth it, in my case. I headed towards Audley End but was far too early, so hung around in the field belonging to the estate. I sat on a log and got sunburned, listening to The Feeling’s short sound-check. The only song I could distinctly recognise was ‘Fill My Little World’. I entered via the main entrance to the house but I think I was supposed to go through the car park, which was beside the field I spent half the morning in. There was someone guarding the gates to the house and he kindly let me in, advising me to keep to the right and follow the arrows to the concert entrance. I wasn’t the only one going that way, so I didn’t feel like an idiot. It was a picturesque walk to the proper entrance, as the house and gardens are incredibly stunning. I read the house was used as the setting for ‘The Crown’, which I never watched but was very popular when it aired. We didn’t have to queue for long, as they opened the gates promptly at 3pm. Toploader had just finished doing their sound-check when we were let in and I was maybe part of the first two hundred people or so. I heard ten thousand people were expected to attend and I wouldn’t be surprised if that turned out to be true. The man who checked my bag laughed at my snacks, as I had only brought a Galaxy Ripple and a cereal bar with me when others were rocking up with giant picnic baskets. I heard people in the queue discussing how they were going to try and conceal their alcohol, as you were only allowed to bring in one unopened bottle of water. I thought that was a bit harsh.

All the bands came onstage bang on time. Toploader were first and I had no trouble getting to the barrier, as the majority of people seemed to favour setting up their camp chairs further afield. They easily got the crowd going and even had a drone fly around the venue during the tremendous ‘Achilles Heel’, broadcasting the footage on the screen behind them. I thought that was a brilliant idea and a great way of seeing the house and gardens in all their glory. Joseph (Joe) Washbourn, told us we were in for a fantastic evening and was in the middle of saying they are “merely the tickle” when he was interrupted by a vocal fan, shouting “NO!” He asked if anyone remembers their first album and joked Rob, who plays the drums, already doesn’t. A woman dressed as a dog mascot barged her way to the front of the crowd, claiming she is a huge Toploader fan. It was funny, as I didn’t expect her to be dressed that way when I first heard the commotion behind me. I’m guessing she was collecting for a charity but couldn’t contain her excitement when they came on. JW played the wrong intro by accident at one point and it became a running joke throughout the set. When it finally came time to play that song he said, “You might recognise this intro!” They did a cover of ‘The Whole Of The Moon’ by The Waterboys and pretended they wrote it to anyone in the crowd under the age of thirty. It acted as a tease before ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’, as they introduced it by asking “Does anyone want to hear a song about the moon?” He asked if there were any pan flute fans in the crowd before charging into their upbeat cover of ‘Sledgehammer’ and praising Peter Gabriel, who is an obvious idol of theirs. He compared Saffron Walden to Las Vegas because of the type of music they were playing and re-named it “Saffron Vegas”. When they were concluding their set, the same loud fan as before demanded they “play ‘Dancing In The Moonlight’ immediately!” They honoured her request and even dedicated the song to her!

The Feeling came on after a half hour break and they were the highlight of the evening for me. They completely energised the crowd and people of all ages were jumping up and down and headbanging to their songs, as strange as that sounds. A burly man also growled “YES!” when they introduced the song ‘Love People’ from their newest album. They talked about their tour next spring and I had already bought my ticket. It will be so fun to see them perform at Barrowlands in Glasgow! They opened with ‘I Thought It Was Over’ and Dan Gillespie Sells said his guitar had no sound for the entire song, so he realised he had been playing it for twenty years for no reason, as the song didn’t need it! He was very funny and charismatic, as usual. He explained the history behind their song ‘Rosé’, how they bought cheap drinks from Tesco while working on their debut album and ended up writing a song about it. I used to be fooled into thinking it was another sentimental song about a girl but my appreciation for it grew a lot more once I learned what it was really about. He discussed his musical ‘Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’ and got us to wish him luck remembering the words to the title song, as there are so many lyrics! At the end, he said he bet we weren’t expecting musical theatre. I have listened to the energetic soundtrack and bought a ticket to see it when it comes to Glasgow in May. DGS was excited to have the band be a part of the movie soundtrack and chatted about how much he enjoyed having money to play with while making it because big companies invested in it. He also mentioned he had a cold but I couldn’t tell. I was hoping they would do a song I hadn’t heard them perform before but they made it impossible to feel disappointed. I wasn’t really expecting them to do a new song, since they only had an hour time scale. Richard Jones, their bass player, was absent but the guitarist who stood in for him did an excellent job and seems to have performed with them before. I didn’t catch his name but I thought he kind of resembles Richard, which was a bit jarring.

There was a forty five minute wait for Embrace. They also received an incredibly warm reaction and Danny McNamara acknowledged all of the fans near the front who were wearing their tour t-shirts. They were the band I saw most people raving about, when looking up this event online. Many people voiced their opinion they should have been the headline act instead of Razorlight but I don’t know how much I’d agree with that. DM said ‘Nature’s Law’ made it to number two in England and number one in Scotland, which is a fun fact I didn’t already know. I do remember the song was massively popular here when I first heard it. He asked people to raise their hand if they owned a copy of ‘The Good Will Out’, which is now twenty five years old and the main focus of their upcoming tour. A surprising amount of people raised their hands and he clarified he means a physical copy and not just on Spotify! He mentioned Chris Martin from Coldplay wrote ‘Gravity’ for them before performing it and some girls behind me gasped, surprised by this. The crowd seemed to react the most enthusiastically to ‘Ashes’, which was Paul’s favourite after playing him a handful of their songs. DM said this must be a posh event because of the setting and complimented the good-looking security guards, saying you don’t get that very often. He tried in vain to encourage people at the back to come down and “join the gig” since they were so far from the stage. A few people left the comfort of their seats to venture forward but not many. He brought up the gaps at the front a few times, perplexed why people would be content sitting way at the back. I think some people don’t go solely for the music but more for the atmosphere and a pleasant setting. I certainly wouldn’t feel satisfied sitting at the back of the field but each to their own. I didn’t know all of their songs but about ninety percent of them, which was good enough for me. People were ecstatic when they performed ‘One Big Family’ but it is a song of theirs I don’t know well and will have to listen to again. They came across as genuine and very likeable.

It was dark by the time Razorlight came on. I thought the timing was excellent – the sun setting in time for the headline act and improving the party atmosphere. Things were certainly heating up and the crowd were more drunk and lively by this point. One guy thought he was being smart by chucking his drink all over us in the front-centre but security caught him and got him thrown out! They were certainly more eagle-eyed than most security members I’ve seen at past events. Johnny Borrell talked about how ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Lies’ was the first song they wrote as a band and he seemingly saw into the future, for all that was going to come. He jumped off the stage and ran up to the barrier, exciting the crowd by interacting with them during ‘Who Needs Love’. He was noticeably frustrated at times, especially when he was handed the wrong guitar to play the distinctive opening chord of ‘Before I Fall To Pieces’, a song he said is about timing and knowing when to leave a party. He said they don’t use any pre-recorded backing tracks etc. and everything you hear is the five band members performing completely live, which got a giant cheer. The whole thing ended earlier than expected, when they left the stage at 10pm to lead into the encore. They finished at about 10:15pm and people hung around for a moment until they turned the lights back on and started clearing the stage. The set didn’t feel too short, I think we were all just praying for more! They held a lot of interesting concerts recently with headliners such as Tom Jones, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Soft Cell and Sugababes. There have been so many tempting music events this summer but I can’t do them all. I think the four bands I saw fitted together really well and created an unforgettable day of music which will be hard to beat. I have yet to see such a perfect line-up and I was so glad nobody pulled out! I hope to come back next year, now I know how to navigate this area of England.

GALLERY: