In the days when Razorlight's Johnny Borrell happily compared himself to Bob Dylan and Charles Dickens, he would not have expected to rock up at a cheap and very cheerful regional festival, appearing alongside the Lancashire Hotpots in front of heroically drunken revellers in dalek and Darth Vader costumes.

But it's been a long fall from grace since Razorlight headlined Reading Festival in 2007. Ruckuses and punch-ups have seen him lose his entire original line-up while he was dubbed a "rock twerp" for excesses such as riding a Harley Davidson he dubbed "my big fat fucking ride".

His attempt to restart his career has meant abandoning a disastrous short-back-and-sides in favour of the curly rock star locks of old. However, he's unusually sheepish between songs, due to either eating a lot of humble pie or being in shock at singing "everybody looks the same" towards somebody dressed as Batman.

The few new songs – especially the stark Reveal Yourself – suggest a new (gulp) honesty and sincerity, particularly in the eyebrow-raising lyric: "We were close friends at the time. We just had to fuck each other's women and rob each other blind."

At times you almost mourn the twerp of old. Pop is certainly duller without him, and its somehow reassuring that the new bassist wears part of a golden eagle on his head. Borrell accompanies dafter old lyrics ("a white Cadillac on a wide wind") with shouts of "Whoo!" and a moment of air drumming, and the Bingley massive go predictably bonkers for old hits such as Who Needs Love, America et al.

But his big challenge is reviving a wider appetite for his hummable Libertines/Television-y pop-rock. He says he will perform anywhere. Tonight, it's Bingley Live: soon it may well be Cleethorpes Rocks.