Special guests tonight are Northern Irish rock band Ash, who walk out to their 1996 hit ‘Goldfinger’, instantly spurring vigour into this leather-clad, band-tee layered crowd. Their 9-track set is jam-packed with their best, including ‘Orpheus’, ‘Kung Fu’ and even a cover of Harry Belafonte’s ‘Jump in the Line’, which they’ve released as an official single and is out now.
It’s Ash’s final show on the tour, and at this point they reminisce on when they last toured with the band in 2004. The love between the two bands is obvious, and so for their last song, ‘Burn Baby Burn’, The Darkness’ Justin and Dan Hawkins make an early appearance and join the Irish rockers on stage, grinning as they collaboratively invigorate the 1998 track.
It’s not too long before the lights dim again, the stage fills with smoke, and the band return, in full, with ‘Rock And Roll Party Cowboy’, also the album opener, whilst Hawkins throws rock-horn shapes at the crowd.
They follow up with two of ‘Permission to Land’s’ strongest tracks, the melodic ‘Growing on Me’, and ‘Get Your Hands off My Woman’ where the lead singer sounds like he’s still living in 2003. Considering the soaring high notes in these songs, Hawkins has taken admirably fine care of his voice in the past two decades. He demonstrates his distinctive five-octave range by pitch-checking the audience to ensure they can match him (to varied results).
Despite Hawkins rescheduling the band’s original Newcastle gig due to a chest infection, he’s back on top form, spending the majority of the show topless, revealing his tattoo-covered, ripped torso, and even balancing into a headstand and clapping his shoes together for a good half-minute, demonstrating some commendable arm and core strength.
Next, from 2015’s ‘Last of Our Kind’, the band get serious with the audience interaction. On ‘Barbarian’s dramatic opening monologue, Hawkins asks us to shout the last word in every line, (“One by one the kingdoms FALL / They looked upon the isle and took it ALL”) as we’re allowed to feel, just a tad, why he loves the theatrics so much.
Trooping on with the medieval crusade theme, we’re back to a newbie, ‘Walking Through Fire’. As the chorus begins and the title words are sung, Hawkins orders us to march left, and when he sings the chorus’s second half, “Living my life on the wire”, he orders us to march right, with the requirement that we pump our fists as high as we can. If there’s a way to make sure a crowd remembers a new song, this is certainly up there with the best.
Hawkins soon asks us to shout something triumphant on his cue. Of course, being Geordies, the main response is “TOON, TOON” to which the frontman replies, “How about Justin?”, then remarks that it’s a French name, leading to some questionable Geordie-French renditions.
Take That fans are in for a treat, as the glam rockers slide in a cover of ‘Back for Good’ but not before Hawkins has a brief rant about phones. He takes a fan’s mobile, with permission, and shows us how silly it looks to have his phone in the air whilst putting on a vacant smile.
They’re quickly done being stern though and get right into their hit ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’. It’s understandable why they wanted phones away here, as it’s likely their most recorded track, aside from ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)’, which even this band aren’t mental enough to play in April.
After quite a lengthy wait for the encore, the band return to ‘Weekend in Rome’ with Hawkins all covered up in a grey suit, akin to the ‘Dreams on Toast’ cover aesthetic. As it finishes, he poses kissing a flower in the air as more are thrown at him, a reminder that it’s all for fun and they don’t take themselves too seriously.
Never to end on a quiet note, they finish with new track, the impressive 12-bar banger ‘I Hate Myself’, which they lengthen by pouring their final ounces of energy into frantic yet impeccable guitar solos.
Opening and closing with new tracks show the confidence they have in meeting expectations of both long time and new fans, and their self-assurance pays off.
The Darkness have gained plenty of setlist anchors with ‘Dreams on Toast’, and along with their histrionic stage presence, they know what keeps an audience hooked, so it surely won’t be long until they return. In the meantime, make sure to stream their new album, which has been coined their “second coming”, and is out now!
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