It was only earlier this year that British glam rock revival band The Darkness announced a reunion and promised what would be its third studio album.  The flamboyant falsetto of frontman, Justin Hawkins and extravagant stage shows harkened back to a golden age of arena rock like Queen and Rolling Stones.

The band’s early singles skyrocketed up the charts globally and earned them gold, platinum records and armloads of awards.  Alas, it was a short fuse and they disbanded causing a wave of rumours, drug rehab stories and “side projects”.

I was one of many in the crowd to witness The Darkness perform at 2011 Download Festival.  Whilst I was casual fan of The Darkness, that particular performance absolutely won me over.  The stage performance, energy, lights and pyrotechnics was a no holds barred, full on rock gig.  If anyone was in doubt of The Darkness making a true comeback, this certainly laid down the gauntlet.

So with a giddy eagerness, I was looking forward to seeing the band again at the O2 Academy in Birmingham.

The crowd for this particular stop on The Darkness’ tour was well-turned out and represented a pretty wide cross section of age groups and judging from appearances…genre preferences too.  The venue was hot and sticky. 

As bagpipe background music filled the venue…a few pyros shot up from the front of the stage and I noticed they reached the ceiling.  Perhaps this venue was just too small to contain this rather voluptuous band?

Black Shuck kicked off proceedings, followed by a rousing Growing On Me and One Way Ticket.  Hawkins appealed to the crowd and easily drummed up some crowd interaction.

But already, The Darkness had employed all the classic stage bravados in just three or four songs – running from flank to flank, scissor jumps, strobe lights and guitar licks from behind the head.

Next came a pretty fast paced track, Nothing Gonna Stop Us which will feature on the band’s new album due out next year.  And this was only the first of a few new tracks that featured in the set list which also included an absolutely cracking, Concrete and driving almost bluesy, Cannonball.

There were some small breaks in the running order accommodating costume changes and the like which included a purely acoustic performance by Hawkins in Holding My Own and long instrumentals.

Then, strangely the band decided to do a cover by Radiohead which sounds bizarre but the choice of Street Spirit did showcase Hawkins’ vocal range if anything else.

With less than hour passed, the set list makes its homestretch with Givin’ It Up, Stuck in a Rut and the very timely Christmas Time – which saw the stage drowned in red and green lights and the band doused in a flurry of fake snow.

This was in theory the end…although the band did reappear, costumes changed, pyros shooting and a Status Quo like intro of Bareback, a suitable cover in Tie Your Mother Down and the penultimate, mega hit I Believe in a Thing Called Love.

Checking the time…a measly one hour and 15 minutes had passed since the foursome took the stage and the final song, Love on the Rocks with No Ice was played.

So, my verdict is…good but could have been so much better.  Was it the venue that lacked the size to endure this act?  Was it the band that although seemed enthusiastic was just going through the motions? Or was I spoiled by seeing The Darkness on mammoth proportions at a renowned festival?  Regardless, The Darkness is not a band to be trifled with…and well worth a thumbs up.

The Darkness continues its 2011 tour with stops in Ireland during early December.  The new as yet unnamed LP is scheduled for a release in early 2012.

http://www.theactualdarkness.com/

Photography by Stephen Turner

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