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The Darkness
Regency Ballroom,
San Francisco, CA
March 31, 2018
By Dan Wall
Set List: Open Fire, Love Is Only A Feeling, Southern Trains, Black Shuck, One Way Ticket, Givin’ Up, All the Pretty Girls, Barbarian, Buccaneers Of Hispaniola, Friday Night, Every Inch of You, Solid Gold, Stuck In A Rut, Get Your Hands Off Of My Woman, Growing On Me. Encore: Japanese Prisoner of Love, I Believe In A Thing Called Love
90 minutes
The fact that English rock band The Darkness played a storming gig at the Regency Ballroom in San Francisco Saturday night is not the thing that should surprise most of the readers of this website.
No, the fact that The Darkness is still performing live and working as a functional band would probably be the most surprising thing.
When the band’s first album, “Permission to Land,” first came out in 2003, the quartet was one of rock’s hottest acts. The album sold over three million copies worldwide, went gold in the U.S. and was four times platinum in the U.K. The unforgettable single, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” went Top 10 in the U.S. and hit #1 back home. And no one could touch these guys live (they won Kerrang magazine’s Best Live Act award in 2003-04)-its stage show was incendiary and over-the-top, drawing comparisons to the group’s main influences, Queen, AC/DC, The Sweet, T. Rex and Def Leppard.
Campy, fun, ridiculous, loud, and just about anything else in between, the band went around the world making fans and friends with its raucous, guitar-drenched sound, despite the one main criticism the group received then and still gets now-that concerning the high-pitched, shrieking voice that lead singer Justin Hawkins possesses.
Now consider some of music’s most controversial and much maligned singers-Lemmy, Tiny Tim, Jon Anderson, The Chipmunks, Billy Corgan-and that still would not educate those who have never heard The Darkness. Hawkins’ voice is so high and over the top, that falsetto doesn’t even begin to describe it. The rumor that many of the local dogs on Van Ness Avenue came around to check out that high-pitched noise emitting from The Regency might be the only true way to describe this “instrument.”.
Now, the 1000 fans gathered at the show and your dedicated writer love the voice-it basically is what separates this band from everyone else. But I can also understand why people may turn away from it, if you are used to a more traditional approach.
Back to our story-everything was wonderful in The Darkness’ world until its second album, “One Way Ticket to Hell…and Back” was released in 2005. Despite three #1 singles in the U.K., the album underperformed everywhere else and Hawkins quit the band to go into rehab in 2006. Solo projects, side bands and Christmas singles all appeared, but there was only darkness in the band’s world-until the original four members reconvened in 2011. Original members Hawkins, brother/guitarist Dan, bassist Frankie Poullian and drummer
Ed Graham got back together and released the band’s third album, “Hot Cakes” in 2011 and resumed touring to adoring audiences.
The album didn’t sell like the first two-but who sells albums anymore. There was something missing, however-Graham left the band in 2014, and a female drummer was employed for a short period of time, but it wasn’t until the boys added drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor, the son of Queen drummer Roger, that all was back and right in the world of The Darkness.
Two albums have appeared since, with both “Last of Our Kind” and “Pinewood Smile” harking back to the glory days of the last decade. So, it was with much excitement that I ventured off to the The City on Saturday night to see the Darkness for the first time.
Despite my usual hyperbole and the fact that I still love to see live rock and roll, I can easily state that this was one of the best live shows I have seen in a long, long time. Arriving in a leopard skin catsuit that would make Catwoman jealous, Justin Hawkins leads the band through “Open Fire,” Love Is Only a Feeling” and a storming “Southern Trains” before anyone knows what hit them. The sound is amazing, the lighting great and the band sound tighter than at any time in its career (I’ve seen the YouTube videos).
And that’s how it goes for the rest of the night-the group plays 17 songs over 90 minutes, and aside from omitting “Love on the Rocks with No Ice,” plays every song that the very loud, animated crowd and I want to hear. Lead singer/guitarist Hawkins is a flamboyant, humorous and charming front man and a fabulous guitarist, while the rest of the group pound away (with a special shout out to Taylor, who is amazing) and help with the harmonies-albeit not in the same range that Justin can hit.
No, that was left to the crowd. And one of the great things about a Darkness crowd is hearing them all try to hit those high notes, especially in the band’s biggest songs- “Every Inch of You,” “Growing on Me” and especially “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”-that provide the biggest thrills and put a smile on every face in the crowd (despite having to stick an icepick through your left nut to get into range-I don’t know how the women do it).
That’s probably the most impressive thing about The Darkness-it really shows that the quartet loves performing live. Big grins appear onstage throughout the night, and there is never really a down moment-there are no songs about breakups or suicide, just hummable songs about genital warts, late trains and girls, girls, girls.
Going full circle with this review, it is with great pleasure that I can tell you that The Darkness are back, producing great music and presenting a live show that I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who loves hard-hitting rock and roll played out on a big stage. The band’s recent tour will hit most of the U.S. over the next month, so please see them if you can. You will not be disappointed if you do.
