By Alex Johnson
The glam rock gods owned Engine Shed on Wednesday.
Ten years on from their explosive debut album Permission to Land, it’s as though The Darkness are a nostalgia band twenty years too early.
For any other band this would be a bad thing, but for The Darkness it seems like a perfect fit.
The Lowestoft band took to the stage in typical glam rock fashion, clad in garish colours and textures, they formed a line, heads bowed and holding hands before playing their first of two sets.
And this was definitely a gig of two halves. The first half consisted of their newer tracks Makin’ Out, She Just a Girl, Eddie, Is It Just Me?, The Horn, Every Inch of You, Curse of the Tolland Man, and One Way Ticket.
The Horn, the bands latest single is amazing live, the backing vocals from bassist, Frankie Poullain, and lead guitarist, Dan Hawkins, support frontman Justin Hawkins’ unique voice. The chugging bassline drove the catchy guitar riff and it’s definitely worth checking out.
The band were playing with huge energy, but this wasn’t reflected in the crowd. A few people sang along, but mostly there was half hearted swaying waiting for the second set.
When The Darkness took the stage again, after a costume change, it was a completely different gig, the atmosphere and energy totally changed as they played Permission to Land from Black Shuck all the way through to Holding My Own. After a short break and a second costume change, the now Christmassy foursome owned the Engine Shed with Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End).
As expected the crowd hit the roof for the seasonal anthem.
Between tracks Justin bantered with the crowd as if he was Russell Brand, over the top and theatrical, he slammed three guys mid song.
After the boys finished their final track and the lights came up, they’d left the crowd in such a good mood they were singing along to anything the DJ played as they walked out.
The Darkness’ new single The Horn is available now.