Show: The Darkness
Date: October 24, 2012
Venue: Club Nokia
City: Los Angeles, CA
The Darkness
Photos by Nicolas Bates
Written by Dan Sinclair
There are bathroom attendants here at Club Nokia. That feels weird. But there are also a ton of long-haired metal types with beer guts trudging around the dance floor, so all is well. Lights go down, and there is darkness for…The Darkness.
Cameras swing around from all angles as the band is recording a DVD of some sorts and bassist Frankie Poullain is first to take stage, donning a black and white jumpsuit straight out of Jesus Christ Superstar. Frontman Justin Hawkins proudly peacocks to center stage, with a similar white jumpsuit with multi-colored straps across the front. The cheers get louder. Justin’s younger brother, Dan, takes his guitar and drummer Ed Graham sits down behind his drum set and the band goes right into the first song of the night, “Every Inch of You,” the lead-off track to their new album Hot Cakes.
Justin puts down the guitar and pretends to use his microphone cord in its place as he sings the first song off their first album, “Black Shuck.” The crowd eats it up and then they get more of their favorite album, Permission to Land, when the band goes in to “Growing on Me.” All fans in attendance know every word and sing along. Hawkins asks for a “D” and the crowd gives it back. “Give me an ‘arkness!’” Though some laugh, all give back an enthusiastic “Arkness!” all the same. During this set the frontman leaps up on the drum set to play the solo to Graham.
The best thing about a Darkness concert is how much every member of the band is into what they’re doing. They play every song as if they’re closing out a live show at Wembley. No song just ends. The drums keep banging and the guitars keep on squealing on until they all find a place to explode together and each member of the band can strike a pose. The Darkness makes the audience feel they are witnessing the most important rock show in history, whether they like or not.
Justin dedicates “She Just a Girl, Eddie” to the drummer and they follow that up with the lead track to their second album, “One Way Ticket.” After “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” Hawkins asks the crowd if they’ve ever experienced things such as jealousy, rage and negative things like that. “That tattooed guy knows what I mean.” Then they go right in to “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” much to the crowd’s delight.
During this performance, Hawkins does a headstand on the drum set and claps with his feet as the rest of his band plays on. He hits all the high notes perfectly and it’s easily the best song of the night. Wanting the crowd to help him with the final “Motherfucker,” he teases us all with the microphone for a few moments, claiming that he knows we can do this, “because LA is a sophisticated place with operas and highbrow stuff like that.” He finally lets the crowd scream “Motherfucker.” He says, “Beautiful, thank you.”
Next is “Love Is Not the Answer,” and it’s Dan Hawkins this time that jumps atop the drum set to play the solo. It’s during this song that I notice two guys in their mid-30s high fiving each other in accordance with the drum beat as they also drink beer and sing the lyrics to each other. It’s not weird at all. Dan asks the crowd to sway their arms from side to side for “Love Is Only a Feeling” and all oblige. Even the high-fiving lovers follow suit, but they make sure to give the sign of the devil while doing so.
Next is “Friday Night” and then “Concrete.” The band gives every song everything they have and by the time they play “Everybody Have a Good Time,” everybody still is. They cover Radiohead’s “Street Spirit” without telling anyone they were doing so, before returning back to Permission to Land with “Givin’ Up” and “Stuck in a Rut.”
Just when the crowd thinks they can’t handle anything more, Justin throws the microphone into the crowd like he’s fishing. A fan takes the bait and screams into the mic “I believe in a thing called love/Just listen to the rhythm of my heart!” Justin is impressed and then the band closes the show with their most popular song and the crowd goes nuts.
If ever there were a question if The Darkness were, in fact, for real or not, seeing them perform live in concert answers that question with a resounding falsetto Ye-e-e-e-e-es! No matter how silly, cheesy, corny or dated outsiders may witness the British rockers, the band takes this rock and roll thing very seriously…in very ridiculous outfits.