The Darkness
- Rock Metal Machine
- Apr 9
- 5 min read
Artists: The Darkness / Ash
Venue: London, Wembley Arena
Date: 29 March 2025
"Watching the Darkness is always a blast, no matter what. Great songs, an indefatigable crazy frontman and a great family atmosphere make the band a must see!"
At first Ash seemed a little underwhelming, with their Flying V’s seeming a little incongruous with their Garage style, but the power of a song was supreme and ‘Girl From Mars’ changed everything. The whole stadium lit up like a Roman Candle and responded. Suddenly everyone is singing and dancing. This song was worth the ticket price alone!
To dry ice flowing like a river across the stage and into the audience, The Darkness came on stage triumphantly with their first song a recent single ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Party Cowboy’, the first of six songs from the new album ‘Dreams On Toast’. But there are no stetsons and no fringing, the jumpsuits are history, and Justin is wearing a number of more tailored outfits including the first, a three piece of white trousers and matching subtle pinstriped vest and gilet. There’s no restraint in the performance though, as Justin greeted the crowd by raising his pink guitar high in the air.
Next is classic ‘Growing On Me’. Wembley Arena has deemed there to be such an ample number of photographers that they should be split into the first two songs and the next two songs. As I am reviewing I cannot afford to miss two whole songs outside and have to go for the first two. Luckily I get a shot of a jump before having to leave the pit before they play classic ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman’ and another new one, ‘Mortal Dread’. Sadly I miss the chance to shoot Justin doing his upside down handstand scissor kicks, doing a split kick forward jump touching his toes, holding the mike out to the crowd, taking his shirt off and the pyro! I console myself that seeing and photographing The Darkness is a privilege, no matter what. They are always amazing live and I get on with the job of reviewing.
‘Motorheart’, a song I personally love from their previous album, was next. Despite the quip on the new album that The Darkness still write hit albums but no one buys them, and even their mother didn’t buy this one, it was extremely popular and a couple in front of me were staring into each other’s eyes, singing it to each other. Justin delivered his solo against exploding Pyro for ‘Barbarian’ and The Darkness logo gets a horned helmet (said to be worn by the Vikings until historians corrected that notion). Not forgetting to inject humour, Justin did a dance by raising and lowering his pectoral muscles alone, just because he can.
Taking the opportunity to address the crowd, Justin told them that the band are grass roots on an independent label, and as they are close to No #1 in the album chart he told the crowd to buy The Darkness’ new album to make the world a better place. In another exercise in rallying the troops, Justin got all of the crowd to march left and right to the catchy new track ‘Walking Through Fire’ with its memorable line “I can’t help falling in love with Rock n Roll”. An advert on the wall appropriately says “Bring The Energy” and Justin can get any crowd going, even a reserved one in the capital. This new track sat well alongside the next classic, ‘Love Is Only A Feeling’ for which Justin got them swaying from side to side. He delivered a searing solo while kicking and catching plectrums which he has been storing stuck to his chest with perspiration and then throwing them out to the crowd. New one ‘Longest Kiss’ has a sort of old-fashioned music hall beat, and reflecting this Justin jive danced along without his electric guitar, getting the crowd to participate by shouting along to the chorus – which they did!
From the ‘Easter Is Cancelled’ album they play ‘Heart Explodes’, another sublime song with a little slower tempo. This paved the way for something completely different; drummer Rufus Taylor coming to the front of the stage to sing ‘My Only’ with accompanying pictures of his dog “The Don”, a Boston terrier. The pictures are adorable, showing said canine as a puppy pulling a strap and replete in total majesty on a Union Jack deck chair. Most touching of all are the pictures of them together, such as with the dog sitting on Taylor’s feet showing their closeness. Taylor’s voice is a beautiful deep one, a little bit Elvis, a little bit Tom Jones. He was clearly a bit overwhelmed, keeping his eyes closed and just squinting now and again to check cues from the band. It’s low key till the end when he jumps off the drum riser in a witty, tables turning move.
Things amped up again with pyro and the raucous ‘Japanese Prisoner Of Love’ with going-down-a-rabbit-hole graphics of tunnels of The Darkness logos behind on screen. Dan and Justin stood on the PA in tandem front stage to echo the dual nature of their guitars. Allegedly testing his pitch, Justin started ‘Friday Night’ off a cappella and the crowd immediately rushed in to sing its refrain unprompted and impressively strong. An Archery mime and the crane Kung Fu move are just some of the things Justin used to entertain the crowd.
Kidding around, the band played a little bit of their Christmas song ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)’ much to Dan’s chagrin, and Led Zep’s ‘Immigrant Song’. Justin lectured the crowd to actually enjoy the song rather than filming it, before they launch into ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’. Big Riffs, bouncing, dry ice, an amazing song and a great ending ensued as the screen shows The Darkness spaceship launching off away into space. Justin kicked out as he raised his guitar, did a heart two hands “I love you” signal to the crowd from the drum riser and came off it with a split kick.
But it’s not the end. There’s an encore of two new songs. Justin came back in in a checked suit and introduced the band including describing the Sparks-like Frankie Poulain as a “sex legend”. Large white flowers were thrown up on stage, giving Justin a chance to camp it up as an opera diva looking into the flowers and using them to lengthen his arms in dramatic gestures. During ‘I Hate Myself’ with its fast fifties Rock ‘n’ Roll rhythm, Dan looked like he was really enjoying himself. Justin did some weird fifties jiving with his legs thrown recklessly out and up like he is double jointed. Finally he jumped into the crowd and crowd surfed with a mock swim forwards and back, including backstrokes till he got back on stage. He grabbed a big white flower, jumps on the drum riser, twirled it around fast like a lassoo and then did a final huge jump at the end!
Watching the Darkness is always a blast, no matter what. Great songs, an indefatigable crazy frontman and a great family atmosphere make the band a must see!
Postscript, the album didn’t make No. 1 of the main chart, but they were No.1 for the vinyl, Independent, Rock and Metal and album download charts, and the band remain firm favourites with their fans which is the most important thing! I wouldn’t mind betting that The Darkness will be around a lot longer than those who ephemerally reach the top of the charts.
Gallery: All photos © Dawn Osborne (used with kind permission)
Review: Dawn Osborne
Photos: Dawn Osborne
Location:
Disclaimer:
All photographs in this review are given for free for us to use (either in the magazine or website). We will not give them to a third party without the express permission of the rights owners. If payment is required between the rights owner and the third party, that will be decided between them, not Fireworks Rock & Metal Music Magazine.
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