03 February 2012 (gig)
03 February 2012
Until recently, when you talked about bands that had died before they saw their full potential; you would have had to put The Darkness on that list. Formed in 2000, the Darkness pulled off a one band revival of glam based guitar driven rock and were seen for a while as saviors of the somewhat damaged rock scene in the 2000’s.
Critically acclaimed and certainly one of the brightest hopes for a full revival of a rock scene, the band only got out 2 full albums before lead singer Justin Hawkins left the band in late 2006 and the group split shortly afterwards.
So, it was with great anticipation when the quartet announced in 2011 that they would be regrouping and returned with a successful set at last years Download Festival.
While The Darkness were wildly popular in the UK and other countries, the band mysteriously only crack the Top 40 once in the US, when “I Believe In A Think Called Love” peaked at #35.
That aside, the Darkness started the first leg of their US jaunt in Boston at a sold-out show at the Paradise Rock Club on Friday February 3, 2012.
Following an impressive set by Foxy Shazam, the Darkness opened their show with powerful dual-punches of “Black Shuck” and “Growing On Me.” Hawkins showed right from the start that his falsetto voice has not lost an ounce of its strength – neither had the band, who were as sharp and commanding as ever.
An acoustic “Holding My Own” was the only lighter moment of the night, as the band’s riff heavy tunes as “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” gelled perfectly with the bands more party-anthem songs as “Friday Night.”
Hawkins alluded several times that the band was recording new material and peppered in a few new tunes during the set as “Concrete” and “Everybody's Having a Good Time” as well as some B-sides -“Bareback” and “The Best of Me.”
It would be unfair to say that “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” was the nostalgic part of the night. While the song is almost a decade old, the band reminded all that it has all the elements of a classic rock staple (not to mention the song, and Hawkins, popped up in a commercial during the SuperBowl two days later).
A grand return from a band we look forward to hearing much more from.
