By Sophie Scannell, Music Subeditor
Before The Darkness could even grace the Beacon stage, the tone was already set: a back-to-back playlist of rock excellence blared through the speakers, from Rage Against the Machine’s 'Killing in the Name' before kicking it back to Genesis’ glory days. It was a chaotic-yet-fitting warm-up, neatly nestled in between support act Ash and the night's main act.
This performance has been long-awaited since The Darkness' last stint in Bristol which, just over two years ago, saw a performance of their debut album, Permission to Land, in full, a whopping twenty years after its release.
With extraordinary anniversaries like these tied to the band's name, an air of expectation permeated the crowd this evening. Not to mention its slight tinge of apprehension, too, given frontman Justin Hawkins' recent illness that resulted in the last two shows of this tour being rescheduled.
Miraculously, you wouldn't have been able to tell a thing. 'Get Your Hands off My Woman' saw Hawkins burst straight back into his famously elastic falsetto, the crowd trying to sing along with varying degrees of success (and voice cracks).
Within the first few songs of the set the frontman was stood on his head clapping along to his own songs with his feet. If this was him recovering, I'm now desperate to see what Hawkins feeling on the top of his form looks like.
What was maybe most striking though (second to the sky-soaring pitch of Hawkins and his scarily-impressive acrobatics) was the visuals that accompanied each song as the band played.
Where the group were at one minute depicted in explosive pop art panels, they were submerged in a classically saturated sepia the next. The neon light fixture reading ‘The Darkness’ behind them was undergoing a constant transformation of colours and styles all the while.
Like a live flick-through of Instagram filters, this backdrop perfectly suited the constant evolution of the band’s album discography. Especially with their newest, and maybe best-titled addition, Dreams on Toast being on the verge of release.
Sure not to miss any fan favourites, whilst eager to actualise their new material to welcoming ears, the band had crafted a people-pleasing set that still looked like fun to perform for the guys that have been doing it for over two decades.
A new track, ‘The Longest Kiss’ saw the stage don retro TV static and transistor radio artwork. With its jaunty drum line and zinging guitar solos, it matched the tune itself perfectly, an amalgamation of The Fratellis and a 1920s speakeasy reimagined stylishly for the Beacon.
Acting out a classic faux stage-exit before the encore, the band triumphantly returned with Hawkins sporting a white pinstripe suit. A suit, he noted, that saw him into his marriage and later through the final confirmation of his subsequent divorce.
Alongside this comically-bleak sentiment, the obvious risks of coupling a 50-year-old man with a stark white suit was continuously addressed throughout the show, culminating in an audience-wide chant of ‘sh!t yourself!’ rather than the more sophisticated ‘one more song!’ in anticipation for the band’s final stint of tracks.
As everyone had hoped for, 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love' delivered its high-pitched delights to no end, yet the band interestingly finish on one of the single releases for this new album campaign called 'I Hate Myself' instead of their 2003 claim to fame.
This respectable, if slightly controversial, set-list choice is one that I think speaks to the freshness of The Darkness as a group.
Where many token bands hailing from the early noughties are coasting on nostalgia alone in their present-day tour stops, The Darkness continues to evolve, entertain, and genuinely enjoy themselves on stage, even if that is at the expense of a swish pair of suit trousers.
Featured Image: Sophie ScannellWhat do you think is the best album title of all time?
