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British rockers The Darkness returned last year with their fifth album Pinewood Smile, which was released via Cooking Vinyl. The band has had a long road since their smash hit debut Permission To Land in 2003 and have plenty of up and downs. A lot of their peers have faded away over the years but they have found a way to keep doing their thing and putting on entertaining as hell live shows that have fans coming back for more repeatedly (I last caught them at Irving Plaza in 2015).

They don’t fuck around, giving fans what they want, a fair picking of all the favorites from Permission To Land such as “Love Is Only A Feeling,” “Black Shuck,” “Growing On Me,” “Stuck In A Rut,” and “Get Your Hands Off My Woman.” Lead singer and guitarist Justin Hawkins is a true frontman, engaging with the fans in every way imaginable. From asking to wear various and hats and outfits directly from fans up front, to calling out those who are too cool to jump up and down or sing along, he kept fans engaged from start to finish in an old school rock and roll frontman style that you just don’t see that often these days.

Before giving the fans what they wanted in the encore by the way of their main moneymaker “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” Hawkins demanded that all the fans on the floor jumped up and down before they’d kick into that oh too familiar main guitar riff. Half the fans obliged his request and he called them out on the half-assed response, calling them out for it and standing firm that they would wait all night until every last one of us was bopping up and down. Eventually, the whole room was jumping up and down and this added to the momentum and lift-off of the classic and the room exploded.

This was also the first show ever where a band actually told photographers to stick around for an additional fourth song (it’s usually always the first three only), which only made me respect Hawkins and the rest of the band that much more as they’re clearly a band that “gets it.” Can’t wait until they’re back in the area again, you best be there too.

Find a full set of photos from their performance posted below, along with a gallery from the always equally rocking Diarrhea Planet who opened the show.

Diarrhea Planet:

The Darkness:

The Darkness Setlist:

1. Open Fire
2. Love Is Only a Feeling
3. Southern Trains
4. Black Shuck
5. One Way Ticket
6. Givin’ Up
7. All the Pretty Girls
8. Barbarian
9. Buccaneers of Hispaniola
10. Friday Night
11. Every Inch of You
12. Solid Gold
13. Stuck in a Rut
14. Get Your Hands Off My Woman
15. Growing on Me

Encore:

16. Japanese Prisoner of Love
17. I Believe in a Thing Called Love
18. Love on the Rocks With No Ice


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