|
|
Newcastle o2 Academy
The Darkness
What does the world need now more than ever? Rock and roll, of course, and a ruddy good laugh. It is serendipitous that the antidote to your worldly woes has been touring the UK, spreading happiness and joy with every string pluck.
Rock icons The Darkness have been touring with their brand-new shiny album, ‘Motorheart’ and we were lucky enough to catch their show at Newcastle’s O2 Academy. ‘Motorheart’ is the band’s seventh studio album and feels as fresh as their first.
On a cold December evening, the good people of Newcastle filled the Academy, with people of all ages, eager to get their fix of live music to warm the cockles. There was a definite buzz in the air as the crowd waited for the support act, ‘Massive Wagons’ to take the stage. The Lancastrian rockers got the crowd going with a high energy set featuring ‘Fee Fi Fo Fum’, ‘Pressure’ and ‘Bangin in Your Stereo’. Vocalist Barry "Baz" Mills gave it his all and really got the crowd pumped up. A great band with a dedicated following of their own, Massive Wagons showed Newcastle how to rock a room. Check out Massive Wagons at www.massivewagons.com .
Rock icons The Darkness have been touring with their brand-new shiny album, ‘Motorheart’ and we were lucky enough to catch their show at Newcastle’s O2 Academy. ‘Motorheart’ is the band’s seventh studio album and feels as fresh as their first.
On a cold December evening, the good people of Newcastle filled the Academy, with people of all ages, eager to get their fix of live music to warm the cockles. There was a definite buzz in the air as the crowd waited for the support act, ‘Massive Wagons’ to take the stage. The Lancastrian rockers got the crowd going with a high energy set featuring ‘Fee Fi Fo Fum’, ‘Pressure’ and ‘Bangin in Your Stereo’. Vocalist Barry "Baz" Mills gave it his all and really got the crowd pumped up. A great band with a dedicated following of their own, Massive Wagons showed Newcastle how to rock a room. Check out Massive Wagons at www.massivewagons.com .
The Darkness
The Darkness
The crowd were suitably warmed up and ready for headliners The Darkness to kick their proverbial butts with a set crammed full of old school ‘classics’ alongside tracks from their new album ‘Motorheart’.
As the house lights dimmed and the intro to ‘Welcome Tae Glasgae’ played, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. As the band walked on stage, the crowd went wild with cheers and whooping from all corners of the theatre, 'Welcome Tae Glasgae' is the opening track on the album and makes for a great show opener.
Going straight from Glasgae into ‘One Way Ticket To Hell', the band kept the momentum going with ‘Growing On Me’ getting the crowd well and truly rocking the house down.
Lead vocalist Justin Hawkins has got crowd interaction down to a fine art. There are few bands who connect more with their fans than The Darkness. At one point, a flat cap made its way onto the stage. After briefly acknowledging it as a traditional Geordie flat cap, Justin took a run up and booted it back into the audience to rapturous applause. A member of the audience very kindly threw him a bottle of hand sanitiser to help kill off those bugs.
The Darkness played a full set featuring ‘Givin’ Up’, ‘Black Shuck’ and ‘Friday Night’ which were received as you would expect from a fanbase that knows every word of every song from their back catalogue.
It was great to see that their new tracks have also gone down well with their fans, with tracks like ‘Sticky Situations’, ‘Its Love, Jim’ and ‘Eastbound’ all getting a great reception from the Newcastle crowd. The Darkness have managed to do something that many bands struggle with when creating a new album that tours so well alongside their established tracks.
After such a long time away from performing live thanks to recent world events, it is no surprise that Dan, Frankie, Rufus, and Justin appear to be loving every second of their tour, and it shows. You could see in the faces of the audience that this show was exactly what they needed.
Topping off the set with ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman’ and their massive hit ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ the band left the stage. There had been many outfit changes during the show, from black leather to spangly gold pants, but nothing quite like the outfit change taking place as the crowd cheered for more.
To the delight of everyone, The Darkness came back to the stage, dressed in some pretty special outfits. Frankie was dressed in a massive princess outfit, Dan donned a pretty snazzy Marshall Christmas jumper, and Rufus appeared back behind the drums dressed as a Christmas tree. Justin was dressed in red and wearing a Santa hat as he sang a rendition of Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ which the crowd took over, singing the line ‘I’ll save it for someone special’ to which Justin replied ‘You guys are special to me’ before belting out the opening to the final song of the night, ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)'.
With the crowd thoroughly rocked and also rolled, The Darkness left the stage. The people of Newcastle and beyond can sleep well at night, safe in the knowledge that live rock music is in good hands thanks to The Darkness.
A fantastic performance, as always, from a group that never gets stale. The UK leg of the tour continues with shows in Nottingham, Birmingham, and London before they head off to Europe and the USA in 2022.
Their new album, ‘Motorheart’ and tickets for their tour are available right now. Visit www.thedarknesslive.com for more information.
As the house lights dimmed and the intro to ‘Welcome Tae Glasgae’ played, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. As the band walked on stage, the crowd went wild with cheers and whooping from all corners of the theatre, 'Welcome Tae Glasgae' is the opening track on the album and makes for a great show opener.
Going straight from Glasgae into ‘One Way Ticket To Hell', the band kept the momentum going with ‘Growing On Me’ getting the crowd well and truly rocking the house down.
Lead vocalist Justin Hawkins has got crowd interaction down to a fine art. There are few bands who connect more with their fans than The Darkness. At one point, a flat cap made its way onto the stage. After briefly acknowledging it as a traditional Geordie flat cap, Justin took a run up and booted it back into the audience to rapturous applause. A member of the audience very kindly threw him a bottle of hand sanitiser to help kill off those bugs.
The Darkness played a full set featuring ‘Givin’ Up’, ‘Black Shuck’ and ‘Friday Night’ which were received as you would expect from a fanbase that knows every word of every song from their back catalogue.
It was great to see that their new tracks have also gone down well with their fans, with tracks like ‘Sticky Situations’, ‘Its Love, Jim’ and ‘Eastbound’ all getting a great reception from the Newcastle crowd. The Darkness have managed to do something that many bands struggle with when creating a new album that tours so well alongside their established tracks.
After such a long time away from performing live thanks to recent world events, it is no surprise that Dan, Frankie, Rufus, and Justin appear to be loving every second of their tour, and it shows. You could see in the faces of the audience that this show was exactly what they needed.
Topping off the set with ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman’ and their massive hit ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ the band left the stage. There had been many outfit changes during the show, from black leather to spangly gold pants, but nothing quite like the outfit change taking place as the crowd cheered for more.
To the delight of everyone, The Darkness came back to the stage, dressed in some pretty special outfits. Frankie was dressed in a massive princess outfit, Dan donned a pretty snazzy Marshall Christmas jumper, and Rufus appeared back behind the drums dressed as a Christmas tree. Justin was dressed in red and wearing a Santa hat as he sang a rendition of Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ which the crowd took over, singing the line ‘I’ll save it for someone special’ to which Justin replied ‘You guys are special to me’ before belting out the opening to the final song of the night, ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)'.
With the crowd thoroughly rocked and also rolled, The Darkness left the stage. The people of Newcastle and beyond can sleep well at night, safe in the knowledge that live rock music is in good hands thanks to The Darkness.
A fantastic performance, as always, from a group that never gets stale. The UK leg of the tour continues with shows in Nottingham, Birmingham, and London before they head off to Europe and the USA in 2022.
Their new album, ‘Motorheart’ and tickets for their tour are available right now. Visit www.thedarknesslive.com for more information.
Photos and words by David Weddle