THE DARKNESS
w/ Mark Daly and the Ravens
11/9/25 – The Echo Lounge & Music Hall – Dallas, TX
©M’Lou Elkins / Skip2Photography.com
Dallas got loud and sweaty Sunday night when The Darkness rolled into town for their final Texas stop on the Dreams on Toast tour. But before the headliners brought their signature mix of wit and high-voltage riffs, Mark Daly and the Ravens stormed the stage and proved exactly why they’ve been turning heads across the Atlantic.
Hailing from Ireland, singer Daly and his band the Ravens came out swinging with “This Is Love” and immediately won over the Dallas crowd. Daly, all charisma and gratitude, kept the energy high and the banter easy, thanking everyone for showing up early to catch the support band… something he joked wasn’t common back home.
Check out the Mark Daly and the Ravens concert photo gallery below:
The band’s soaring choruses and classic rock crunch hit hard on tracks like “Better Off Alone” and “Superhero,” with the crowd clapping and singing along by the end. When they wrapped with “I Wanna Be More,” the cheers made it clear that Dallas was, indeed, all in.
Then came The Darkness, kicking things off with “Rock and Roll Party Cowboy,” a fitting opener for a Texas crowd ready to party. Justin Hawkins strutted out not in his trademark jumpsuit but in wide-leg jeans, cowboy boots, and a hat… his own cheeky nod to local Texas style. The band wasted no time launching into the kind of guitar-driven spectacle that’s kept them one of rock’s most reliably fun live acts.
When “Givin’ Up” hit, Hawkins split the audience into sections for a singalong battle, gleefully conducting the chaos and laughing at the results. Later, when he mentioned they’d already played Houston, the room erupted in loud boos; “Austin,” however, drew wild cheers… a moment of Texas rivalry that even the band couldn’t help but laugh at.
Somewhere near the end of the set, a fan’s sign caught Hawkins’s attention. The lights came up, and he read aloud that the couple had gotten married to “I Believe in a Thing Called Love.” Ever the quick wit, he clarified that he hoped they got married to each other while the song played, not to the song itself, before the band launched into it with full force, the whole venue singing at the top of their lungs and jumping up and down so hard that the floors shook.
Check out The Darkness concert photo gallery below:
The Darkness closed out with a heavy-hitting encore of “One Way Ticket” and “I Hate Myself,” stretching the night out just long enough that no one wanted it to end. After 17 songs and nearly two hours of nonstop hooks, harmonies, and humor, the crowd still looked ready for another round… and honestly, so did the band.
