M'Lou Elkins
In 2002, a restive crowd of Disturbed fans became violent, unable to reconcile the signature sounds of opening act The Darkness with the music they had come to hear that night at Brixton Academy. Like other elusive creatives across history (and perhaps especially in its early days) The Darkness confounded booking agents, and so were mismatched with marquee artists. This sometimes resulted in a random pairing that turned radioactive. In the aftermath of the violence, Disturbed defended its ill-behaved fans, instead accusing Justin Hawkins and Co of damaging the rocker image with jokes and impertinence.
Huh?
Nonetheless, Hawkins maintained dignified, but doleful silence, eventually taking to YouTube after 20 years to lament his “single worst experience” as an opener. In an admirable (if overdue) 180, Disturbed frontman David Draiman took to social media (the forum of choice for brassy apologies) to extend an olive branch and let bygones be…well, bygones.
By contrast, The Darkness fans seem a bit more refined…and good-natured – celebrating opening acts like The Comancheros, who delivered a high-energy, hair-whipping set to an earnest crowd. The energy of these modern-day cowboys was well-received by masses still shuffling into The Masonic on Tuesday, October 3. While there to see The Darkness, the crowd was just as happy to rock the heavy western sounds of the inevitable sons of Missouri, who have themselves been building a fanbase since 2015.
“Why is tonight special?”
Hawkins asked the crowd, framed by lighted geometric shapes and gearing up to deliver a signature energy – energy that is equal parts musicianship + performance art + rockstar. As skilled musicians, The Darkness has not only become more virtuous, but has tapped into the appetite of its fervid fan base. As performance artists, The Darkness delivers something decidedly self-aware. Sure, they know what they are doing and why they are doing it. Even good parody must be compelling. As rock stars, The Darkness blends proficiency with mindful performances to deliver a saucy, expertly cultivated stage presence.
Why was tonight special?
It was the first night of the six-month Permission to Land…Again tour – celebrating 20 years of the band’s debut album and playing its full tracklist over the course of the night. Peppered between album tracks were various gems to celebrate the band’s entire catalog – “Best of Me,” ”How Dare You Call This Love,” ”Physical Sex,” “Out of My Hands,” “Planning Permission,” and “Curse of the Tolland Man.” Delivering muscle rock energy from the jump with “Bareback”, the yellow-pantsed, tatted-torsoed Hawkins performed a crowd-pleasing, feet-clapping headstand. In the only album shuffle of the night, the band performed “Makin’ Out” earlier in the set list, perhaps to stick the landing on “Holding My Own”, punctuating its string of acrobatics and distortions with a final moody ballad.
Hawkins and Co share a connection with their audience that is as seamless as their stage dynamic. Over the course of the night, Hawkins entertained the mysteries of the universe with a lionizing crowd. From answering band trivia (“Is Dan playing a 1974 Les Paul?”) to pondering the intonations of guys named Drew who utter “Yay” with question-like inflection, Hawkins subverts the usual parasocial dynamic in favor of something communal.
The band re-emerged for an encore (were they freshly-showered?), clad in glossy dressing gowns and naked legs (though Frankie was shamed for keeping on his trousers). Dedicating it to all the sexy people in the audience, Hawkins drifted into “I Love You 5 Times.”
For its very last number, The Darkness went big. “I think we’re going to do something we’ve never done in America before,” warned Hawkins. “Hard drugs!” He was kidding, kids; he’s talking about the “Christmas song,” which they’d never played in America. Carping a bit about crowds that often request it, but never by its name (“Play the Christmas song!”), he conceded to the inevitable forces of culture, imploring the crowd to abandon the song’s actual title and henceforth call it “the Christmas song“. Hawkins ended the song with “Merry Christmas, one and all!”
And with that, I suppose, we officially start the holiday season.
Check out our photo gallery of The Darkness from the show below:
