The Darkness 10/9/15

The Darkness

FINALLY! This band came onto my radar when my cousin Earl showed me the video for “I Believe In a Thing Called Love” back when their first album came out. It had me in a fit of laughter because it was one of the most ridiculous videos I have ever seen but musically speaking this band was good. Just how good was confirmed when I bought the first album and I had wanted to see them ever since then but it was never in the cards until now. Pomona is roughly a two hour drive from San Diego so Bob, Ken and I decided to make the trip. At the last minute Ken said he was going to drive himself because he could not get off of work soon enough but Bob and I received a text on our drive up that he was not going to make it after all…his loss. After a few hours of fun Friday traffic we arrived. We needed beer and food so I walked down the road for beer and then decided to order a pizza. I later found out that I ordered a pizza from the wrong Pizza Hut when I went to pick it up. On my drive across town to the correct Pizza Hut I got a frantic call from Bob that he had lost his wallet. Long story short I got the pizza and found his wallet in my car. Disaster averted. After a quick puff of the good stuff (my first time in almost a month due to a pre-employment drug test) we were off. Neither Bob or I had ever been to this venue and I must say it was AWESOME. Super small and intimate with great sound. The show was not as packed as I would have expected but I was glad to have more breathing room than usual.

The Darkness had a DJ as an opener but I’ve been to enough concerts to know when to time things so we can get right to it. Just enough time to get a beer, listen to their pre-concert music “The Boys are Back in Town” by Thin Lizzy and here they come. SIDENOTE: nobody told us that we had to find the “ID checker guy” before we could get a beer. Instead we waited for a bartender to take our order and then found out. Seems like it may have been easier for the guy checking our ID to get our will-call ticket to just give us a wristband but I digress…The Darkness were touring for their fourth album Last of Our Kind which was released at the end of May. They opened with the song “Barbarian” which was fitting since it had been stuck in my head for about a week. This band KILLED IT. They had the energy of an arena rock show in a small place. Total pros and tight as shit. The dual Les Paul’s through Marshall stacks sounded fantastic against the rhythm section. Though I’m not sure of the exact setlist in the order they played everything, I can tell you they played nearly the entire first album by the end of the night and the rest of the songs were a nice mix from the other three albums including a cover of Radiohead’s “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” and one of my favorite songs off the new album called “Roaring Waters.” The most surprising moment for me came when they played a super amped up version of “English Country Garden” with singer/guitarist Justin Hawkins behind a keyboard. It was truly magical. It was also pretty damn cool that Justin rode around the floor on the shoulders of a guy whilst playing his guitar during “Love on the Rocks With No Ice” near the end of the show. AWESOME.

Check out the link to this guy’s review for video footage: http://metalsludge.tv/1-way-tix-to-hell-in-the-heat-the-darkness-live-review-at-glass-house-pomona-calif/