The Darkness – Warwick Castle – Thursday 4th July 2024
With The Darkness blazing a trail across the UK and Europe they stopped off at the stunning venue of Warwick Castle – surely one of the finest and most complete castles in the UK. A setting which created a majestic backdrop for a ballistic show put on by a band that is, slowly but surely, reclaiming it’s crown as the kings of 70s inspired glam rock and roll.
The Southern River Band, over from Australia, provide a fun and frenzied opening act. Frontman Callum Kramer says that they “Don’t have castles where we come from,” but they’ve obviously taken the opportunity to have some fun and they’ve dressed up in medieval costumes. They get the crowd warmed up with some entertaining heavy rock songs full of guitar shredding solos. They’ve clearly developed a great working relationship with The Darkness and their gratitude for the opportunity to tour with a band that has inspired them is evident and genuine. The crowd respond warmly.
The Darkness walk out on stage and tear into Growing On Me and Get Your Hands Off My Woman. They’re full of energy. Justin is everything you want from a frontman. He struts his way around the stage whipping up the crowd – who are eating out of his hand and obeying his every command. He has such a magnetic on-stage presence that whatever he does is met with applause and appreciation from his legion of fans. He knows this is a special venue and it’s clear that the crowd know it too. Feeding off the energy he tells us that when the band was recently touring across Scandinavia they met with somewhat disinterested audiences. None of that in Warwick tonight through where the crowd is responding positively to everything he’s offering up from a segment of call and response during Get Your Hands Off My Woman to applauding his outrageous guitar antics.
Whilst Justin says that someone recently suggested that the band were, “A one hit wonder,” the hits come thick and fast covering their entire oeuvre. Motorheart, Barbarian, Heart Explodes, Solid Gold and Japanese Prisoner Of Love make up an intense middle section to the gig as colourful flares blast into the sky from the castle ramparts, pyrotechnics light up the stage, and smoke and flames burst from cannons at the front of the stage.
Friday Night may have felt something akin to filler on the debut album back in 2004 but when played live it seemingly never fails to awaken something special within the fans who sing along, dance and clap as it really were the biggest hit that The Darkness ever had. A song that could take that title – Love Is Only A Feeling – concludes the main set.
The encore begins with the first few lines of Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End), before the band transition into the rarely heard Rock And Roll Deserves To Die. Callum from the Southern River Band has a chance to join The Darkness for the solo of I Believe in a Thing Called Love before the show comes to an end with an extended version of Love On The Rock With No Ice which sees Justin introduce the rest of the band. He pays special attention and offers extra, fully deserved, praise to drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor who in reality needs no introduction at all as he is of course the son of rock loyalty drummer Roger Taylor of Queen. He’s found his spiritual home with The Darkness and it’s evident that the band really appreciate him. He’s added the missing element that the band lacked since the departure of Ed Graham in 2014. As Justin quips that The Darkness are “here to rock you,” Taylor plays a few beats from his father’s famous track to much applause from the crowd.
The Darkness have often noted that they don’t take themselves seriously – but that they do take the music seriously. A night of high-energy flawless vocals from Justin, who is literally dripping with swagger and bravado, complete mastery of the guitar from Dan coupled with equally impressive performances from Frankie and Rufus on bass and drums is testimony to their full-on commitment and unquestionable musical abilities. As the sun goes down Justin invites us to admire the sunset. Literal darkness descends upon the castle, but it is The Darkness who are in the ascension. This is a band, returned to the peak of their powers, making performances look and sound truly effortless.
Norman conquest? Four-man axe-fest more like. Warwick Castle hasn’t been rocked this hard since 1069.
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