The Darkness

Paradise Rock Club, May 2016

One thing that really pisses me off is losing a previous blog entry, or just thinking/dreaming you wrote one but never did. This is one of those. While I’m sure I wrote a review of this show the same night or day after, damned if I can find it. So here it goes, plenty of time after, from memory.

The Darkness in Boston on May 4, 2016. I had never had the pleasure of seeing The Darkness before this.but I had heard good things. They did not disappoint. First off, as I said previously, Permission to Land was a killer album. One Way Ticket to Hell…and Back was also a pretty solid album that I enjoyed. So there were plenty of expectations of killer tunes.

The energy of this band was awesome and Justin Hawkins (Lead Singer) is nuts. It’s not often you see a dude jump off the stage and crowd surf these days. But he did it! He sang his ass off all night, played guitar, bounces all over the stage, and even entertained us with a story about meeting up with a woman from his past that he was attracted to. Time changes a person of course, so his story ended with, “Fuck off you fat bitch!”

They played all the hits of course, and it was a great show. “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” is such a great tune, live or not. But it did kick ass live. I was also quite excited to hear “Black Shuck,” “Love is Only a Feeling,” and “Get Your Hands off My Woman.” The last one offers several opportunities to hear Justin scream “Mother fucker” which is always fun.

Paradise Rock Club is a great place to see bands. It’s small, the sound is good, and there’s a balcony if you don’t want to be in the mix. This time around, we hit the balcony. The AC was blowing on us, we had beers, a nearby bathroom, and no obstructed views! We were able to just enjoy the show. And even though we weren’t on the floor in the middle of the action, I still managed to snag a guitar pick!

The full setlist is here: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-darkness/2016/paradise-rock-club-boston-ma-53f10725.html

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