The Darkness
Nynex Arena,Manchester
Saturday 18 February 2006

Pardon the long gestation period taken for this review to appear: it is nothing to do with the quality of the concert, or any deep issue that I have been thinking long and hard over, no, it is simply because I could never quite be bothered getting round to it. Let's hope the wait was worthwhile!

When I heard that the Darkness were touring again, I had some reservations about going, simply because attending concerts costs a fair bit of money, and once you have seen a group, you have seen them, and are not likely to enjoy them as much second time around: I found this out quite vividly with Deep Purple. However, a couple of factors prompted me, eventually, to go. Firstly, unlike Deep Purple, they are a new band at the start of their careers, with a new album out, and still wanting to impress. Secondly, I learned that my sister is still a Rock Chick at heart, had a fondness for The Darkness, and would very much like to attend the concert with me, especially as this did as one of her birthday presents!

Anyway, I'm glad I went because it was a superb concert in every way. There's no point going back over the ground I have already covered in my review of their concert on 01.12.04, suffice it to say that despite having put on a few pounds in the interim, Justin Hawkins is still the main man - maybe he is a better front man now because he seems to have learned a little humility and self deprecation!

They had released a new album, "One Way Ticket..." shortly before the tour, and I made sure to buy it and inwardly digest it first. There is no doubt that The Darkness have slipped from their former status of media darlings, as evidenced by poor reviews, reportedly poor album sales and slightly less than full concerts: if so, I think it is a downright shame, because the album is stonkingly good (if a little lacking in length), and their concert performance was awesome at times. The album is generally heavier and less poppy than its predecessor, but therein lies the problem, because Justin cannot be the housewives favourite for ever, and he certainly won't be if he plays less commercially styled material. On the other hand, I like it better, and some tracks on the album could become classics.

Virtually every track they have done to date was played, with the sad exception of the Christmas single. This the first major reason why this concert was so much better: last time there just wasn't enough material to sustain it, before it submerged into silly handclapping games. The second thing that distinguished this concert was that the standard of playing was so much better and tighter, and it came with a much better sound quality, although as ever, not quite loud enough for me. With such great material on display, it's a shame that the earlier stuff still got the best reception, but I suppose that this is human nature and will be the same with most groups.

There were two undoubted highlights. The first was the opening number, "Knockers", in which Justin descended on to the stage from the ceiling in a carriage shaped like an enormous pair of.....knockers! Rampant rock sexism at its best, and it even drew a very approving and wry smile from Mrs Wicks! The other highlight was the encore, the track "Bald", which was breathtaking in its hard hitting rock attack and driving earnestness - for all the world it was if The Darkness had morphed into Judas Priest, and I found it sensational.

The Darkness have made their name via a retro appeal to the seventies style glam rock ethos, and also a certain "joke" or "novelty" value - the sheer quality of this concert and their new album shows that they can surely transcend this to become one of the all time classic rock acts: let's hope that the record companies and their fans continue to give them the time and the space to do this.

11.10.06