LIVE FROM THE PIT: The Darkness and Ash

O2 City Hall had a jovial rock and roll party on Tuesday with The Darkness, playing their

rescheduled final date of their Dreams on Toast tour with ASH. The set was an even mix of

classics and new material, while the screen on stage showed some gorgeous visuals to

compliment the sound and era that the quartet were covering.

The crowd filed in late to O2 City Hall, padding out half of the large sloped room comfortably before the 8pm start of Downpatrick three-piece ASH, who swanned onto the stage with the comfort of a band in its third decade. They had a long pre-intro then hopped straight into their opener, with muted response. The energy of the room warmed up with ASH, though, as Rick McMurray hit his drum solo in Orpheus he was greeted with egging claps from the crowd followed with a quick happy birthday to bassist Mark Hamilton belated from the original date.

Their set was pleasant and seemed to get some conversions if not hips moving, though there was a feeling that the frontman had either overestimated the energy for this weekday show or the crowds passion for ASH as he played riffs with a “you know this one” look in his eye in lieu of a song title and coaxed his own applause on an occasion at the end of the half hour. Justin and Dan Hawkins did join them for the set closer ‘Burn Baby Burn’ donned in matching ASH t-shirts before the three piece made their bloated exit from the stage. Decent set, decent vibes, but perhaps a little self important.

There was a 40 minute or so lull before the lights dropped again for The Darkness to make their entrance. Frankie Poullain opted for a vinyl suit and red silk shirt - slay - while frontman Justin Hawkins settled on a waistcoat and necktie setup which was fetching while it lasted, though the waistcoat was eventually cast aside. They opened with a new offering, Rock and Roll Party cowboy; a tongue and cheek manifesto of a guy who gets drunk and goes to shows. Their stage presence was phenomenal, managing to command both sides equally with ease while still making time to jam with drummer Rufus “Tiger” Taylor whenever they needed a break. It did not take long for the crowd to get dancing either, so by the end of Growing on me the party had well and truly started.

Hawkins' stage presence wasn’t limited to when the music was behind him: after some

lighthearted joking about crying at the cancellation with a thanks for coming, the first of the

many call and responses began in the form of the sides of the room giving him a d (cheeky)

then an -arkness, letting it build before Get Your Hands Off of my Woman kicked off, matched with a fetching red and black visual and a secret c u next tuesday flashed on the screen through its runtime. This was bookended with a vocal warm up using mother and a declaration that we were officially warmed up before hitting up the run of older crowd pleasers.

Hawkins did toe the line of humour and contempt, as he salvaged a bit that he thought the crowd would get immediately where they were expected to repeat the last word back of the spoken element of 2015’s Barbarian by overexplaining how said bit would work. Though the back and forth needed some work the song itself went down a dream, and the little viking hat on the logo in the background was a nice touch. A few songs later and we’re back to the crowd work, this time for Walking Through Fire, where Hawkins asks for the crowd to march in place and pump their fists then spin around and do it on the other side so they could put it on the internet! The room enjoyed it after a couple of goes, though Dawkins’ assertion that it was the best of the tour didn’t have the conviction it needed to be the truth, and there is something oddly endearing about the generations that did not grow up with the internet trying to make user generated content with an arms length approach.

After crowd pleaser Love is Only a Feeling, Dawkins decided it was time for the longest kiss,

which required a word to be shouted in its lull; he asked for ideas but got nothing apart from the expected body parts, so settled somehow on his name said in a French accent. No one quite got the timing, but the song is sweet, then after Heart Explodes they introduced the sound tech to drum My Only so that Taylor could sing his love letter to his dog, matched with photos of the french bulldog scrolling in the background - a beautiful song for a beautiful animal. Now well into the swing of the 90 minute set the quartet hopped back into their archives for Dancing on a Friday Night (the thought about how fitting this would have been on the original date bounced around) and got the crowd moving once again. The energy by this point was relaxed as groups of friends moved and laughed with one another; but Hawkins had a rant he simply needed to get out.

Pinching a phone from someone in the front, Hawkins decided to show Newcastle City Hall his impression of someone filming a show on their phones, backtracked a little with a statement that he liked how much footage of his band is out there, the apologised to the concertgoer he had taken the phone off by popping it down his trousers and taking a photo of what they contained (or possibly a selfie from that angle, but that thought is less fun). He asked for a phoneless number in the form of a cover of Back for Good, which was mostly obliged, and for the first time in the evening the crowd did their own work by giving him the backing vocals in this subdued cover.

The energy picked right back up, though, as I Believe in a Thing Called Love rang out for the “closer” and the band leaving for their encore. This ended up being belated a little, leading to some leaving before it started, but finally the screen flashed to a pretty caricature of Italy and Taylor took the mic once more for new album track Weekend in Rome, followed by Dawkins theatrically smelling flowers and introducing the band then actual closer I hate myself.

All in all, The Darkness put on quite the party, ensuring that the crowd stayed engaged even if the not-quite-rightness seemed to get to Dawkins after a little while. Dawkins’ vocals were just as gorgeous as they sound on record, and Taylor’s stint on the microphone showed he’s been hiding some deep and soulful pipes behind that drum kit. The crowd had fun, the drinks stayed flowing, and there was just enough humour in the chaos for the night to still feel smooth.

Words: Julia Brunton Photos: James Smith