The Darkness / Ash - Connexin, Hull, 12th March 2025

The Darkness lit up Connexin in Hull on Wednesday night (12th March) with one of the first few sets from their tour to promote their new album, 'Dreams on Toast'.  They were here in Hull for one night only so if you missed it, the opportunity to see them will require travel, as they go on to tour to York (17th March), Edinburgh (18th), Glasgow (20th), Newcastle (21st), Manchester (22nd), Bristol (24th), Portsmouth (25th), Leicester (27th) and end in London (numerous dates).

Justin Hawkins is an energetic and charismatic front man, who's brilliant at crowd work and interacted with the audience to entertain, engage and include us, creating an uplifting atmosphere. He still hits those high notes with impressive ease and consistency, showing his vocal range and cocksure confidence.

They kicked off with 'Rock and Roll Party Cowboy', which is immediately rousing and catchy pop rock that makes you want to dance but if it sounds familiar that's because it is: it's noticeably similar to previous hits, as if they have stripped the parts of their most popular hits for reusable parts. Nevertheless, it's an enjoyable track and started the set on strong footing.

The band were excellent, despite the occasional yet repeated moments of distortion, but these are technical issues and didn't distract from our overall enjoyment for too long because the sound quality improved after the first 20 minutes or so of their set. It seems to be HPSS, who provide technical stage services, doing the sound engineering and they're the best in the business around here but who knows what the sound quality problems were due to because The Darkness will have brought their own gear and problems with a rigg aren't always easy to identify. Nevertheless, for a trained or sensitive ear, the feedback was uncomfortable for the first half of the show.

The Darkness were supported by Ash, who brilliantly transported us back to the nostalgic 90s with every song, but it's disappointing that their set was distracted with distortion for its entirety.

Justin Hawkins never fails to deliver and overcomes any issues with the sound of his tuneful charm though, and Wednesday night was no exception. However, during Justin's crowd work that night, there was a hilarious misunderstanding with the audience as he simply sang "mother" and turned his mic towards us. Some people responded loudly with "mother" in return, mirroring him, to which he just laughed, bemused and bewildered: whereas some audience responded with "f*cker!" which was presumably what he expected us to reply! When he realised that hadn't landed, he just giggled and went on to sing an unfathomable melody, showing off his vocal dexterity, but we would never be able to copy it when it was our turn because trained singers would find it difficult!

Justin's showmanship didn't desert him, and nothing can knock him off his stride in delivering an experience for an audience: he united us all and we did our county proud by chanting "Yorkshire! Yorkshire! Yorkshire!" back at him with happy and harmonious enthusiasm because we know how to have a fun and we know that "love is only a feeling" but we let ourselves "believe in a thing call love" for one night only in the darkness of the light of The Darkness!

To turn the spotlight upon itself, the lighting was also impressive, and the screen visuals were engaging, but the mystery remains: how does Justin Hawkins hit those high notes when bathed in smoke that surrounds, nay, drowns him, like a modern-day Jesus descended from the misty heavens? As a singer myself, I can tell you from experience, I personally find it impossible to sing through such thick plumes of smoke from over-generous smoke machines and yet those frequent high notes appeared as easy as breathing for Justin Hawkins. Though there would have been from me, there was no coughing nor spluttering through the smoke, and Justin stole the stage, emerging like an illuminated, ephemeral figure.

You could say Justin's ego was showing with his out-stretched arms Christ-like, but he was comedic and confident, and it is confidence that's been earned and it's deserved because, despite the similar riffs in many of their songs, Justin delivers impressive falsettos consistently and seemly comfortably. despite being almost 50, whereas a lot of singer's voices degrade over time, and it's been a staggering 21 years since ‘I Believe In a Thing Called Love’ was first released!

It's more important than ever that you hear the call from The Darkness because they're independent artists and reminded us on stage that they are without the safety net of the structure and stability of a record label; they were dropped by Atlantic Studios back in 2006 so when they started this tour of 'Dreams on Toast' back on 7th March in Ipswich, they really were (and still are: get tickets now!) offering us their dreams on toast and tickets are available across various cities in the country until the tour comes to its conclusion in London's OVO Arena in Wembley on 29th March.

It feels unsettling that Justin felt compelled to make it clear that The Darkness need your help because they’re scared of fading into the darkness of mere memory within the music industry. Although the legacy of The Darkness will not be hazy obscurity or unknown oddity because they've made a lasting impact on the landscape of music, Justin seemed less self-assured of the band's cultural status in his desperate pleads for support. Perhaps he's almost too good at performing emotively or maybe his persona slipped momentarily for a segment between songs, but either way, the raw emotions were palpable and added to the atmosphere.  

Justin's brother, Dan Hawkins, was excellent on guitar and was on form throughout, clearly up for fun! Frankie Poullain was amazing bass and the drummer, Rufus Tiger Taylor, didn't miss a beat and was the happy heartbeat behind but he also offered vocals for some tracks too. However, Justin's natural exuberance owned the stage because his stage presence was dynamic and endlessly energetic: for a man about to turn 50, he still has more energy than a Duracell Bunny! He bounced around the stage but included his band members in his adrenaline and there seems to be committed camaraderie on stage between band members. 

The band left for an extended amount of time and made us wait so long for an encore that the stadium started to empty out but for those of us who stuck around to the very end, it was worth it!

Fans of The Darkness can also see them at Download Festival on 13th June but tickets of their ‘Dreams on Toast’ tour are still available!