UK Rockers The Darkness deliver riffs, laughs and heart to ATX with powerhouse set at Emo’s.
The Darkness turned Emo’s into a rock revival on Saturday night. The near capacity crowd were in fine spirits, ready to revel in the band’s trademark mix of glam, classic rock and timeless pop hooks.
They kicked things off with the swaggering “Rock and Roll Cowboy” from their latest album Dreams On Toast. It was a fitting start for the Texas capital, with frontman Justin Hawkins strutting onstage in cowboy gear, grinning through the chorus on tongue-in-cheek lyrics like:
“I’m a rock and roll party cowboy
And I ain’t gonna read no Tolstoy…”
From that moment on, the show was equal parts comedy, theatrics, and killer musicianship: exactly what you hope for from The Darkness.
The crowd roared through early favorites “Growing on Me” and “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” from their 2003 debut Permission to Land, attempting (and failing) to match Hawkins’ absurdly high falsetto.
The singer later led fans in a deliberately awkward dance during “Walking Through Fire,” the Toast track that cheekily acknowledges their evolution from arena headliners to beloved cult status: “We never stopped making hit albums, it’s just that no one buys them anymore.” He dedicated the tune to a fan who’d earlier mistaken the new song “Mortal Dread” for the old favorite “Givin’ Up.”
When “Givin’ Up” did appear later in the set, its buoyant Queen-meets-AC/DC euphoria belied lyrics about addiction, a Darkness hallmark: gleeful music with surprisingly dark undercurrents. It also showcased Hawkins’ lead-guitar chops, which are just as impressive as his athletic vocals, aided by brother and rhythm guitarist Dan, who provided extra weight to the band’s muscular delivery.
The set pulled from the band’s deep catalog: from the pulverizing “Motorheart“, the emotive “Heart Explodes,” and the swaggering “Japanese Prisoner of Love” and Permission gems “Love Is Only a Feeling” and “Friday Night.”
Other highlights included “Barbarian” from 2015’s Last of Our Kind, a thunderous slice of Zeppelin worship complete with Hawkins’ banshee wails and lyrics about Viking plunder. (They even slipped in a cheeky nod to “Immigrant Song” later in the set.)
One of the night’s biggest surprises came when the band tackled another cover: Jennifer Rush’s “The Power of Love” (yes, the Celine Dion hit). What started as a syrupy ballad morphed into an epic rocker, complete with snippets of Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry” and Jeffrey Osborne’s “On the Wings of Love.” Hawkins even broke into an a cappella rendition of the Dallas theme, a nod to their next Texas stop.
As always, The Darkness mixed sincerity with silliness. Hawkins borrowed a fan’s Members Only jacket for the poppy “The Longest Kiss”, joking that he’d found Magnum condoms in the pocket. Elsewhere he imbibed Queen Freddy Mercury’s call-and-response technique, the crowd rapturously attempting to mimic his every utterance.
Speaking of Queen, powerhouse drummer Rufus Taylor (son of Queen’s Roger Taylor) took a star turn on Toast bonus track “My Only,” swapping places with Dan Hawkins on drums and charming the crowd with his soulful vocals.
Of course, the night wouldn’t be complete without “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” and the band more than delivered, before returning for a two-song encore: “One Way Ticket” (with bassist Frankie Poullain providing more cowbell) and the self-deprecating recent single “I Hate Myself.”
The band remain masters of walking the fine line between rock ’n’ roll camp and pure-hearted passion. Their mix of sterling musicianship, glam theatrics, and British wit makes for a show that leaves you smiling long after the amps cool down.
The Darkness have always belied their name, a bright beacon of old fashioned rock, while somehow never sounding dated. In a time when everything feels heavy, their brand of bombastic joy feels almost radical, and truly infectious.
Setlist:
Rock and Roll Cowboy
Growing on Me
Get Your Hands Off My Woman
Mortal Dread
Motorheart
Walking Through Fire
Barbarian
Love Is Only a Feeling
Givin’ Up
My Only (vocals: Rufus Taylor, drums: Dan Hawkins)
Heart Explodes
The Power of Love (Jennifer Rush cover)
The Longest Kiss
Friday Night
Japanese Prisoner of Love
I Believe in a Thing Called Love
Encore:
One Way Ticket
I Hate Myself