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On Wednesday 17th November 2021, The Darkness arrived in Brighton to perform a set in support of their upcoming album, Motorheart. With support from Massive Wagon, the band performed a set packed with both hits and a few new offerings too! Here’s what we had to say about the show…

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Massive Wagon

This band were not my cup of tea at all. There was lots of hair tossing, leg kicking, microphone stand twirling and screaming… to the point of distraction! They are like a garage band – not particularly polished in places but still seemed to be a crowd pleaser nonetheless!

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The Darkness

As the bagpipe-esque intro played through the speakers, The Darkness took to the stage as the crowd cheered wildly.

Unfortunately, compared to the last time they played at Brighton Dome (review here), their stage design was considerably stripped back but nevertheless, they came prepared to wow their audience.

There were moments of pure guitar solo delight from Dan, Justin’s trademark falsetto vocals, bass riffs galore from Frankie and even a moment when the lead singer stood on his head in front of the kick drum.

The frontman particularly knows how to interact with and captivate a crowd. There were a couple of occasions where he had the audience calling back every note he sung and another moment when he had them repeating something deeply poetic and was frankly just chatting shit but it was hilarious!

Part way through the set, Justin made his apologies for the band being a bit rusty after their break in performing due to the pandemic and it’s true, they weren’t perfect, in places. However, they still put on a performance packed with energy and played a selection of the band’s biggest hits, fan favourites and some tracks off the new album too!

Some of the best songs performed can be seen on the YouTube playlist below – ‘It’s Love, Jim’ and ‘Motorheart’ were particular favourites from the new album, whilst you can’t go wrong with old hits like ‘Givin’ Up’, ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman’, ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ and of course their Christmas hit, ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)’.

It was a set that despite their imperfections was fun, energetic and pure The Darkness brilliance! If you haven’t seen them before, be sure to try and check them out on this tour – they promise not to disappoint!

Highlights:

• Justin’s crowd interactions were witty as ever and he fed off the heckles perfectly too.
• Justin’s costume changes also added variety to the set.

• Justin‘s live vocals are powerful and flawless, whilst his charisma oozes with dry humour and a stage presence like no other.
• The band themselves performed with high energy and their individual talent for each of their instruments is spell-binding.
• Justin doing a headstand in front of the kick drum during a song, before casually returning to the microphone to finish the song, was pretty damn impressive!

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📷 All of the photos in this post are credited to Michael Hundertmark 📸
Why not give him a follow on Instagram and Twitter or check out his website.

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 Setlist

Welcome Tae Glasgae
One Way Ticket
Growing On Me
Eastbound
Open Fire
Sticky Situations
Givin’ Up*
It’s Love, Jim*
Black Shuck
Heart Explodes
Friday Night
Love Is Only A Feeling*
The Power And The Glory Of Love
Solid Gold
Motorheart*
Barbarian
Get Your Hands Off My Woman*

Encore
I Believe In A Thing Called Love*
Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End)*

* These songs can be viewed in the YouTube playlist, below.

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Finally, I want to say a BIG thanks to Warren and Aoife from Chuff Media for organising this review for us!

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Enjoyed this? Check out some of our other live reviews here:

Muzik Speaks Live Reviews

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Matt – Muzik Speaks
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