By Alex Smallridge, Muse Staff Writer
There was darkness in paradise this weekend and it gave us a taste of forbidden fruit. It brought us the dripping sweetness of proper British glam rock that has been absent from our ears for far too long.
On their reunion tour, The Darkness made their way to Boston, saying that it was the, “first time we’ve played in the US since f*ck knows when.” After destroying the charts, going quadruple platinum, and conquering the UK, they came to the tiny Paradise Rock Club, bringing with them a packed and electrified audience.
They started the night with high energy. The lead singer Justin Hawkins lost his leather, American flag print vest on the very first song. And the energy just kept rising as the concert continued. They had an incredible stage presence and truly played with the audience, whether it be solos with the guitar behind the head, roaming around the crowd on the back of a bouncer, or tossing chips into the audience, trying to feed their fans.
Their stage antics truly draw in the crowd and put on an unparalleled show between flashy leotards and acrobatics. And the music itself is bound to grab any listener between exciting guitar riffs, Hawkins’ ear piercing falsetto, and the catchy nature of the songs themselves, often based around single phrases that the audience can shout back even on their first time hearing the song.
Their music may not be the most complex or powerful, but it is fun. And in the end that means an awful lot. Music that makes you happy and that you have a good time listening to isn’t given the credit it deserves by critics. But we see its power thorough the popularity of the Beatles who did just that (and more, of course). At the end of the day The Darkness is a show band, and they put on an incredible show, leaving the audience enthralled and treating everybody with a very, very good time.
More than anything, however, The Darkness represents a type of music that I would hope to see much more of. There needs to be more hard rock of this sort; music inspired by AC/DC and Queen. The Darkness represents the revival and continuation of this music, which is being made less and less. For those of us who love it, and there are legions, they not only make beautiful music, but also give us hope that it can continue and won’t be resigned to a bygone era.
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