Photo Credit: Alicia Woods
A night full of guitar solos, high pitched vocals and laughter is what THE DARKNESS bring to every show, but this time, it was a Wednesday night in Hull that hosted one of the bands’ most electric performances to date.
Bursting on to the Britpop scene back in the mid-90’s, Northern Ireland trio ASH opened the night. The band are no strangers to the big stage, displaying their own headline worthy performance. The venue was already packed wall to wall ahead of their appearance, and with forty minutes to play with, ASH made the most of it. Kicking off with ‘Goldfinger‘ to warm up the crowd, they treated those in attendance an early glimpse of their new single ‘Jump in the Line’, two weeks ahead of its release. Fan favourites ‘Girls From Mars‘ and ‘Burn Baby Burn‘ concluded the bands opening slot, with both getting the crowd more involved and singing along ahead of the main event.
Making just their second appearance in Hull, THE DARKNESS returned to Connexin Live since 2019, but this time with even more new music to showcase ahead their ‘Dreams On Toast‘ release. The venue exploded in cheers when the band emerged from the wings, which continued to grow louder and louder until Justin Hawkins arrived. Opening their two hour show with ‘Rock n Roll Party Cowboy‘ from their upcoming record, giving those in attendance a glimpse of what magnificent material the band continue to unveil. The intensity began to increase as ‘Growing On Me‘ and ‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman‘ followed suit. Hawkins began to spot the energy in the room very early on, encouraging it to continue long in to the night.
Seven songs in total were played from ‘Dreams on Toast‘, giving fans a near-complete experience of the record. Since ‘The Longest Kiss‘ was the first single taken from the record, it was the most well-received across the room, and could feature as a set list staple for the future. Fan favourites from their chart topping ‘Permission to Land‘ also heavily featured on the set list, with the band beginning to alternate between past and present as the set progressed. As the night began to near its end, ‘Japanese Prisoner of Love‘ and ‘Friday Night‘ continued to showcase the flawless full throttle performance from THE DARKNESS into the latter stages of the evening.
Yorkshire chants began to fill the silence between songs to Hawkins’ amusement, with the frontman utilising this to introduce further songs. Concluding their emphatic performance with ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love‘, the intensity reached an all time-high. Hawkins’ famous high pitched voiced for the chorus and the inch perfect guitar solo that makes this song so iconic, mirrored the recorded version effortlessly. The Hull crowd were full invested from the minute the first riff hit, singing along to every word and living in the moment with very few mobile phones thrown in the air. THE DARKNESS exited the stage for a brief break before returning for three more songs to end the night in style.
The encore began with ‘Weekend in Rome‘, and ‘I Hate Myself‘, the final songs from ‘Dreams on Toast‘ and set up the grand finale of ‘Love On the Rocks With No Ice‘ to conclude the night once and for all. Despite it only being their second visit to the city, Hawkins considered it to be one of the tour’s highlights at that point. It was no surprise that this statement was made as the crowd in Hull on the night proved that it is a city worth visiting.
Taped Magazine 