The Darkness + Million $ Reload + Crown Jewels Defence
live @ the Ulster Hall, Belfast, 04/12/2011
(review & pics copyright Joe Donnelly 2011)
I'll never be accussed of being the biggest fan of glam rockers 'The Darkness' but I do like a few of their tunes , trouble was I always found Justin Hawkins falsetto caterwauling hard to listen to for any length of time. But I did think that tonights show would be good craic so I bought two tickets on that premise and do you know what I wasn't wrong , it was a really good night out. Californian four piece 'Crown Jewels Defence' have been the support band for this whole tour, and I'd never heard of them before tonight . My first impressions were that they looked more like a bunch of glitter sprinkled flamboyant hair dressers than a glam rock band, but they were noisey and had some good tunes in their short set .The singer was a bit dodgy at times, and I don't think I've ever seen a young band with two different Gibson guitars for every song and such a class drumkit (black & pearl with all gold hardware) .
My pal 'Alan McMurray' is the brother of the M$R bass player 'Kie' ,and he's been trying to get me to check the band out for a very longtime . Well tonight was the night ,and I thought they were excellent . M$R are a pretty generic in style classic rock band and an extremely tight live act which is hardly surprising considering the ammount of gigging they do ,with last weekends 'Hard Rock Hell' festival being their previous show to tonights. With such a great set of hook filled songs its only a matter of time before these guys take their place in the big league ,and If you didn't know better then you would never guess that these local guys are from only up the road in Dungannon .
Down went the lights and the massive new 'Darkness backdrop and similar graphic amp covers were revealed , while the silly bagpipe strains of the ABBA instrumental 'Arrival' swirled all around us , it was good to see their sense of humour remained intact. First song was 'Black Shuck' quickly followed by my fav tune of theirs 'Growing on me' and from that point on it was strictly balls to the wall hard rock with an added glam rock twist all the way.
Give me a 'B' , give me an 'elfast' he shouted and everbody joined in and had a giggle.
Brilliant guitar player, singer, fashion icon (not), very witty frontman , drumriser handstands and flicking a guitar plec with you heel and catching it were just some of Justin Hawwkins many crowd pleasing talents.
It was the part of the show many of these punters in this audience had been waiting on all evening having made their way to the venue for the gig through a freezing snow fall, and they let it be known in fine style . It was wave your arms and singalonga with the Darkness, as the band played their tribute (pension plan) 45 to the classic festive tunes of the 70s 'ChristmasTime (don't let the bells end)'
It was overdue but we knew that Justin would eventually slip into one of his horrible but captivating skin tight catsuits ,and tonight we had the pleasure of being treated to a pair of these crimes against fashion lol.
I was very impressed by the way 'The Darkness' treated their fans ,there was none of the us and them attitude I've witnessed from some other big bands on numerous accasions throughout the many years I've been gig going. They interacted with the crowd at every opportunity, they spoke and waved to kids ,flicked out what seemed like hundreds of plecs and generally made everyone feel part of the show instead of just another ticket sale. Well done guys.
During the encore of (I think) 'I believe in a thing called love', Justin disappeared out a side door then reappeared on the shoulders of a roadie , he then went for a walkabout around the whole ground floor. The fans went bezerk as they got up close and personal with the charismatic frontman ,it was a fantastic and weird sight.
This gig was the last night of the tour and the Darkness ended this 2011 trek on a real high, don't be fooled by all the tongue'n'cheek comedy aspects of the act which are very entertaining indeed because these boys are top notch musicians who can write a great tune and they rock hard.
I really enjoyed this show a lot more than I thought I would, Justins voice wasn't nearly as irratating as I was expecting it to be. $$ & me both had a great time.
I really believe that 'The Darkness' were genuinely moved by the crowd reaction they recieved here tonight .
Goodnight Belfast , see you again soon!.
Joe Donnelly. Belfast.5.12.11.
I'll never be accussed of being the biggest fan of glam rockers 'The Darkness' but I do like a few of their tunes , trouble was I always found Justin Hawkins falsetto caterwauling hard to listen to for any length of time. But I did think that tonights show would be good craic so I bought two tickets on that premise and do you know what I wasn't wrong , it was a really good night out. Californian four piece 'Crown Jewels Defence' have been the support band for this whole tour, and I'd never heard of them before tonight . My first impressions were that they looked more like a bunch of glitter sprinkled flamboyant hair dressers than a glam rock band, but they were noisey and had some good tunes in their short set .The singer was a bit dodgy at times, and I don't think I've ever seen a young band with two different Gibson guitars for every song and such a class drumkit (black & pearl with all gold hardware) .
My pal 'Alan McMurray' is the brother of the M$R bass player 'Kie' ,and he's been trying to get me to check the band out for a very longtime . Well tonight was the night ,and I thought they were excellent . M$R are a pretty generic in style classic rock band and an extremely tight live act which is hardly surprising considering the ammount of gigging they do ,with last weekends 'Hard Rock Hell' festival being their previous show to tonights. With such a great set of hook filled songs its only a matter of time before these guys take their place in the big league ,and If you didn't know better then you would never guess that these local guys are from only up the road in Dungannon .
Down went the lights and the massive new 'Darkness backdrop and similar graphic amp covers were revealed , while the silly bagpipe strains of the ABBA instrumental 'Arrival' swirled all around us , it was good to see their sense of humour remained intact. First song was 'Black Shuck' quickly followed by my fav tune of theirs 'Growing on me' and from that point on it was strictly balls to the wall hard rock with an added glam rock twist all the way.
Give me a 'B' , give me an 'elfast' he shouted and everbody joined in and had a giggle.
Brilliant guitar player, singer, fashion icon (not), very witty frontman , drumriser handstands and flicking a guitar plec with you heel and catching it were just some of Justin Hawwkins many crowd pleasing talents.
It was the part of the show many of these punters in this audience had been waiting on all evening having made their way to the venue for the gig through a freezing snow fall, and they let it be known in fine style . It was wave your arms and singalonga with the Darkness, as the band played their tribute (pension plan) 45 to the classic festive tunes of the 70s 'ChristmasTime (don't let the bells end)'
It was overdue but we knew that Justin would eventually slip into one of his horrible but captivating skin tight catsuits ,and tonight we had the pleasure of being treated to a pair of these crimes against fashion lol.
I was very impressed by the way 'The Darkness' treated their fans ,there was none of the us and them attitude I've witnessed from some other big bands on numerous accasions throughout the many years I've been gig going. They interacted with the crowd at every opportunity, they spoke and waved to kids ,flicked out what seemed like hundreds of plecs and generally made everyone feel part of the show instead of just another ticket sale. Well done guys.
During the encore of (I think) 'I believe in a thing called love', Justin disappeared out a side door then reappeared on the shoulders of a roadie , he then went for a walkabout around the whole ground floor. The fans went bezerk as they got up close and personal with the charismatic frontman ,it was a fantastic and weird sight.
This gig was the last night of the tour and the Darkness ended this 2011 trek on a real high, don't be fooled by all the tongue'n'cheek comedy aspects of the act which are very entertaining indeed because these boys are top notch musicians who can write a great tune and they rock hard.
I really enjoyed this show a lot more than I thought I would, Justins voice wasn't nearly as irratating as I was expecting it to be. $$ & me both had a great time.
I really believe that 'The Darkness' were genuinely moved by the crowd reaction they recieved here tonight .
Goodnight Belfast , see you again soon!.
Joe Donnelly. Belfast.5.12.11.