Words & Photos by Marco Denzer
Following the release of their latest album “Dreams on Toast” in March of this year, renowned glam rockers The Darkness recently embarked on a tour across North America to promote the new music and delight their legions of adoring fans with outstanding live concerts.
The night’s show at New York City’s legendary Irving Plaza began with a solid performance by Mark Daly & The Ravens, the hard rocking band that is currently touring with The Darkness. Their set, an excellent variety of slow and up-tempo guitar centric tunes, easily highlighted the band’s talent and got things rolling with the crowd.
House lights dimmed promptly at 9:00 PM and ABBA’s “Arrival” began playing to indicate The Darkness set was about to start, and before the song was over Justin Hawkins and bandmates Dan Hawkins (guitar), Rufus Taylor (drums), and Frankie Poullain (bass) emerged from the sides of the stage. Impecably dressed in white the charismatic front man slung his neon red signature Atkin guitar over his shoulders, and standing in front of the amps he began generating a controlled feedback that led right into “Rock and Roll Party Cowboy” from Dreams on Toast. By now the fans were totally on board and ready to rock with the band.
After a brief pause to greet the audience The Darkness continued their performance with the songs “Growing on Me” and “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” from their Permission to Land album, They followed with “Mortal Dread” and “Motorheart” all the while encouraging fans to participate in singing, clapping their hands, and join in the good vibes of the moment. The remainder of the setlist consisted of a great variety of tunes selected from their extensive discography. In addition to “Barbarian”, “Heart Explodes”, and “Friday Night” they also included “The Longest Kiss”, “Walking Through Fire”, and “I Hate Myself” from the recent Dreams on Toast album to name a few. They even played a bluesy rock arrangement of Celine Dion’s “I’m Your Lady” for good measure, and obviously the crowd wasted no time in joining them to sing backup vocals during the chorus.
Aside from the extremely catchy nature of their songs, considering their repertoire appears to be expressly written to encourage audience participation and sing along during their show. Justin’s unbridle energy, good sense of humor, comical anecdotes, and joyful banter between songs are extremely captivating and engaging. All this coupled with their impressive guitar shredding skills, falsetto singing talent, and overall musical chops. The Darkness once again treated their fans to a phenomenal performance in NYC. The band will continue their extensive tour schedule through March of 2026, including many cities in the U.S. and Europe.
Setlist:
Rock & Roll Party Cowboy
Growing On Me
Get Your Hands Off My Woman
Mortal Dread
Motorheart
Walking Through Fire
Barbarian
Love Is Only A Feeling
Giving Up
My Only
Heart Explodes
The Longest Kiss
Friday Night
Japanese
I Believe
Encore:
Weekend In Rome
I Hate Myself
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TheWaster.com | NYC
9.14.25
