The Darkness And Black Stone Cherry – Shine Brightly On Tour

When The Darkness arrived on the music scene in 2003 with their debut album Permission To Land the band were seen to be saviours of rock when the genre was going out of fashion.

Led by the charismatic Justin Hawkins, the group is still going strong as witnessed at the Manchester Arena on their current co-headlining tour with Black Stone Cherry.

The Darkness’s rise to fame seemed to be almost instantaneous - within a year of their first chart success they were playing to sell-out arena sized venues.

Manchester Arena was only a third full not that it stopped Hawkins and the rest of The Darkness giving an excellent performance. Hawkins is a showman and consummate performer with a touch of Freddie Mercury and a dash of Mick Jagger.

As Growing On Me opened up their set the fireworks exploded the crowd were totally hooked in the moment.

His brother Dan Hawkins, wearing his obligatory Thin Lizzy T shirt, delivered some mean guitar riffs on Givin’ Up as Justin returned back on stage in one of his colourful jump suits. As he jumped on the drum riser to perform a handstand he started to clap – with his legs! The fans got out their phones to capture the moment as this was no ordinary rock gig - but then again The Darkness are no ordinary rock band.

Every band has at least one song most people know, in the case of The Darkness the case in point is I Believe In A Thing Called Love. As Justin rode through the audience on the back of their guitar tech it was a moment of pure madness that concluded a set from one of the best British bands to emerge in the last twenty years.

vSam Smith’s Unholy played over the PA before Black Stone Cherry arrived on stage, the huge white curtain dropped and the band launched straight into Me and Mary Jane. The band all look like they have overdosed on Red Bull as the bounced around the stage with seemingly relentless energy. Lead singer and guitarist Chris Robertson reminisced about the time the band first played Manchester to a crowd of only 200. Whilst tonight’s venue might not have been full it did not stop Black Stone Cherry from giving the gig their ultimate best.

In My Blood slowed down the pace with a soulful and emotive vocal from Robertson as the audience took over the singing of the chorus, Blame It On The Boom Boom sounded relentless with the chugging guitar riffs that were mean and dirty though it was crowd pleaser Lonely Train that provided the climax on a night where rock music shined as bright as ever.