Now THAT was a Rock Show!
The Darkness live at the beautiful Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles
Los Angeles California — The Darkness did southern California rock fans a favor after boarding a plane in the UK and flying back across the globe for the second U.S. leg to their Blast of Our Kind Tour. Playing multiple west coast venues, I caught them at the beautifully restored 1920s era Belasco theatre in Los Angeles. A place oddly I’ve never been or even heard of despite the fact that I’ve been to the Mayan theatre multiple times, a venue the Belasco shares a common wall with. Regardless, a beautiful place and I’ll certainly keep it on my radar going forward. A great place to see live music!
The crowd was a little sparse during the opening act RavenEye, which is understandable as this is downtown L.A. on an early Tuesday evening. RavenEye, a trio who also hail from England, worked very hard to engage everyone as much as they could and appeared to capture a few new fans over the course of their short but highly energetic set. However these concert-goers were clearly here to see the boys from Lowestoft and when they took the stage the theater was suddenly packed. Nice to see in this musical climate.
The Darkness launched into Barbarian and the crowd was bouncing and swaying in unison for the duration of the 2-hour set. The setlist was very similar in flow to the first leg of the tour, with a few songs being switched up from city to city. Surprised to see Open Fire from their latest release pulled from this show. That song just flat out rocks. No matter; most fans probably didn’t notice until the drive home, if at all. (cool to have Concrete in the mix this time)
I haven’t seen the band’s attitude change a bit in the many times I’ve caught their shows over the last 10 years. Justin does his thing communicating with the crowd and making everyone pay close attention. (reminiscent of a couple dudes named Freddie & Iggy) Dan on the other hand is all business providing a serious wall of crunch that never ceases to amaze. That guy just knows how to write a riff. Newest member Rufus Taylor on drums seems to really be finding a home here and plays like he’s been a member of The Darkness for years. Frankie is……well he’s Frankie. The coolest cat in any room. And that includes Taylor Hawkins (no relation) looking down from the balcony.
I, like many of my peers grew up in the MTV hey-day of the mid to late 80s when rockers ruled both the airwaves and the sales charts. The spots on Billboard’s top 10 that weren’t taken by Lionel Richie & Madonna were occupied by Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake & GnR, selling millions of records and playing to stadiums full of screaming fans. These days I often hear many of those same people that grew up loving the spectacle & fun of those rock shows complain about how there just aren’t any good rock bands any more. That’s when I stand on my soapbox and assure them that there is, and they’re called The f**king Darkness!!
Overheard from someone in the crowd upon exiting the theater; “Now THAT….was a rock show!!”
Story & Photos By: Mike Skillsky
