{"id":3186,"date":"2014-01-02T00:06:54","date_gmt":"2014-01-02T00:06:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/?p=3186"},"modified":"2016-02-05T14:39:14","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T14:39:14","slug":"the-darkness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/the-darkness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Darkness"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

On the 15th of December 2014<\/p>\n

The Darkness at Leicester’s O2 Academy.<\/h3>\n

Reporter Olly Stabler was on hand to review the evening.\u00a0\u220f<\/p>\n

First on were two fifths of The River 68’s <\/strong>(it seems as though the rest of the band did not come on the tour). The two members on stage both played acoustic guitars, with one member also playing harmonica and also a stomp pedal which triggered a bass drum sound. With this the act managed to achieve a very ‘full’ sound for only having 2 people. After a couple of songs it became clear who was more of their lead singer and who was more of the backing singer. The lead singer turned out to be the one who was just playing the guitar and so could obviously focus more on his vocals rather then multitasking. The band had a real sense of groove and rhythm to their songs, and, compete with strong harmonies quickly won the crowd over and had all cheering for them. I can’t imagine how much better they could be with the full band backing them!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The River 68’s. \u00a0Photography by\u00a0Kat Ulman<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Find The River 68’s on facebook.<\/a><\/p>\n

Next on were a rock band from Derby called LostAlone<\/strong>. I have seen these guys twice before and have always been impressed by them. Tonight was no different, with lead guitarist\/vocalist Steven being a real show man and performing all over the stage. The band were overflowing with energy, and would be a good model for any band that lacks energy to aspire to. The band played all their old songs as well as a few new songs off their upcoming album, which featured a very catchy song called Guilty. Their next album is one to watch out for!<\/p>\n

\"Lost<\/a>
Lost Alone. Photography by Kat Ulman<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Find Lost Alone on facebook.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now we come to The Darkness<\/strong>. The O2 was now packed, and there was a huge atmosphere-everyone was clearly here to see these guys rock out. The band came out in their trademark glam image and were immediately greeted with a huge applause.<\/p>\n

Now I must admit, I’m not a huge Darkness fan, but I do like bum and so I was a little nervous that I would not enjoy their show that much. The band launched into the first song and after it they explained how the show was going to work: a set featuring ‘oddities’ and new album tracks and then a set of playing their entire debut album, Permission to Launch, in full.<\/p>\n

The band continued on with their first set which really did feature some oddities-a stand out was ‘Curse of the Tolland Man’ which ventured into an alt\/prog rock kind of area and had me revisiting it to listen after the gig a couple of times throughout the week. Their front-man, Justin Hawkins, was constantly ditching his guitar to allow him to run around and interact with the crowd more. You’d then see a techy run on stage and throw his guitar back onto him so he could do the solo-it all seemed to work very well!<\/p>\n

\"Justin<\/a>
Justin Hawkins. Photography by Kat Ulman.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a Spinal Tap esq long pause drum solo, the band rounded off their Oddities set and an intro took them into playing Permission To Land in full. The band were still brimming with energy and managed to keep the crowd going throughout with more stage antics and entertainment being provided in every song. The Darkness are renowned for their live shows, and tonight, they proved to every single person that they’ve still got it. The rest of the band feature rhythm\/lead guitarist Dan Hawkins, brother to Justin, who along with their bassist provide backing vocals and harmonies. All the members are very talented musicians and all got their time to shine during the show.<\/p>\n

\"Dan<\/a>
Dan Hawkins.\u00a0Photography by\u00a0Kat Ulman.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After they had played Permission To Land, the band disappeared from the stage and stage hands quickly set up Christmas decorations including a massive Christmas tree. the band were greeted back to the stage enthusiastically and played their number 2 hit ‘Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End).’ They of course had the entire academy singing a long with the song and it was a fantastic way to finish off their set. Overall, the band had obviously gone to some length to deliver a good show, and they definitely accomplished this, and more. I thoroughly look forward to the next time the band are in Leicester so I can go and catch them again!<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Darkness.\u00a0Photography by\u00a0Kat Ulman.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

See also:<\/h4>\n

Music diary for December<\/a><\/p>\n

Midnight Wire’s gig<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the 15th of December 2014 The Darkness at Leicester’s O2 Academy. Reporter Olly Stabler was on hand to review the evening.\u00a0\u220f First on were […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":3194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[110,141,91,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-from-2014","category-bands-that-have-feature-article","category-gigs-in-leicester","category-music-home-page"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/The-darkness.jpg?fit=720%2C480&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p73uhX-Po","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4105,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/iwbars-march\/","url_meta":{"origin":3186,"position":0},"title":"IWBARS March","author":"Trevor Locke","date":"31\/05\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"15th March 2014\u00a0\u220f IWBARS at The Shed We sent to see I Wanna Be A Rockstar at The Shed. The Arcadians, from Burton On Trent, opened the show. The indie band got the night off to a bouncy start and went on to provide a set of lively \u00a0songs. Pushing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2014"","block_context":{"text":"2014","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/Music\/history-of-leicester-music\/articles-from-2014\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Meri-Everitt.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Meri-Everitt.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Meri-Everitt.jpg?fit=600%2C404&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3707,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/the-shed\/","url_meta":{"origin":3186,"position":1},"title":"The Shed","author":"Trevor Locke","date":"04\/03\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Friday 28th February 2014 Young bands feature at Shed music night Both stages were in use tonight as a strong line-up of bands and artists gathered at The Shed with their fans and friends for a gig that offered two rooms of music put on by Adam Brown in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2014"","block_context":{"text":"2014","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/Music\/history-of-leicester-music\/articles-from-2014\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Deep-Red-Thread-Oscar.jpg?fit=600%2C410&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Deep-Red-Thread-Oscar.jpg?fit=600%2C410&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Deep-Red-Thread-Oscar.jpg?fit=600%2C410&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4049,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/obs-finals-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":3186,"position":2},"title":"OBS Finals","author":"Trevor Locke","date":"19\/05\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"17th May 2014 The final of the 2014 Original Bands Showcase 8 pm and the front of the Musician sees a queue of people waiting for the doors to open. A very large coach arrives and people file out and join the others in Lower Clyde Street. Philip Vernon takes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2014"","block_context":{"text":"2014","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/Music\/history-of-leicester-music\/articles-from-2014\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Philip Vernon photographs the queue outside The Musician","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Grand-Final-and-Philip-Vernon-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6676,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/saturday-at-glastonbudget-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":3186,"position":3},"title":"Saturday at Glastonbudget 2015","author":"Trevor Locke","date":"28\/05\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturday 23rd May 2015 Glastonbudget Festival on Saturday with 5th Pier, Aaron Stratton, Abandon Her, Becky Orton, The Bench That Rocked, Bloodsugar, Dead Frequency, En Route, Ferris, Final Coil, Fufu Sailors, Guns 2 Roses, I Surrender, Jonezy, Led Zeppelin, Metropolis, Midcity, The Moderators, The Mininukes, Monochrome Empire, Parasight, Part of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2015"","block_context":{"text":"2015","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/Music\/history-of-leicester-music\/the-year-2015\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/QF0B4709.jpg?fit=600%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/QF0B4709.jpg?fit=600%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/QF0B4709.jpg?fit=600%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5973,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/glastonbudgetauditions2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":3186,"position":4},"title":"Glastonbudgetauditions2015","author":"Trevor Locke","date":"02\/03\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Friday 27th February 2015 Glastonbudget at The Shed The last auditions show for the 2015 Glastonbudget Music Festival with Revolutionary Summer, Bloodsugar, The River Chickens, The Bombardiers and Four Point Oh. Words: Trevor Locke. Photos: RhinoFeroSs \u00a9 Public shows to select acts for the Glastonbudget Festival started last year. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bands"","block_context":{"text":"Bands","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/Music\/bands\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Revolutionary Summer at The Shed Photo: \u00a9 RhinoferroSs photography","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Revolutionary-Summer-1-600x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Revolutionary-Summer-1-600x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/Revolutionary-Summer-1-600x400.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5226,"url":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/thatwasdecember\/","url_meta":{"origin":3186,"position":5},"title":"ThatWasDecember","author":"Trevor Locke","date":"06\/12\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"December Leicester's live music 2014 Last edited: 1st January 2015 Our round-up of the gigs we went to in December 2014. Saturday 27th December The Shed. Goldstein played punk with plenty of rhythm. The Bowbridge Band were without a drummer tonight so their two guitarist\/singers did an acoustic set. Casino\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2014"","block_context":{"text":"2014","link":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/Music\/history-of-leicester-music\/articles-from-2014\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Midnight Wire do a selfie","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Midnight-Wire-selfie-600x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Midnight-Wire-selfie-600x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Midnight-Wire-selfie-600x400.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3186"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8626,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186\/revisions\/8626"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicinleicester.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}