The Darkness
Paradiso, Amsterdam
08/11/03
I swear, six months ago I never thought I’d be reviewing the Darkness at all, let alone for the second time, but here goes. Firstly their album Permission To Land won me over when I least expected it. For one thing, I expected them to be nothing more than a one-trick pony. At best, a parody of Spinal Tap, and at worst, an imitation of Poison. Woe to me, for I eventually got hooked on it, and found myself playing it whenever I needed something fun or light to make me smile. In theory, though, the live circuit should be where The Darkness rule the roost. After all, it was their live shows which propelled them from nothing to rock stars in less than a year. Based on that, you’d expect something special for them to live up to, but it wasn’t clearly apparent in Amsterdam.
Not to say that The Darkness were bad during their London Calling headline spot. It was perfectly fine and enjoyable as the band tore through most of Permission to Land, and it was certainly nice to see the Dutch crowd having a good time and showing it for once. However, I think when you’ve created such a mammoth reputation in such a short time it can be difficult to live up to it every night and The Darkness are starting to show that they’re only human after all.
Perhaps the band have been cutting down on gimmicks as time passes, attempting to rely more on their songs instead of lightning fast costume changes. Or maybe they just got bored of pulling the same stunts every night, and don’t have the same enthusiasm they once had to try win over the European crowd. If it sounds like I’m being harsh, perhaps I am. After all, ‘Growing on Me’, ‘Love is Only a Feeling’, and ‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’ all made a convincing attempt at being “classic rock”. Even some of the lesser attention-seeking numbers from the album sounded stronger live, thanks in part to the voice of Justin Hawkins, which is as accurate and diverse as it is on record. It just felt like that additional spark was missing.
So don’t misunderstand me. It was a good rock show, which was fun to witness but it wasn’t without moments of disappointment too. One of those being the set ending prematurely with ‘Love On the Rocks With No Ice’ instead of the typically hyper burst of Radiohead’s ‘Street Spirit’ played out in the style of Iron Maiden. So lots of little things could have conspired to make the show stand out a bit more, but when it comes down to it, if you want a real classic rock spectacle, you still can’t beat the mighty AC/DC or the cartoon concerts of Kiss.
Steven McCarron
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