Brighton Dome

Justin Hawkins: trouser trouble, and talking bollocks about a speedboat.

Still got it...

★Tonight’s opening band Massive Wagons earn nine out of ten for effort, but score much less on impact. Brought in at short notice, they last gigged in September so ought to be pretty much road-sharp. But even after five albums their noise is more highenergy than high art; Slade without the choruses, at best. Their attitude is spot-on, but Bangin’ In Your Stereo is the only song that comes even close to the impact of any in the headliners’ set.

That set begins with Welcome Tae Glasgae, from new album Motorheart. Ironic, considering how far south The Darkness are tonight. But no matter, Glasgae is bang-on, and segues perfectly out of whisky-flavoured intro music Arrival. The band then keep the travel theme going with the way more familiar One Way Ticket from their second album.

After Growing On Me, Eastbound, a second new-album song, is interrupted by a distressed Justin Hawkins: “This is my first show for a while wearing these faux-leather trousers, and they have got a bit baggy in the arse area,” he says, grimacing, turning sideways and grabbing a handful of surplus trouser to indicate his shame. “I feel like a man who has taken his speedboat to the lake but has left it on the trailer when he should be waterskiing.” His analysis confounds, but who cares? We all had to provide proof of safe covid status to get in, so bollocks like that is much more fun.

Dan Hawkins (above): inevitably overshadowed by frontman Justin.

On this opening night of the tour, proceedings are occasionally tentative – manifested mainly in pauses between songs while band members (mostly Justin) peer at a set-list taped to the stage to remind them what’s coming next – but no complaints. And by the time you read this the tour will be a mighty beast indeed.

Frankie Poullain

Tonight, though, ahead of new number It’s Love, Jim, the Dome waits patiently while the now shirtless singer has a brainwave and reveals his ‘solution’ to the trouser problem. Diligently, he rolls them up until they grip super-tight above his knees, then raises both fists triumphantly. Then Black Shuck rocks like a bastard. Next comes Open Fire, the first of two from 2015’s Last Of Our Kind, and one of only five of the 19 songs played that are not from Permission To Land (which supplies eight) or Motorheart (six). From previous album Easter Is Cancelled comes Heart Explodes, the fabulous paean to the ballad, which somehow mixes Celtic textures with a roadie playing acoustic guitar. The song is of course a tip of someone’s hat to Thin Lizzy – which prompts one audience member to tell Justin she likes them. Always happy to respond to a heckler, the singer asks how many of the audience share her preferences (“This is not going anywhere, it’s just a bit of market research”), before returning to the set-list for Friday Night, begun with his solo a-capella intro before the band power in for the song proper.