Photos of The Fray performing live in Seattle at the Paramount Theater! More on Flickr.
Show Review & Photos: The Darkness @ the Neptune
The Darkness @ the Neptune, February 25th
Review & photos by Dagmar
The Darkness will be back, and I want some way to hold this brilliant band to the promise of return they made at Saturday evening’s show. They are working on new material after all, and new song “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us” is perfect Darkness. I hope as soon as it’s all recorded they get touring in the States again, but they can always return before then please. Their fans are hungry, and Seattle’s audience gobbled up the entire show with animated affection.
The audience, predominantly male, moshed and crowd surfed through the night. Even during some of the slower songs the crowd leaped up and down. It was quite a thing to see, and I don’t think the new venue the Neptune had experienced anything that wild before.
The Darkness‘ Justin Hawkins
What The Darkness do so well is Rock with a capital R. Their music is a celebration of a classic, beautiful sound. The songs are merry and immediately enjoyable. How much you enjoy The Darkness is probably going to come down to how much you like singer/guitarist Justin Hawkins’ singing style. Me? I love it. When the band came out and dominated us with “Black Shuck,” I was wowed by just how fantastic a voice Hawkins has. I recall these songs in particular, though doubtless someone will get a proper setlist up soon: “Get Your Hands off My Woman,” “Hazel Eyes,” “Stuck in a Rut,” “Friday Night,” “Growing on Me,” “One Way Ticket,” “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us,” “Can’t Believe It’s Not Love,” “She’s Just a Girl, Eddie” what could be the group’s pièce de résistance, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” and a cover of Radiohead’s “Street Spirit (Fade Out).” Every moment had absolute attention from the audience because The Darkness is an easy band to adore.
The Darkness
As a four-piece, Justin Hawkins, Dan Hawkins, Frankie Poullain and Ed Graham are tightly connected. This might be down to two of the members being siblings, who can explain how some people gel? I appreciated how the Hawkins brothers balanced their guitar playing, giving each other space and time to display their skills. Justin Hawkins’ costume changes included an amazing stegosaurus like jumpsuit for the encore. An odd thing for me to focus on might have been Justin Hawkins’ tattoo of the city he’s from – Lowestoft – across his stomach, but you know what? It was just cool.
The Darkness
Photos: Morgan Page @ Showbox
Photos from Morgan Page‘s sold out show at the Showbox at the Market on February 25, 2012. Check out more photos on Flickr.
Cate Le Bon @ the Crocodile Cafe
Welsh songstress Cate Le Bon, known for her dark lyrics, headlined at the Crocodile Café in support of her upcoming album CYRK. Cate is wrapping up her US tour in LA this week and will be off to Europe for a string of shows.
Photos and Review: Gigantour @ ShoWare Center (Megadeth, Motörhead, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil)
When you were a kid, you loved birthdays. You were another year older and you partied with your friends. Tuesday was my birthday and I spent it at the Gigantour show rockin’ with Megadeth, Motörhead, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil.
The best part of birthday parties were all of the gifts and surprises…I got both. Gift number one was when I saw Lemmy from Motörhead backstage and I wished him a good show. The biggest surprise of the night was the great performance from Volbeat. I didn’t know much about Volbeat before Tuesday and they rocked hard and brought a little rockabilly influence to the Showare Center.
The Gigantour was a great show. We saw four fantastic bands in a professionally run venue. I will definitely see each of these high powered bands again.
