There’s always a sense of anticipation when Lowestoft’s favourite sons The Darkness roll in to town. The East Anglian rock quartet have been slaying audiences in the antipodes since 2003, when they first toured here as a part of the departed juggernaut Big Day Out, and it seems that with every passing year the sheer adoration Australian fans exhibit towards the lads grows exponentially. With their as yet untitled fifth album – the follow up to 2015’s Last Of Our Kind – seemingly in the bag the band emerged from the studio to embark upon a tour of Australia and New Zealand, taking part in the Groovin’ The Moo festival as well, and Friday night saw them cap off a series of sellout shows around the country with a stellar performance at Metropolis in Perth.

The already sizeable crowd were treated to a set by local blues rockers Maverick as an amuse bouche and the quartet cranked their way through a solid set of tunes that perfectly suited the style of the evening. So often support acts can tend to seem an odd choice but in this case promoters were right on the money. High gain rock tunes like Obsession saw the band harkening back to the halcyon days of the bourgeoning WA pub rock scene with some healthy lashings of retro 70’s classic rock tones thrown in for good measure. Lead vocalist Craig Jovanovic‘s delivery sat somewhere between Bon Scott and The Black Crowes Chris Robinson and the band revelled in the attention shown by the crowd.

Maverick – photo by Klowe Photography

Thankfully changeover times were kept to a brief minimum, and as the traditional opening refrain of ABBA’s Arrival filled the club the excitement level was ramped up several notches until giving way to blissful release as The Darkness hit the stage and got straight down to business with Black Shuck. The band have always been a spectacular live outfit and on this occasion they certainly didn’t disappoint. Vocalist/guitarist Justin Hawkins was in fine form, resplendent in his lurid blue catsuit split to the navel, and hit those searingly high notes with pitch perfect accuracy as his brother Dan cranked out some serious riffage. Continuing straight into Growing On Me it was evident that the show was going to lean heavily on songs from their first album, with nine out of the eighteen song setlist coming from Permission To Land interspersed with a few select cuts from their following three albums plus a preview of some tunes from the upcoming release.

The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins – photo by Klowe photography

New song All The Pretty Girls showed that the band’s time in the studio has been more than productive and showcased a lean, heavier tone than previous albums too and the crowd showed their appreciation for the less familiar tracks just as much as the old favourites. In fact the new songs fit so well into their set that it made for a fairly seamless transition and the band seemed to be really enjoying road testing the fruits of their labour with relish. Roaring Waters, with it’s tale of Moorish invaders, was a true highlight and the combination of Dan Hawkins‘ Zeppelinesque guitar attack combined with the pummelling rhythm section of leisure-suited bassist Frankie Poullain and Rufus ‘Tiger’ Taylor to create a razor sharp focused spectacle. Poullain had his moment in the spotlight next has he wielded his cowbell aloft to herald in the intro to One Way Ticket – still an absolute crowd favourite – and Justin had the entire club singing along with him on the chorus.

As Taylor pounded out the beat, the brothers had all present clapping with hands aloft before beginning Love Is Only A Feeling. It’s still a classic piece of stadium rock balladry with an unashamedly massive chorus, and one couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia for the days when cigarette lighters weren’t going to send the Fire Marshall into heart attack mode. Witnessing a sea of lighters waving in the dark in time to the tune would have made this a perfect moment in time. Sigh, oh well…. Another absolute cracker of a new song Solid Gold was aired next and again proved that the band have a knack for writing a killer rock song with a super catchy chorus. CAn’t wait to hear the studio version of this bad boy!! Justin then proceeded to regale the crowd with the spoken word intro to Viking rock drama piece Barbarian from 2015’s Last Of Our Kind and the opening riff still stands, in this reviewer’s humble opinion, as one of the best Dan has ever committed to tape.

The Darkness’ Frankie Poullain – photo by Klowe photography

Mudslide is pure unadulterated fun and the lads certainly gave the song some extra muscle live before Justin swung his mic out into the crowd so a fan could finish the song off with “It’s a f&*king mudslide!!” Classic piece of Darkness crowd interaction. In fact the band have always been huge advocates of connecting with the crowd in a personal way; from getting a huge bunch of fans up on stage with cowbells during One Way Ticket on the last tour to more recently inviting an 11 year old girl to tap dance onstage to the same song. The Darkness love their fans as much as the fans love them. The weekend swagger of Friday Night had couples, friends and strangers dancing arm in arm everywhere you looked before the ball-tearing spectacle of Get Your Hands Off My Woman had a couple of people bravely trying to crowd surf. I Believe In A Thing Called Love capped off the main set in true Darkness style before the quartet returned to the stage to show off newbie Japanese Prisoner Of Love. A heavier sounding song yet again, if the few new songs the band displayed tonight are any indication of the forthcoming album it’s going to be an absolute killer.

But they weren’t finished yet. The band have been closing their set with Love On The Rocks With No Ice for a while now and it still stands as the perfect way to finish off their show. From the twin pronged guitar attack to the tear-inducingly high chorus vocals, they pulled out all the stops to go out with a bang. Justin elicited some call-and-response vocals from the crowd before jumping on a roadies shoulders and heading out into the crowd with his white Les Paul. It’s a familiar sight and yet never fails to impress as he played his guitar behind his head before heading back to the stage one fial time.

Once more The Darkness proved that not only are they still at the top of their game as a live band but that they’ve lost none of the potency of their initial songwriting skills after nearly eighteen years together. With a swag of quality new tracks about to be unleashed upon the world it can only be a matter of time before they return once more to shake the foundations of clubs across the country, and when they do it will certainly be worth the wait.