Live Review: The Darkness - Ovo Wembley Arena, London 29/03/2025
The Darkness reigned over OVO Arena Wembley on Saturday night in a show bursting with unapologetic glam rock, falsettos and Freddie Mercury homages, and plenty of fire and flames.
22 years on from their breakout release ‘Permission to Land’, their blend of vintage hard rock and comedic energy still hits the spot and lands exactly on target.
New song 'Rock and Roll Party Cowboy' kicked off the evening's proceedings, setting the tone and promising a ‘big party’.
Crowd favourite 2003’s ‘Growing on Me’ followed, with its meandering guitar in all its glory sounding straight out of the glam rock '80s.
In between posturing across the stage to the 12,500 strong crowd, Justin took time to carry out some acrobatics, at one point doing a topless handstand.
Peek behind the colorful gags and gladrags, the band prove they are a skilled dexterous force of nature, with Justin nailing some guitar-flipping and tapping antics at one point - although they still bring the laughs they also bring some mean licks.
‘Get Your Hands Off My Woman’ kept the crowd bubbling, while frontman Justin moved onto an acapella call and answer exchange with the crowd, harmonizing ‘mother’ and showcasing his vocal range.
At one point he teases a little bit of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, no doubt in a nod to Freddie’s iconic historical performance, a mere hop, skip and a jump up the road at the Stadium, before joking ‘no can you imagine.’
He still got the crowd to participate in some silliness, shouting: “Gimme a 'D', gimme an 'arkness'. We are the motherfucking darkness”.
The energy of headbanger 'Motorheart', a relentless, heavy metal-tinged track with a juddering bridge, was matched on stage by lashings of fire and flames.
Addressing the crowd later in the evening, Justin proclaims: “We’re a grassroots independent band, with no infrastructure, no clout. We are the resistance, we are the rebel alliance.
He then went on to bemoan the state of the charts, laying into another band as their album was on course for the number one stop: ‘We live in a world where it's trendy to have a right wing artist banjo player reach Number One’.
Following up by admitting he loved all music except for Mumford and Sons, the band in question, he made one final plea to the crowd to change the future and the fate of the charts: “Buy the new album ‘Beans on Toast’ and make the world a better place”.
'Walking Through Fire' from the band’s latest album came with its own choreography routine for the crowd.
‘Love is Only a Feeling’ was up next, before they moved on to another ode to love, the more recent ‘The Longest Kiss’.
The lead singer introduced the band’s Drum and Bass technician Scott Whisker as a stand-in drummer for the next song, before a surprise band member switch-up: “A gift to you, Rufus Tiger Taylor on vocals.”
The next thing we know, cute images of a Boston Terrier flooded the screens either side of the stage as Rufus heartfully sang ‘When We’re Together’, in homage to his dog that died.
‘Dancing on a Friday Night’ followed the in memoriam slideshow, before they revealed they were about to play their most famous song, the iconic Christmas hit, ‘Don’t Let the Bells End’.
The rowdiest crowd reaction of course came from their number one hit, “I Believe In a Thing Called Love” which they mixed at one point to the synths of ‘Jump’ by Van Halen.
Now back in his suit, Justin’s vocals took an operatic turn on new album track ‘Weekend in Rome’, while bouquets of flowers were thrown over the singer - and after 20+ years in the game, the band's flowers are very much due, especially for live shows.
Ending on 'I Hate Myself', one thing was for sure, it was all love for the band as they exited the stage to feral applause.
Words by Monique Hall
Photography by Abigail Shii