The Darkness brought their Dreams On Toast Tour to Irving Plaza in New York City with support from Cork-based Irish rocker Mark Daly.
Mark Daly and his band The Ravens are currently on their US tour in support of UK rockers The Darkness. As the band took to the stage at New York City’s legendary venue, Irving Plaza, they kicked off their set with their new single, “This Is Love,” which has a rich rock and roll-style and received a great reaction from the crowd, setting the tone for the night. As you can only imagine, opening for The Darkness is certainly not an easy task as it was very obvious the crowd was all there to see them. They quickly turned that all around as the packed venue became fans of their music by the end of their set. They performed songs from their latest album, Devil’s Arms, amongst others. Mark Daly’s vocal style is different in his own way, as he is gritty with a touch of the late Chris Cornell sound. Overall, Mark Daly & The Ravens were very impressive. If you plan on catching The Darkness on this current tour, be sure to catch the opener. You will not be disappointed.
As Irving Plaza’s intimate sold-out show for the legendary UK glam rockers, The Darkness, hit the stage and their hardcore fans were ready. Justin Hawkins and the fellas lit the place up and had their fans fully engaged. It was as if they were performing in your basement due to the size of the room. They kicked it all off with the first song on their latest album, Dreams On Toast, titled “Rock And Roll Party Cowboy,” and the reaction was just as expected. Pure rock and roll fury just filled the room for the remainder of the night.Rufus Taylor killed it on the drums, along with Dan Hawkins shredding those powerful riffs. The man of style was on bass, Frankie Poullain, while the driving force behind the wheel, Justin Hawkins, was front and center. Together, they are the tight, fine-tuned machine called The Darkness. Justin was interactive with the fans as he grabbed one of the photographer’s cameras and started taking photos of the crowd before giving it back, later doing the same with a member of the crowd’s phone. They performed a good mix from their archives, with songs from Permission To Land through to Dreams On Toast.
The band’s chemistry works so perfectly. They bring charisma and a powerful energy to the stage. It is the unmistakable sense of fun that they are known for. Rufus stepped out from behind the drums to sing “My Only” as the crowd sang along. The whole place was electric when Justin performed the intro to Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song” before leading into their smash hit, “I Believe In A Thing Called Love.” It wouldn’t be a shock to hear that this sing-along could be heard on the streets of the Big Apple.
As the band left the stage, the crowd cheered for more. After several minutes, they were back out for their encore, where Frankie Poullain performed “Weekend In Rome.” To close out the night, they performed “I Hate Myself.” It was overall a great night with The Darkness in NYC after an absence of three years from the city. If you have the opportunity to catch them on this tour, definitely do so. You can’t go wrong, especially with the powerful Mark Daly opening.
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