ROCK LEGENDS, THE DARKNESS, ELECTRIFY LEICESTER FOR FIRST TIME IN 5+ YEARS

LIVE REVIEW | THE DARKNESS | LEICESTER DeMONFORT HALL 27th March 2025 by Charlie Wright

If you’ve seen The Darkness live, you know you’re in for a treat. Not a moment in their 18-strong setlist is taken for granted, offering a show of a lifetime wherever they may be that day of the week. And on the midnight release of their latest album Dreams On Toast, released independently, the rock legends found themselves at Leicester’s DeMonfort Hall.

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From encouraging the crowd to do a unique dance, which could be described as a ‘jig’ during Walking Through Fire to a satirical rendition of The Smiths, Justin Hawkins was on top form dubbing it ‘the best crowd of the tour’. Kicking off with Rock and Roll Party Cowboy, the rockstar took control of the large theatre-like auditorium wearing his immaculate attire.

While acknowledging most of the shows on this tour have been ‘theatres’ which often results in less movement, Hawkins made it his mission to get people moving. To that point, the crowd thoroughly enjoyed yelling ‘DeMonfort‘ at every given opportunity, particularly when given the chance during the drop of The Longest Kiss.

Since tonight was the release of their eighth record, Hawkins also gave a rousing call-to-arms to help the band secure their chart positioning, re-iterating the grassroots label effort and jokingly denouncing peers Mumford and Sons for their “pop music masquerading as folk banjo sh*t“. It was all quite humorous, which is to be expected with such an eccentric frontman – who we unquestionably adore.

One of our highlights was when drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor was replaced by Scott (Drum Tech), allowing him to take the spotlight by singing a beautiful rendition of My Only. It appeared to be dedicated to his Instagram-famous dog. Aside from this, you can’t help but love the classic energy that comes from Love Is Only A Feeling and Growing On Me. It was genuinely satisfying seeing tracks off the new album thrive on stage, the band as a whole seem to be a real cohesive unit again.

By the end of the night, the band played an enormously elongated version I Believe In A Thing Called Love, kickstarted by Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song before a snippet of Christmas Time (for a fan who kept crying out), then into the main event. This mash-up added such gravitas to an already stellar song, one which is now regarded as a ‘rock classic’. Afterwards, the quartet disappeared before returning for a two-song encore ending on the theatrical Weekend In Rome and storming I Hate Myself.

It’s been over five years since The Darkness touched down in Leicester, but on this night they proved, that they have permission to land, whenever they please.