Back in 2003 I was in Buffalo, NY for Kari to go to grad school and I was waiting on my job to start. I didn’t have much to do, and no friends to hang out with . So I did what music-lovers always do: went to buy some new music. I wasn’t hip to the Buffalo record store scene yet (they do have some good ones), so I went to Best Buy and grabbed 3 CD’s: Kings Of Leon’s Youth And Young Manhood, Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Fever To Tell, and Permission To Land by The Darkness. These records were in constant rotation the rest of that year and because of that there will always be a place in my heart for Justin Hawkins and co.

The Darkness had fallen off my  radar a bit, and I think that’s true for a lot of people. Cock rock kind of lost it’s edge over the last decade, but if you go back and listen to songs like “Black Shuck” and “Growing On Me,” they totally hold up. I just listened to Permission To Land all the way through for the first time in probably a decade and it still sounds good.

It was no surprise that The Darkness were loud and in your face live. Justin Hawkins undeniable scream filled up House Of Blues and sent chills down the spines of the audience. They kept the crowd involved, letting them know they were having just as much fun playing as the people who paid to see them. And they didn’t shy away from playing the old material, with plenty off their debut scattered throughout the set list.

Barbarian, Growing On Me, Mudslide, Black Shuck, Roaring Waters, Givin’ Up, One-Way Ticket, Love Is A Lonely Feeling, Friday Night, English Country Garden, Every Inch, Get Your Hands Off Of My Woman, Stuck In A Rut, I Believe In A Thing Called Love

Encore: Concrete, Love On The Rocks