For Emma’s Christmas present, I took her back to the Barrowland for another night of live music. Over the years we’ve discovered that experiences tend to make better presents than things, and when the experience involves a band like The Darkness in one of the world’s greatest venues, it’s usually a fairly safe bet.
The Darkness have always understood that rock music should be entertaining. While some bands seem terrified of enjoying themselves, Justin Hawkins and company have spent the last two decades proving that huge riffs, outrageous vocals and a healthy sense of humour are not mutually exclusive. Whether you love them or not, nobody could accuse them of being boring.
Before they appeared, however, we were treated to a support act that absolutely blew me away.
The Bad Nerves were phenomenal.
I’d heard a little about them beforehand but wasn’t remotely prepared for just how much energy they would bring to the stage. Song after song flew past in a blur of hooks, attitude and pure rock and roll excitement. If someone had told me they were a modern-day version of The Ramones, I wouldn’t have argued for a second. They had that same relentless forward momentum, the same knack for delivering memorable songs at breakneck speed and the same ability to leave an audience grinning from ear to ear.
By the time they finished, I was already wondering how many people in the crowd had arrived as Darkness fans and left as Bad Nerves fans as well.
I certainly did.
Of course, The Darkness were never going to be overshadowed completely. From the moment they walked on stage, the Barrowland erupted. Justin Hawkins remains one of the most charismatic frontmen in rock music, effortlessly mixing incredible vocal performances with comedy, crowd interaction and the sort of confidence that would be unbearable if he wasn’t so entertaining.
One of the things I admire about The Darkness is that they fully understand the ridiculousness of rock stardom while simultaneously embracing it. The result is a live show that feels both tongue-in-cheek and completely sincere.
At one point during the evening, Justin launched into one of his regular appeals for audience members to stop staring at their phones and actually experience the concert. Generally speaking, I agree with him. There are far too many people who spend entire gigs watching performances through a screen instead of their own eyes.
Unfortunately for Justin, this happened to coincide with a moment I absolutely had to record.
So out came the phone.
I like to think he would understand.
Or perhaps not.
Looking back, this was one of those concerts where everybody won. Emma got a memorable Christmas present, The Darkness delivered exactly the sort of spectacular show people expect from them, and I discovered a new favourite band in The Bad Nerves.
In fact, if I’m being completely honest, The Bad Nerves may have stolen the evening for me.
That’s not intended as criticism of The Darkness. It’s simply a testament to how incredibly good the support act were.
The videos and photographs below capture some of the night, including the moment I briefly ignored Justin Hawkins’ instructions and reached for my phone. Sometimes rock and roll rules are made to be broken.
The Photos
Cheers!
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