After announcing their Permission To Land… Again; a special 20th Anniversary reissue collection released on October 6th of this year, The Darkness has been touring around the world until they landed last Wednesday into an almost sold out AB. Already stressed by the amount of really good photographers that I would encounter in the very crowded pit, it was impossible not to have fun and laugh at frontman’s Justin Hawkins jokes. It’s the first time I’ve been to a concert where the band interacts so much with the photographers, and the audience later on, and we were even invited to the aftershow (for which we never got an address). We were asked to sing as well, and he even took my camera to take pictures of the audience. Although they were a bit blurred, due to bursting and moving the camera too fast, at least he was careful enough to deliver it back in perfect condition (one of the actual shots can be found in my instagam). The singing part though will have to be improved from the photographers’ side, but I guess that’s why we are in the pit and he’s on stage. We were also caught by surprised when asked about the favourite song of the album, which a photographer answered “I believe in a thing called love”, but thankfully someone in the crowd shouted “Grow in me”, which was actually the next and third song to be sang and captured from the pit. Their probably most famous song had to be waited for until the end of the show, before the encore, where the audience was encouraged to grab and toss on stage any phone they would see filming it, as Justin wanted them to fully enjoy the experience and be in the moment. After the adrenaline was still pumping, it came some minutes of waiting for the encore, where the band came back on stage on silk robes and sleepers, to sing their last songs. Justin was committed to make the show last until 22.30, time of the curfew, maybe to piss of the organisation, although no plug was pulled and all ended peacefully.
The Darkness guest for the tour was Desiree Mishoe (known to have a romantic relationship with frontman Justin). Details aside, Désirée Dorothy Mishoe, also known as May The Muse, sings soulful and heartfelt songs with her guitar that warmed up the audience with her selection of acoustic songs, this time in a guitar duet. The duet played a short set of 7 songs, starting with “Drama”, followed by other gem like “Wasted” and finishing with “USA”, as there was a hard curfew to finish at 22.30 (under threat of pulling the plug if they didn’t), so everything before the main act had to be done fast. To the point of being ignored in multiple occasions asking for the setlist, together with a little girl on the front row that shouted Desiree’s name on several occasions showing her love to her. We understand that the crew has to work fast when doing all the changes between acts, but I felt really bad for the little girl when I saw the guy ignoring me and just throwing away the setlist to the bin. Desiree was kind enough though to send it to me on Instagram after the show.
The Darkness
Désirée Mishoe
Woensdag 22 november 2023, Ancienne Belgique (Brussel, BE) | Foto's & tekst: Cristina Vergara