The Darkness Tour De Prance Comes to Seattle's Showbox • Global Music Mayhem

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The Darkness Tour De Prance Comes to Seattle’s Showbox – The Darkness are currently prancing across North America on their Tour De Prance tour in support of their October 2017 release ‘Pinewood Smile’. Their 5th album release was met with much anticipation from the fans who’ve been following this lovable band since their first release ‘Permission To Land’ in 2003 that thrust them into mass commercialized appeal with their mega hit “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”.

While their success hasn’t always been an easy road; lineup changes, addiction issues, a break up then a makeup… The band has been going strong since their reunion in 2011 and fans are happy to once again be able to support this amazing group’s new music and live shows. I last caught The Darkness live at Sweden Rock Festival in 2015 when they were touring in support of their May 2015 release, ‘Last Of Our Kind’. It was great to see the guys back up on a large stage doing what they do so well, live performance!

This time around, I caught The Darkness in my home city and was really interested to see what this new album and tour would hold for these British rockers. As I arrived to the Seattle’s iconic Showbox (at the Market), I could feel the anticipation through the venue. The crowd was respectfully large for a Tuesday evening and fans were already pressing up to the stage to be as close as possible to the stage. The Darkness took the stage relatively early for a headline show, 9:00 pm to be precise and they certainly knew how to make an entrance! A short intro of ABBA music came over the loud speakers as vocalist/guitarist, Justin Hawkins walked out onto the stage in a cheetah print spandex outfit with a matching ankle length robe and golden boots as he waved to the audience. He was joined by bassist, Frankie Poullain who was wearing an equally fun shiny gold suit with matching boots, definitely adding the funk to the lineup. Guitarist, Dan Hawkins and drummer, Rufus “Tiger” Taylor were a bit more reserved in their look, dawning all black and a bit more casual on stage. Last time I caught The Darkness, Justin Hawkins hit stage in a space suit with matching helmet, so you never know what you will see at one of their live shows.

The band kicked the show off with “Open Fire” off of ‘Last Of Our Kind’ then jumped back to the beginning of it all with “Love Is Only a Feeling” then “Black Shuck” off of ‘Permission To Land’. Just after the third song, Justin Hawkins addressed the audience thanking them for coming out to the show and then said, “give me a D and an arkness… you have The Darkness!”, to which fans cheered loudly as the band went on to perform “One Way Ticket” from ‘One Way Ticket To Hell…And Back’. Hawkins voice was in great condition as he hit the wildly high notes he’s known for that gives that extra fun punch to their sound. The band then went into new music territory with tracks off of ‘Pinewood Smile’. It was a great give and take of music from the old tracks to the new tracks and back throughout the evening, but it was clear that there was one song that EVERYONE had been waiting for as they kicked off the final song of the evening and closed the show with, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”. It was the perfect ending to a great show!

The Darkness kicked of their Tour De Prance on March 29th and are currently making their way across North America through the month of April into early May before heading back overseas where they will be hitting the summer festival circuit! Stay tuned to see more coverage of The Darkness as we cover Sweden Rock Festival in June, we will be bringing you coverage from their stop there too! In the mean time, check out live photos from the show below and the remaining North American tour dates and get out and support this tour. You will have an amazing show anytime with The Darkness!

2018 North American leg of Tour de Prance:
4/10 Milwaukee, WI @Turner Hall Ballroom
4/11 Chicago, IL @Park West
4/13 Detroit, MI @Majestic Theatre
4/14 Cleveland, OH @Agora Ballroom
4/15 Toronto, ON @The Phoenix Concert Theatre
4/17 Montreal, QC @Corona Theatre
4/18 Philadelphia, PA @The Trocadero Theatre
4/20 Brooklyn, NY @Brooklyn Steel
4/21 Sayreville, NJ @Starland Ballroom
4/22 Boston, MA @Royale
4/24 Baltimore, MD @Rams Head Live!
4/25 Norfolk, VA @The NorVa
4/27 Charlotte, NC @The Underground
4/28 Atlanta, GA @Terminal West
4/30 New Orleans, LA @Civic Theatre
5/1 Austin, TX @Emo’s
5/2 Dallas, TX @South Side Music Hall

Setlist:
Stage Intro: Arrival (ABBA song)
Open Fire
Love Is Only a Feeling
Southern Trains
Black Shuck
One Way Ticket
Givin’ Up
All the Pretty Girls
Barbarian
Buccaneers of Hispaniola
Friday Night
Every Inch of You
Solid Gold
Stuck in a Rut
Get Your Hands Off My Woman
Growing on Me