The Darkness

So how do you raise the bar? By enlisting a couple of supporting props, in the form of a sofa-sized pair of breasts, planting said singer smack in the middle of the cleavage. All artistic of course, as the song in question is called Knockers, and the pair even have flashing nipples - loaned from a British seaside resort, no doubt. Let's just be thankful there isn't a song called... well, never mind, you get the picture!

An uplifting start then - ahem - and an indicator of the humour and lack of subtlety to follow, not to mention the enormous quantities of rawk - just the ticket for a Darkness gig. A huge church organ, flanked by two enormous forks, sits at the back of the stage and takes the lead for a triumphant encore of English Country Garden.

And yet something seems to be afflicting the lead singer - his paunch. Justin's clearly had a beer or two since the last tour - "Mine's a Guinness!" he shouts during the ballad section - and yet he's more than happy to flaunt the fruits of his overindulgence, undulating in time to the music to comic effect.

Lowestoft's true rock school graduates open to a triumvirate from the new album - the aforementioned Knockers, a poptastic One Way Ticket and the Bachmann-Turner Overdrive update Is It Just Me, a melodic, riff-driven threesome. New bassist Richey Edwards is given the honour of a solo and he looks totally comfortable, yet Justin's overenthusiastic introduction betrays a need to paint him as much more than previous slugger Frankie Poullain.

And so to a central acoustic set, Justin bringing a large upright piano into the fray, with brother Dan and Edward on guitars for an emotive version of Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time. Or, as the lead singer notes, "Time for a pint!" Second album closer Blind Man doesn't fare so well, the Queen style chorus lost without its backing vocals and not really benefiting from a sudden excursion into the 2001 theme, Also Sprach Zarathustra.

Nor is Dinner Lady Arms completely successful, sounding curiously routine. Happily the damage is done elsewhere, with Growing On Me and I Believe In A Thing Called Love rousing the crowd ahead of the hurricane that becomes Get Your Hands Off My Woman.

Bravely, the band opt to close with Bald - their darkest song but given a brilliant flash of light by the pyrotechnics at the end. The band seem blissfully unaware of the venue's unfortunate history with fire, yet as the flames lick towards the ceiling the masses are wholly satisfied. The subject matter for all, though, remains Justin's knockers. And the band have had a few in their moments of fame so far, but who can begrudge them success when their shows are this entertaining?

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