The boys were definitely back in town last night. The Darkness returned to Rock City after a long 8 years away, though to be perfectly honest, youd be hard pressed to tell that they had been away at all.

Kicking off with a balls out rock number (to borrow a turn of phrase from one of my writers), Black Shuck, the Darkness were an instant success. Wooing the crowd with dirty rock riffs that remind us of why the Darkness needed to make a comeback. This was from beginning to end an air guitarists dream; Justin and Dan are perhaps the most talented brother combo who ever picked up a guitar.

This was almost a greatest hits gig, with every Permission to Land track getting an airing. Holding My Own, in particular, went down to rapturous applause. Played acoustically by Justin with undertones of Queen’s Love of My Life styling, this was one of the most stand-out tracks of the night. That said, it is hard to choose the top tracks of the night; Givin Up was a real crowd pleaser and I dont think anyone would argue with Get Your Hands off My Woman being instantly memorable. Its all too easy to forget after such a long time quite how high Justin can get his voice, and I am fairly certain he was hitting notes last night that I didnt know existed!

Justin and Co treated the crowd to two truly awesome cover numbers, Radiohead’s Street Spirit, which was as ballsy as ever this number could get and Queen’s Tie Your Mother Down. Now, at this point I should mention, I am a huge Queen fan and I hate Queen cover tracks; rarely does any artist cover Freddie Mercury well in my opinion. Justin hit it on the head. It was incredible. Justin has not lost his theatrical side at all, or his lycra outfits by the looks of it.
The guys make the right move in choosing only the two absolute best tracks from their second album; Is it Just Me and One Way Ticket. They also threw in a few new numbers such as Concrete and Out of this World. These had a mixed response; some instantly hit the crowd going down equally as well as the better known tracks. Some received a slightly  only slightly though  muted response and this was probably down to a lack of introduction leaving the crowd guessing if they could remember the track or if it was new.

Fittingly, The Darkness cracked out Christmas Time (Dont let the Bells End) in true Darkness style; red and green Christmas lights with confetti-snow. How I have missed their confetti-snow. Anyone who was at Leeds festival way back will know what I mean.
It was nice to see the boys clearly get on well again; it wasnt the most amicable of splits in 2006 but they seem to have truly sorted out their differences. They were clearly enjoying themselves on stage, and thats what you want from any act but especially so from such a tongue in cheek rock outfit as The Darkness.
The crowd were a mixed bunch; I spied early teens in the crowd, balding 50+ men and women and everything in between. They seem to have pulled a new crowd very early in their comeback.

If the new material is anything to go by, The Darkness will be every bit as successful as when they hit the charts in 2003; musically they have returned to their roots and are back with truly great rock riffs. Some new stuff actually went down better than some of their earlier numbers. That says all you need to know really.

Lycra, innuendos and swearing; what more could you ask for. In what is quickly becoming 2011: The year of the comeback this is one to catch. Welcome back!