THE GREATEST SHOWMEN
It’s December 10, 2002, and The Darkness are supporting indie hopefuls The Libertines at a Christmas party organised by London radio station Xfm. They’re half a year away from releasing Permission To Land, the album that will catapult them towards stardom; the album that will turn the band into the unlikeliest of pop stars; the album that will eventually turn their lives upside down. Pete Doherty is the only Libertine who’s bothered to show up for sound-check, and he’s backstage, deliberately burning holes in his T-shirt with a cigarette.
“I think he wanted to simulate the look of someone who’s fucked up,” recalls Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins. “With that sort of thing it’s ‘fake it till you make it’ – pretend to be fucked up until you really are. Well, job done.”
An hour later, The Darkness have triumphed. While The Libertines may have been a more comfortable fit for Xfm’s indie demographic, The Darkness do what they always do. It’s what they’ve done ever since: they work, and they entertain. And by the time the set climaxes with Hawkins being ferried around the packed venue on someone’s shoulders, still soloing furiously, the audience – somewhat buoyed by the free whisky cocktails provided by the event’s sponsors – are going absolutely nuts.
“I’m not sure what inspired me to book them,” says the party’s organiser, Jim Benner. “They weren’t the obvious support act for The Libertines. But they stole the show.”
It’s August 23, 2019, and The Darkness are supporting pop goliath Ed nears its conclusion. It’s a tour that’s made more money than Guns N’ Roses’ Not In This Lifetime trek. A tour that’s pulled in more cash than the Rolling Stones. More than AC/DC. More than U2. It’s a tour that’s raked in over $700,000,000, which is significantly more than the total GDP of Tonga. And as it rolls into Ipswich’s Chantry Park for four final shows (Sheeran grew up in Framlingham, just 18 miles up the road), The Darkness (from Lowestoft, a further 30 miles north) are taking on someone else’s audience again.
