When a silver lamé backdrop rolls out you know you’re in for one special glam rock concert. Or one really bad ’70s-inspired wedding. Fortunately, for the crowd at Pop’s Concert Venue on April 1 in Sauget, IL, the former was true. The English-born, multi-platinum The Darkness lit up the widespread, open room with 90-minutes of sheer riffs of heavy guitars gilded by hard, heavy rock, driving drums with falsettos sprinkled throughout.
A month into their Motorheart tour to support their 2021 album, any kinks have been worked out and the band was there to rock your socks off and to have a blast as evident by the large, genuine smiles that emitted from the animated lead singer and guitarist Justin Hawkins from start to finish.
About halfway through the set, Hawkins again joked with the rapt crowd, “You know how you eat food, don’t exercise and your body changes? That happened to me during Covid. At first, on tour, I didn’t want to show my body but then I said f*ck it.” While he proceeded to take his shirt off he called out, “Everyone get naked,” prior to going into “Black Shuck.”
The lights dazzled, the music soared, and exhilaration transmitted from the stage making for a night of “Solid Gold.”
Setlist for The Darkness: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-darkness/2022/pops-sauget-il-1bb6a98c.html
Nashville-based The Dead Deads opened the night with a set just shy of 30 minutes. Lead singer/guitarist, Meta, profusely thanked everyone for showing up early and for supporting rock ’n’ roll. Playing since 2013, this no holds barred trio has mastered all the genres, from pop to heavy metal, grunge to straight-up rock ’n’ roll, and is reminiscent of many great all-female garage rock bands from the early ’90s. Their diversity is what will keep you coming back for more.
More photos of The Darkness and The Dead Deads: https://bit.ly/Darkness22cz
Setlist for The Dead Deads: https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/the-dead-deads/2022/pops-sauget-il-3b6a987.html
