Live Review : Black Stone Cherry + The Darkness + Danko Jones @ M&S Arena, Liverpool on January 29th 2023

Black Stone Cherry and The Darkness make interesting bedfellows. The latter haven't bothered arenas since 2005, whilst the former is desperately battling diminishing returns to retain their arena-bothering status. Tonight's double-header is designed to be a win-win for both bands and both sets of fans. In terms of quality, it achieves this in spades as both acts roll up their well-tattooed sleeves and deliver astounding performances.

However, in terms of actual bums on seats, let's just say attendance is sparse, to say the least. The standing area is never more than half full and seat capacity has been reduced to no more than six rows. The atmosphere also has a distinct whiff of a Sunday hangover. The audience is here in body but not necessarily in spirit. This deflation could be caused by a collective heavy Saturday night or alternatively by Liverpool's premature exit from the FA Cup earlier in the day. Try as the bands might, it never clicks over from polite interest to adulation. And that is all before we get to the matter of the evacuation…

Danko Jones are carefree and loving their European vacation. They have none of the worries of headliners. They are there to fill time and to give people something to do whilst they sup their first pints. They have that cheerful disposition of a band that has nothing to lose and everything to win. They are steadfast purveyors of simple rock 'n' roll. They don't possess the witty wink-wink lyrics of The Darkness and they are nowhere near the honed showmanship of Black Stone Cherry, but what they do, they do alarmingly well.

They approach heavy rock with a punk sensibility. All the intricateness and complexity have been ripped out and replaced with driving simplistic riffs. It’s route 101 song writing and rather neanderthal in places (“Do you kiss on first dates” repeated umpteenth times isn’t going to get PHD students deciphering the meaning of the lyrics in fifty years hence). But they fulfil the job of a support act fantastically well, which is to be entertaining enough to keep the audience’s attention but be respectful enough not to upstage the main acts. 

For over twenty years knocking, The Darkness has been a national pursuit. When they had their, brief, moment as the biggest band in Britain there was a whole host of detractors queuing to stick their oar in and when they returned ten years ago to find every tom, dick and Harriette playing classic rock, there was an equally long line of cynics wanting to point out that they were irrelevant and yesterday’s news. The simple fact is, putting aside the pomp, circumstance, and post-modern irony, The Darkness were and still are, quite simply the best live rock n’ roll outfit on these shores. They are a phenomenal live proposition and tonight they fly out of the traps all guns (and pyrotechnics) blazing. ‘Growing on me’ is astounding, packed full of nostalgic glamtastic goodness. Even the poe-faced Black Stone Cherry disciples who had planned on frowning their way through the set, look impressed. And then the fire alarm goes off……

In a post-Manchester arena attack world the evacuation siren produces shivers in the soul. There are the initial thoughts of “Is this part of the act” but they are immediately quashed by the confused look on Justin Hawkins’s face and his hurried signalling that we should all leave the building. The disembarking from the arena is undertaken briskly without fuss and kudos should be given to all at Liverpool arena for how smoothly it is executed. Scurrilous rumours spread as we stand out in the driving wind spilling off the Mersey, but then no sooner as we are all ushered out, we are ushered back in.

As we re-enter the arena there is a distinct smell of sulphur in the air and the cause of the emergency is given away by ‘Fire’ by Crazy World of Arthur Brown and ‘Burn’ by Deep Purple blaring away on the P.A. Ten out of ten to whatever roadie decided to pull that stunt. It’s not even half eight when the lights dim and The Darkness wander back on stage. Justin hasn’t been idle during the enforced interval and is now resplendent in a completely different catsuit to the one he was wearing at the start of the show. With a rye smile, he profusely apologises for the delay and states that they literally blew the roof of the venue. It later transpires that their opening cacophony of pyros had set a piece of stage equipment on fire.

The Darkness are experts in facing adversity and a minor issue like a full-blown evacuation is not going to put them off their stride. They plough into ‘Black Shuck’, quickly picky up the momentum that had been unexpectedly severed. ‘Heart Explodes’, ‘Solid Gold’ and ‘Friday Night’ are all sacrificed to allow them to stick to schedule but aside from that the incident has no effect on the show that we receive. In fact, it seems to further inspire them to provide the perfect kick-arse rock n’ roll show. Aside from Roger Taylors’ lad on drums, it is the same line-up that blew us away twenty years ago and the intervening years seem to have honed their craftsmanship even further. Justin revels in the vulgarity of their material (he states that those offended by ‘Get Your Hands Off my Woman’ should get over themselves ) and there is such a feeling of joy about their performance. This is a band that has not just been to the edge but actually over it and into the abyss. Their disposition is now of those that love doing what they do and don’t take anything for granted anymore.

‘I Believe in a Thing Called Love’  induces a mass sing-along and comes complete with enough pyros to set off a thousand fire alarms. It is majestic, it is over the top, and it is escapist magic. ‘Love on the Rocks with No Ice’ brings the show to an end, but it is drawn out conclusion and packed full of crowd participation. Justin goads us to replicate his vocal dexterity (“Pathetic” he intones as we fail spectacularly) and then heads out into the crowd on the shoulders of a security guard, still playing his guitar as he heads out. Just Marvellous. The headlines and after-gig talk will all be about the disruption, but the actual story here is how good The Darkness were. Twenty years on from their seeming heyday, they are still the last word in tongue-in-cheek entertainment. Rock n’ Roll at its heart-warming best.

Black Stone Cherry’s appeal seems to be that they straddle two words. They are a full-on modern Heavy Metal band playing vintage southern fried rock. Ben Wells looks like he is playing in a completely different band to the others as he carries around the stage head-banging like he is in Cannibal Corpse. It is that velocity that puts them aside from other purveyors of this type of throwback rock. They take the crunch and pace of extreme metal and inject it into a completely different genre. It’s that hybrid of styles that makes them so enticing. You can tell that whilst they are majoring in an art form that belongs in a bygone era, they were schooled on much more modern acts such as Pearl Jam, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses.

They take a genre that resides in sawdust-covered roadside bars and give it all the trappings of arena rock. They use every inch of the stage, bounding up and down the ramps like a pack of performing dogs. It is an exuberant and breathless performance and is reverting watch. They also come across as absolute experts in how you hold the attention of a vast room. Chris Robertson is an affable, engaging, and authentic frontman. His charismatic ramblings (especially when talking about his late father) seem heartfelt and genuine. He though, also has that little bit of stardust required to play ringmaster to thousands of people and his appeals for participation are briskly requented. As I said earlier, the audience remains steadfastly reserved rather than rampant but that doesn’t stop voices and arms being raised. 

Whilst the arena never explodes into ecstasy, this is not the fault of the bands. Both The Darkness and Black Stone Cherry give virtuoso performances full of passion, fury and unbridled life-affirming joy. It is that life-affirming joy that is particularly infectious. The life-affirming joy of unrepentant rock n’roll. The life-affirming joy of forgetting your troubles for a short while and singing along with gusto. And you can’t ask for a better evening than that

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!

Black Stone Cherry, The Darkness, Danko Jones