This was a cracking night out and I want to get the review turned round as quickly as possible so that anyone who’s not got a ticket already has a chance to grab one for the second half of the tour. Glasgow was roughly the mid-point and there were around 10 tickets left on the day of the show. I’m fairly certain they went by the time the doors opened.
Justin Hawkins is most well known as the singer/guitarist (and professional twat – his words) from The Darkness. He also does a podcast where he rambles, mainly about music, does reviews and all that other stuff. I very much get the feeling that he’s one of many musical talents who can’t sit still or turn their brain off. The fact he’s doing 20 near back-to-back dates on this tour alone around all the work with his band lends weight to this.
All to our benefit, though, as it means we get more madcap tomfoolery and a night’s entertainment out of it.
The show started at 8pm and the first half lasted an hour, apparently longer than it should have gone on judging by the way Justin’s publicist had to shout at him that he’d run on! The thing is, it didn’t feel that long. He read from his (possibly not really likely to happen) autobiography, which sounds sick (those who were there will get this reference), as well as losing himself in the works of the great Gary Barlow.
Football rivalries were explored (because it’s Glasgow – as he found on a previous visit you can trigger those issues without even trying), but in a way that didn’t result in anyone being glassed. This time. Which is good. Though the choice to use a green guitar was obviously going to raise some eyebrows as of course that would be a deliberate choice. Hey, I have an uncle who won’t eat the green Penguins in a multi-pack. These things are ingrained.
Music was explored, theory was discussed, hecklers were heckled by other hecklers and through it all Hawkins kept the humour going without ever batting an eyelid or seeming lost for words.
If you like what we do, consider joining us on Patreon for as little as £1 per month!
The second half of the show saw him bring on a local act, Dead Pony, who we have featured exactly one time before! He played and critiqued a video of theirs from 2024, and we have a new single coming this week which is due to be dissected on his podcast. The band themselves seemed very natural being interviewed, with even the bassist finding a purpose holding the mic for Hawkins as he attempted to play their song on his acoustic (the green one).
Finally, the Cerebral Connections game where two pieces of music were played (crowd interaction mandatory) and the link between them determined. A shout out to the guy in front of us who correctly shouted out the answer to the third one, but who Hawkins didn’t hear so the prize went to someone else. Shout louder next time, fella!
The whole thing sounded cobbled together, scatty and pretty much improv… because it is. And it works. Hawkins’ comic timing is exceptional; in another life, I genuinely believe he could do stand-up. He’s got 30 years of rock and roll tales to go through so maybe that biography (auto or otherwise) isn’t a bad idea.
Simply the best (oops) “musician doing a spoken word, kind of, show” that I’ve seen in ages.
Don’t fancy Patreon? Buy us a one-off beverage!
Justin Hawkins: twitter | instagram | tiktok | youtube | patreon
Dead Pony: official | facebook | twitter | instagram | spotify | tiktok | youtube
