Review: The Darkness at Metropolis Fremantle

The Darkness at Metropolis Fremantle
w/ Rageflower
Wednesday, March 4, 2026

While fictional metal legends Spinal Tap were feted for being Britain’s loudest band in the famous mockumentary, real-life rockers The Darkness can surely claim to be the UK’s hardest-working act.

Just a couple of years after last being here on the 20th anniversary tour for their iconic debut album Permission to Land, the quartet led by the Hawkins brothers from Lowestoft again found themselves in familiar territory for their fourth show at Metropolis Fremantle and third in their past four tours Down Under.

Polished live performers in true glam rock fashion and often touted as a cross between Queen and AC/DC, their 2020 gig at Metro Freo is infamous for being the night before a thing called COVID shut Australia down, as their tour, and Easter were cancelled.

However, this time there is surely no stopping them as they conquer the Antipodes on the back of their renewed popularity due to a combination of an underrated catalogue of great rock tunes, their incendiary live performances, lead singer Justin Hawkins’ incredible social media success and a little bit of US Open fairy dust from surprise fan Taylor Swift.

In a brutally hectic tour of Australia to celebrate their most recent release, the surprisingly eclectic Dreams on Toast, they were playing their eighth Australian show in just 13 days in Fremantle, after two shows in New Zealand prior. They had played in Adelaide and Hobart on successive nights just a few days earlier, between which they found themselves on a 6am flight to Tasmania only hours after their gig at the Hindley Street Music Hall.

Tagging along with them, and apparently loving every moment, are Sydney’s Rageflower, led by Madeleine Power, and it opened proceedings on Wednesday night. The three-piece played a set of high-energy songs that showcased Power’s voice, highlighted by Kerosene, which was well received by the crowd.

After the traditional tones of ABBA’s Arrival, The Darkness strode to the stage and unleashed almost two hours of rock delivered with Justin’s usual serving of pomp, theatre and humour. Starting with the appropriate Rock and Roll Party Cowboy off their latest album, the band went through a mix of their classics and some new tunes. Staples like Love is Only a Feeling, Friday Night, Givin’ Up, Get Your Hands Off My Woman and Growing on Me ensured there were plenty of opportunities for the crowd to sing along. Ping pong balls were thrown onto the stage for Givin’ Up, and Justin finished the song using a ping pong paddle to play his guitar.

Walking on Fire, another new song, was the audience participation highlight, as Justin got the crowd to march on the spot during the chorus. A cover of Jennifer Rush’s Power of Love caught people on the hop but allowed Justin to further show off his incredible ability to hit the highest of notes. Justin shuffled seamlessly between his duties as the colourful frontman who loves to engage with the crowd and his fellow band members, at times focusing on singing and at others unleashing his powerful guitar mastery.

Drummer Rufus Taylor, who punishes his skins with genuine ferocity, took over the vocals for My Only as the band cast aside its heavy touring schedule with yet another fantastic performance driven by how much they actually seem to enjoy playing together. There were plenty of smiles and laughs between the quartet, with Justin often bouncing comments off his brother Dan and eccentric bass man Frankie Poullain.

When the moment everyone was waiting for finally came, Justin teased the crowd with an extended instrumental version of their biggest hit, I Believe in a Thing Called Love, with the audience supplying the vocals. Eventually, they launched into one of the most recognisable guitar riffs in recent decades to end the main set on a high.

They then returned to bang out I Hate Myself from Dreams on Toast, with a brief Led Zeppelin interlude before finally drawing the curtain on another Perth gig. Their enthusiasm is infectious, and everyone had a smile on their face as they filed out onto the street to contemplate a band that harks back to those days when glam rock ruled the world and which showed that good fun rock and roll will never die.

At one point The Darkness themselves appeared to be all but dead and buried, after Justin quit the band to battle his own demons, the glory of their debut album faded, and their penchant for cheeky humour in their music (some people miss the fine line between clever and stupid) saw them wrongly dismissed as a novelty act that had worn out its welcome.

However, their incredible work ethic and the obvious joy they take in performing with each other mean that tiny crowds that at one point were mainly families, friends and only their most rusted-on fans have steadily grown to the point where they are once again packing venues around Australia and the world. If their Fremantle show was any indication, the momentum shows no signs of slowing, and later this year, The Darkness will be one of the main support acts for UK metal legends Iron Maiden at their massive Eddfest two-day festival at Knebworth in England.

These British party cowboys still know how to rock and roll in the finest tradition of the genre, and on Wednesday they turned it up to 11 for an extremely appreciative Freo crowd.

SCOTT COGHLAN

Photos by Adrian Thomson