Jack (lead vocals and guitar), Jamie MacColl (son of The Bible's Neil, on guitar), Ed Nash (bass) and Suren de Suram (drums) return to Europe for a tour and tonight at the Alcatraz Club in Milan.
I was here for The Darkness concert two nights ago, where at least 10 times as many people gathered. Luckily they've set up the small stage, but it's still a pretty select crowd, mostly 20/30 year olds. It says a lot about the state of indie band popularity in Italy at least (minimal) and how music streaming platforms, now the main way to access music, don't really help cultivate a proper fan base. Maybe because it's Thursday.
However, this doesn't seem to make any difference to the band who take to the stage full of courage and positivity. With the addition of singer Olivia and multi-instrumentalist Nathan, they launch new album opener 'Just A Little More Time' which sets the tone for groove-filled dance songs that are their forte. Next up is “I Want To Be Your Only Pet” which is definitely up there for single of the year with its delirious lyrics and delivery.
Jack seems to be happy, smiling and chatting with the crowd, very appreciative that for this first show in many years in Milan, the crowd, be it a few hundred, turned up, in good voice singing every song. It feels like the band wants nothing more than to be loved by a small but devoted fan base. This is what they are today, they can have Damon Albarn and Charla Kahn guest on their albums and play their songs in cities around the world is still pretty cool, but without being on the cutting edge of social media or critical attention.
They are dressed in slacks and shirts and comfortable shoes as if to emphasize the absence of hipdom, a very simple colorful cloth backdrop with a set of large sun-filled gold letters that spell out 'My Big Day' across them. I have seen more exotic decorations at children's birthday parties.
Lots of songs from the new album, but as Jack says, it's been so long, their absence from Milan, that they feel obliged to play at least one track from each of their albums, so tonight, he played the debut of his “Flaws” tour with Jack on acoustic guitar singing along with Olivia is added to the setlist.
The crowd really start to get involved in the second half of the show with 'Evening/Morning', 'Meditate' and 'Luna' being particularly enjoyable. The whole band is smiling at this point, enjoying the moment. There's very little of the very strong, dynamic collective that really grabbed me at those early gigs today, but they're still very much a unit and close with the perfect 'Always Like This'.
As the tour kicks off with the UK and US shows ahead, they may well be more nervous to face the crowds, but tonight's intimate gig, more vodka hot chocolate and red bull was fun and gassy.
Set list:
A little more time
I want to be your only pet
Too much
Touch
My big day
Tekken 2
The lights go out, the words are gone
Everything else has gone wrong
Eat Sleep Wake Up (Nothing But You)
Good morning
How can you swallow so much sleep
The debut of the Flaws tour
Forward
Evening/Morning
Think
Moon
Mixing
Activate the world
I CALL AGAIN
Always like that
