The Darkness played in Belfast twice...once at Ormeau Park, the second time at the Odyssey. At Ormeau Park they were at their trashy best, full of a mischievous glee at finding their glam rock, twin guitar pastiche popular. While the Odyssey gig was musically sound, the floating tits and overall campness suggested -looking back - that it was the beginning of the end for the Hawkins brothers as a gigging unit.
Cue trip to Priory for Justin, awful Eurovision attempt and gloom all round as the mainstream media pretended they knew it was a joke all along - the self-same mainstream media who nearly shat themselves handing The Darkness major-league awards and fawning at the feet of the band.
Dan Hawkins was first to dust himself off and return with a healthy spattering of old bandmates and start gigging with Stone Gods, bearing the same pomposity, but with a harder edge.
Now Justin is back recording and gigging with new act Hot Legs. On February 26th Hot Legs will be playing at The Limelight (tickets £11) in his new persona. While he remains as over-the-top and full of bullshit as ever, he has now moved on from the 70s inspired glam rock to a persona more akin to Dave Lee Roth. He's now added a 'Dave' in the middle of his name and was wearing a get-up much like Mr Roth's 'Jump' era denim and neck bandana in recent TV appearances.
February 26th will be a fascinating gig for a number of reasons. It could be like watching a car wreck.
Or it could be seeing a real resurrection from a man prepared to admit he has always been a pastiche of the past, and prepared to pay homage to an era we older wrinkly rockers earned our stripes in; and still hanker for innocent days when you could actually like Van Halen and Def Leppard as well as Metallica and Slayer without anyone batting an eyelid.
I'm hoping that Hawkins manages to pull it off - he's an annoying prat at the best of times, but I suspect he knows that it is all really for a laugh now, pays a few bills, that his arena headlining days are behind him, but playing in front of fans is just as important has having the 'serious' critics and fashionistas fawn up to him for fifteen minutes. Good luck for the 26th 'Dave' Hawkins!
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As a fan of Van Halen ,Metallica and Slayer ,and any early material of the Lepps ,as anything after Pyromainia is just Pop music in my book ,I know where your coming from
however, I had hoped we had heard the last of the high pitched comedy act ,that will ,in my eyes blight the metal/ Rock scene for many years to come
and now it seems they are about to raise their wonky tooth fill mouths once again :(
maybe I could get those daft Christian coffin dodgers outside the Gorgoroth gig to come back to protest for another night in Belfast :P
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