The Darkness proves they are still on top of the world in Montreal.

England’s rocknroll Hot Cakes, The Darkness, has had its ups and downs over their eighteen years in business, but the band proved they are still on top of the world at their almost sold out show at Theatre Corona last week.

Opening the night was Nashville’s Diarrhea Planet, who regardless of their gory name brought only joy into the bellies of Corona’s audience. The stage seemed sometimes too small for the six man ensemble, who according to their Facebook bio, perform an impressive two hundred shows a year.

: Diarrhea Planet at Theatre Corona in Montreal. Photo by Laura Collins.

With blaring guitar solos, thundering bass, and lots of flowing hair, the band made sure to warm up the crowd who were anxiously waiting for their royal Hawkins brothers and their band mates to hop on stage.

Most impressively, the front man Justin Hawkins entered the stage in leopard leotard that left his tattooed chest bare and the ladies sighs could be heard throughout the venue.

The band started their explosive show with Open Fire and Love is Only a Feeling, and the crowd was was clearly already in love.

Hawkins put on his flamboyant display for his loving audience, and after the usual first three songs in the pit, he also graced us photographers by asking us to stay for one more song and we all happily obliged.

He clearly loves the camera and the camera loves him and his antics on stage, and we were all hoping for his usual tricks of jumping on stage off one of the balconies or doing his famous split jump off the drum stand.

Having overcome his drug and alcohol addiction battles, Hawkins is in a magnificent shape and his world famous falsetto did not disappoint.

He entertained the crowd by attempting to pronounce some a little less and some a bit more offensive French expressions and got some useful tips from the amused fans.

The guitarist Dan Hawkins’ brilliant solos were just a cherry on top for the night’s satisfying performance as the band made sure to play all their biggest hits for the hungry audience.

The Darkness at Theatre Corona in Montreal. Photo by Laura Collins.

After long thundering cheers for their regular set, the band came back on stage for the encore at Hawkins’ tow, who had managed to get changed and was wearing nothing but skimpy vintage shorts, and made sure to play the most anticipated song of the night, I Believe In A Thing Called Love.

Hawkins seemed almost sad to leave the stage so the band graced the audience with one more song, Love on The Rocks.

This show was certainly one of the highlights of my year so far, and I hope the band will grace us with their presence in Canada soon again.

By Laura Collins.

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