the darkness

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Review & photos - Asa Medforth

Lowestofts finest exports The Darkness are back with their 8th album and a new tour, Dreams on Toast.

Justin Hawkins, Dan Hawkins, Rufus Tiger Taylor and Frankie Poullain exploded on to the  stage of the York Barbican with the opening track from the new album Rock and Roll Party Cowboy. From the first note it is unmistakably The Darkness. Fully embracing their Glam Rock-esque style and energy in their performance. 

Justin takes great pleasure in demonstrating his full vocal range in a Freddie Mercury like performance hitting those high notes that only some can. He soon had the packed audience hanging on his every word.  The entire performance is overflowing with energy, seeing the frontman perform the splits whilst doing a headstand on the drum risers is impressive for a man who turned 50 on the day of this gig!

The Darkness are true entertainers in every sense of the word, every song on the set list had the packed audience bouncing along. The tracks played from the new album (set for release on 28th March 2025) are rock at its finest. Whether you’re a hardcore fan or the band, rock or just great music played by talented musicians, this is one show you don’t want to miss. 

Note: A full review of their new album 'Dreams on Toast' will be online shortly here at Wall of Sound

Chuff Media

Review & photos - Mo Longfellow

*Disclaimer* I need to apologise. Normally I write notes as the gig plays to help writing the review, but, honestly? I was far too busy enjoying the set to get my phone out and start jotting stuff down, so if this review is a little lacklustre on detail, that’s why! 

Red Sky July brought their wonderful and often haunting harmonies to the Stage at The Greystones in Sheffield on Wednesday night.

The Greystones is a lovely venue and perfect for this type of gig. It’s intimate, and whilst yes, it’s about the music, this gig  was also about the storytelling behind the songs and interaction with the audience and this venue allows for that which I loved. Musically, It was as engaging a performance as I’ve seen in a long time. I don’t think a single person will have left that gig without having had their soul soothed - whether it needed it or not. 

The band, comprising of Ally McErlaine (ex Texas guitarist), Shelly Poole (ex Alisha’s Attic), and Hayley Glennie-Smith-Smith (singer/songwriter extraordinaire), brought their blend of lush harmonies, introspective songwriting, and soaring melodies in abundance.

Shelley and Hayley’s harmonies, which never missed a beat, were amazing and absolutely on point. Their voices blended together, almost like they were one, creating a rich, textured sound that is both exciting and calming. It’s hard not to just shut your eyes and let them take you with them, wherever it is they’re going, when listening to these two. And that’s exactly what I did - no notes, remember?! 

Both Ally and Hayley played acoustic guitar with Shelley breaking out a shaker every now and again, but what really gave the set a lift was Ally’s lead guitar, solos woven in and out of the numbers to bring depth and, if possible, even more feeling. 

One thing that struck me was just how much these three enjoyed playing their set. There was on stage chatter between them and the audience, and a feeling of genuine love for one another. 

They played numbers from their new album ‘Misty Morning’, released February of this year and also their previous works. They even chucked in a few covers, Black Hawk (Emylou Harris) and a really cool acoustic cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark. 

They did an encore of Morning Song which the crowd sang along with in great form. 

As the night drew to a close and the gig ended, the band members hung about to sign albums and chat with the many members of the audience who stayed back to converse. 

It really was a truly wonderful evening and I can’t recommend this band (both studio and live) enough.

Republic Media

Review James Fortune-Clubb

As a longstanding and unashamed fan of Blur and their various musical offshoots - it was great to see The Waeve on their inaugural tour back in 2023 at The Brudenell in Leeds. I wasn't familiar with their first album at the time and didn't know any of the songs they played, nonetheless it was a great gig despite my lack of familiarity - which is always a testament to the standard of the material and the performance.

Fast forward then and amazingly enough, it's now almost exactly 2 years on from that gig at The  Brudenell and we're here to see The Waeve again at another great venue - this time it's the Sheffield Leadmill. It's now almost 5 years in and 2 years since their eponymous debut album, The Waeve are back touring their latest album, last year's 'City Lights' as well as hot off the press new three track EP - 'Eternal'.

Unsurprisingly It's a capacity gig and a very  expectant crowd tonight at Sheffield's Leadmill - one of the countries best small live music venues and unfortunately the subject of lengthy recent legal battles concerning closure/takeover.

First up though are support act 'White Magic for Lovers' - the latest project of Thomas White (ex Electric Soft Parade and currently touring drummer with The Waeve). They provide a meandering, relaxed, sometimes soporific and dreamlike set of songs, which don't really go anywhere, but in a way that doesn't seem to matter. What the guitar and vocals duo deliver is close vocal harmony, multi-layered with echoes of The Beach Boys, White Album era Beatles and generally the sound of the east coast circa 1967-ish.

It's all very chilled and laid back, including the band being seated for their set (fine for the first few rows of the audience, but giving no sightline whatsoever for those anywhere from row 4 back, frustrating). Whilst White is a hugely accomplished and experienced musician, this is only 'White Magic's' third ever gig and from that perspective alone, it's an impressive as well as enjoyable outing.

"Its'nice to be able to see whites of your eyes" - is  Rose's opening comment, more used to playing bigger venues, whilst Graham apologises for not being able to see his guitar to play well, because of low level lighting... before then proceeding to absolutely deliver his frenetic and usual amazing guitar playing, tonight he's absolutely on fire.

On record, The Waeve is essentially co-singer/songwriter partnership Rose Elinor Dougal and Graham Coxon - veterans of The Pipettes and Blur respectively, as well as both having significant solo careers. And whilst tonight may be primarily the Graham and Rose show - they are very ably supported by their touring band of Joe Chilton on bass, Thomas White (of aforementioned support band White Magic for Lovers) on drums, as well as Charlotte Glasson on violin and saxophone - boosting their live sound.

And what a great sound they make too - tearing through a set which is pretty much a straight split across both albums as well as two tracks from the great new EP. Rose throws the shapes and drives the songs forward, whilst Graham switches, seemingly with ease from guitar to mandolin (apart from initial tuning problems) harmonica, sax and back again... impressively.

It's a great set followed by a fantastically pitched brilliant two song encore.

What a night - one of the best gigs I've been to in quite some time. If you do ever have the opportunity - don't miss The Waeve live, thoroughly recommended.

Set list:

Love is all pain

Broken Boys

City Lights

Undine

You Saw

Over and Over

Eternal

Song for Eliza May 

Sleepwalking

Drowning

Moth to the Flame

Kill Me Again

Sunrise

Encore:

Can I Call You

Druantia