The Darkness' heroic homecoming has a special feel

Since The Darkness announced, well over a year ago now, that they were reforming to tour and make a new album, the lads from Lowestoft have taken their show around the world. The original line-up of front man Justin Hawkins, his guitarist brother Dan Hawkins, drummer Ed Graham and bassist Frankie Poullain have travelled around the UK, Europe, USA and even headlined a tour of Australia. This summer alone they are taking in shows in locations such as the USA, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Serbia, France, Poland and the UK amongst others. They will then follow this with a huge tour supporting Lady Gaga!

Tonight's show however was billed as a homecoming show, as the band played a one-off headline gig in East Anglia. The highly anticipated show took place within the stunning surroundings of High Lodge in Thetford Forest, as part of the Forestry Commission's Forest Tours. The band had made it clear in interviews that they were looking forward to this show just as much as their loyal fans and the time had finally come.

Opening the show tonight was a local four-piece, Walkway, hailing from just up the road in Diss. The young band were a great opening act for this show, fitting in perfectly with Black Stone Cherry and The Darkness. They impressed the already large crowd with their classic rock styling's and received a huge cheer at the end of their set. This is definitely a band worth keeping an eye on.

We are then privileged to have the brilliant Black Stone Cherry as our special guests. Following the cancellation of this summers Sonisphere Festival, the band from Kentucky, USA, found themselves with some free time between playing the Isle of Wight Festival and Hyde Park's Hard Rock Calling. Fortunately for those in attendance tonight, they chose to fill this time with a handful of headline shows and tonight's special guest slot.

Black Stone Cherry are a band, who could easily have headlined this venue in their own right, so as they took to the stage, there was a great sense of anticipation. Walking onstage to Jerry Reed's 'East Bound And Down', they burst straight into the explosive duo of 'Maybe Someday' and 'Blind Man'. Black Stone Cherry have a reputation as a top live act and their short but sweet set tonight backed that reputation up.

'Yeah Man' and 'Soulcreek' then received an airing, the latter featuring an intro snippet of blues song 'Death Letter'. Singer Chris Robertson and co then proceeded to showcase material from their latest album, the brilliant 'Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea'. 'In My Blood', 'Like I Roll', 'White Trash Millionaire' and 'Blame It On The Boom-Boom' followed, along with a short rendition of 'Rehab' by Amy Winehouse.

These four young men have toured relentlessly in support of 'Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea', and that work has paid off with the album and singles reaching some of the band's highest chart positions. They closed their fantastic set tonight by dipping their toes into debut album 'Black Stone Cherry' for the mammoth 'Lonely Train' including the now traditional thirty seconds of death metal.

If Walkway and Black Stone Cherry hadn't been enough, it was now time for The Darkness. Now a lot has happened since the release of 2005's 'One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back'. The band have split, gone to rehab, attempted to play Eurovision, written books, formed bands like Stone Gods, Hot Leg and Karaoke For Beginners, made up with each other, reformed and toured the world. Seven long years have passed, but finally we have album number three from The Darkness. 'Hot Cakes' will finally drop in August, some seven years since their last album, and an astonishing 18 months since they made their reformation announcement, stating they were recording a new album.

It's been a long wait for the devoted Darklings, but has it been worth it? The band previewed a number of new tracks on their 'Every Inch Of The UK' November tour, but tonight we got to hear the finished articles. Anticipation was at a fever pitch, when the traditional 'Arrival' was pumped through the speakers and The Darkness finally walked onstage. And it didn't take long to hear one of these new songs as the band opened with 'Every Inch Of You'. The band's set was a mix of old and new, with 'Growing On Me' and 'One Way Ticket' next up on this special night.

'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us' and 'Get Your Hands Off My Woman' kept the early pace going, before ballad 'Love Is Only A Feeling' slowed things down and incited mass arm waving. Front man Justin Hawkins was in jovial spirits all night long, and regularly took time out to interact with the crowd. In amongst trying to spot his parents and talking with "Matt from Tesco" were some more killer tunes including new single 'Everybody Have A Good Time' and crowd pleaser 'Friday Night'.

The set list tonight had a very special feel about it, as the band made the most of their heroic homecoming. Hawkins introduced the next song as "one for the purists" before playing 2004 b-side 'Planning Permission'. The crowd were then treated to 'Black Shuck', 'Concrete' and Radiohead cover 'Street Spirit (Fade Out)'. Having missed a number of recent shows due to health issues, drummer Ed Graham was back tonight and Hawkins welcomed him back to the fold, before playing 'She's Just A Girl, Eddie'.

There was just enough time left for the local heroes to close their set with 'Givin' Up', 'Stuck In A Rut' and the superb 'I Believe In A Thing Called Love'. Then wearing his third outfit of the evening Justin Hawkins and co returned for an encore featuring 'The Best of Me', a rare outing for 'Hazel Eyes' and an extended 'Love On The Rocks With No Ice'. The latter even saw Justin carried out into the crowd on the shoulders of security whilst playing a solo. It was spectacular stuff from a spectacular band to round off what was a perfect evening of great rock music in fine surroundings and the new songs all sound amazing.

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