'Success Is Longevity': Justin Hawkins on The Darkness's Return to Arenas After 20 Years
Thursday, 27 November 2025
Written by Rishi Shah
Photo: Sam Lane
Wherever your cut-off point for Christmas songs falls, November 25 is a pretty safe bet to start rolling out something draped in tinsel. The festive spirit is sky-high inside London’s St. Pancras International train station, where hundreds swarm around the fenced-off piano, layered up and eagerly anticipating the arrival of The Darkness. Shortly after 1pm, Justin Hawkins and his younger brother Dan emerge through the glass elevator, armed with one solitary acoustic guitar.
The Hawkins boys also come bearing gifts. Namely their festive staple Christmas Time (Don’t Let The Bells End) and some reimagined fan requests including Friday Night, English Country Garden and, of course, I Believe In A Thing Called Love. With only the piano, guitar and zero amplification at their disposal, this whole surprise event feels delightfully off the cuff.
Moreover, it takes the polar opposite form to The Darkness’ next London show at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena – the city’s largest indoor venue. It marks the final night of the extensive arena tour that the Suffolk-formed rockers have just announced for next December, alongside country-rock band Brothers Osborne and pop-rockers A. Incredibly, it’s their first of this size since 2006, after experiencing somewhat of a recent resurgence, aided by March’s Number Two album ‘Dreams On Toast’.
Shortly after the performance, Justin joined Stereoboard to discuss the upcoming arena tour and the longevity of The Darkness.
How much of today’s surprise performance at the piano was planned versus unscripted? You took a lot of requests…
“All of it was impromptu. We recorded a version of [Cliff Richard’s] Mistletoe and Wine, and apart from when I was singing the vocals in the studio, I hadn’t really familiarised myself with the verses. That’s why it sounded so fresh!”
You brought back your cover of Radiohead’s Street Spirit (Fade Out). How do you make such a dark song work in this festive setting?
“We only did it because somebody asked for it, because they’re excited about being in London for that show. I’m going tonight. I’ve never seen Radiohead before, so I’m really excited about it, because I’m a huge Radiohead fan, as you can probably tell.”
In a year’s time, you’ll be headlining The O2 for the first time. Has that always been an elusive ambition of yours?
“I was as surprised as anybody when I saw that it was slated as the big London show. When we’ve done the Roundhouse, we’ve had to do multiple [nights] in the past, and I suppose we were hoping that that isn’t the peak, and there’ll be enough interest for us to do it. It is a case of ‘fake it ‘til you make it,’ really! The bill’s really strong for that run. Brothers Osborne are certainly capable of filling up a big room themselves. There’s going to be some crossover in the venn diagram of fanbases.”
Barring a few support tours with Black Stone Cherry and Hollywood Vampires, have you missed being out of arenas for 20 years?
“What I miss about it is the production, because you can do whatever you want. The footprint of the stage is the same, and there’s a certain creative freedom when it comes to planning the production that you don’t [otherwise get]. I really love playing theatres, because you can feel the history in the boards, and you have to modify what you do to suit the room, which keeps it fresh and exciting on a night-by-night basis. But arenas are what this kind of music is designed for. We’ll certainly be doing everything we can to justify that step up. Arenas are comfy for us, and I think we're one of those bands that can make that big room feel like an intimate experience. No two shows are the same.”
What production itches do you still have left to scratch?
“I always enjoy things with flames. When you look at footage of huge bands, ‘70s onwards, you can almost feel the heat coming off the lights. I want to make it a multi-sensory experience. You don't [always] get that with modern LED screens. But what’s important is being able to see and hear what we’re doing, because we don’t do rock ‘n’ roll in the way that other bands do it. We don’t use any metronomes, pre-recorded elements, there’s no real-time pitch correction. Everything you hear is human beings, and [communicating] that to a big room is the challenge.”
Dan’s 50th birthday will fall on the Birmingham date next December. Have you got anything special planned to mark the occasion?
“For some reason, I assumed it had fallen on a day off, but I’ll start planning now. Don’t tell anybody, but there’ll be some surprises on the night. [For my 50th], I went for a ‘surprise’ meal. I was guided to a restaurant, knowing full well that all the band, crew, friends and family would be there…”
Before that, you’ve got the small matter of Knebworth with Iron Maiden in the summer. How are you feeling ahead of that show?
“In 2003, we played there with Robbie Williams. There was such a captive audience, because it’s a site where you’re only there for the gig. You’re in position, waiting for the main attraction, and you’re obliged to see the support act. I think he broke the attendance records with those shows, and the next day, we were famous. It was massive for us. I’ve always been grateful to Robbie Williams for putting us on. Now we get a chance to do it again! We’ve got a lot of mutual friends [with] Maiden, and once that show was announced, I started seeing people with Iron Maiden T-shirts turning up to our gigs. It’s already working! It’s probably the highlight of the summer for us, and a big moment, 23 years since we last did it.”
The ‘Dreams On Toast’ run club has become a core part of your pre-show ritual. Will it form part of your UK tour – and is the invitation open for fans to join?
“We’ve had a few fans join in with occasional runs…but we're pretty fast! We're sub-five [minutes per] kilometre, on average. Dan’s training for a marathon, so he’s faster than me, but it’s a big part of my preparation. Today, for example, I was up at 7am, did my workout at the hotel, ran down the canal — didn't shower — and rocked up. I'm probably stinking! But that is a big part of a performance day to have that, whether it’s endorphins or dopamine.”
You’re a busy bee outside of The Darkness, especially with your podcast. What keeps you motivated to push on to the point where you’re now playing the biggest UK shows of your lives?
“For me, the idea of turning up and doing a piano moment in a contrived, heart-warming, ‘viral fan interaction’ [setting] is excruciating. But then you see familiar faces who attend several gigs, and they’re all singing your songs. That can flip your mood, in a heartbeat, and that’s what every day is like, on tour. You see familiar faces, people dragged along by their boyfriends and girlfriends, and the appreciation spreading across their faces. I always feel like we’re reaching new people every time we play. It’s like an evangelical pursuit, where you’re trying to spread something! The arena tour is a step up for us, and it is going to be challenging, but we have to try. We are an arena band. We make arena-rock music.”
Finally, your debut ‘Permission To Land’ was recently named as the best-selling British rock album of the 21st Century. Was that an achievement you were aware of?
“I knew it was the best one! It’s not a dream that I actually had, but it's hard to argue that it’s not a dream come true. I try not to think about things like that…the longer you spend doing this, you recognise that isn’t really what success looks like. Success is longevity. To still be able to sing in the same register, in the original key, is quite unusual for someone my age. That’s anatomy, and that’s the lottery that you win. It would be fairly meaningless to have a statistic like that if I can’t sing those songs anymore, but I still can, so it’s beautiful. I'm really proud of that achievement, but I wouldn’t be sitting here talking to you if I couldn’t sing anymore. That’s what I'm really proud of.”
Tickets for The Darkness’s Band of Brothers Arena Tour are on general sale at 10am on November 28.
The Darkness Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue December 08 2026 - GLASGOW OVO Hydro
Wed December 09 2026 - LEEDS first direct Arena
Fri December 11 2026 - MANCHESTER AO Arena
Sat December 12 2026 - BIRMINGHAM Utilita Arena
Sun December 13 2026 - CARDIFF Utilita Arena
Tue December 15 2026 - BRIGHTON Centre
Wed December 16 2026 - LONDON O2 Arena
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