NASHVILLE |DT: APRIL 12, 2012
FR: LIBBY COFFEY/MITCH SCHNEIDER/BARI LIEBERMAN–MSO
THE DARKNESS:
MULTI-PLATINUM BRITISH GROUP TO JOIN
LADY GAGA’s ‘BORN THIS WAY BALL’ WORLD TOUR
AUGUST 14 THROUGH OCTOBER 6
THIRD STUDIO ALBUM DUE OUT THIS SUMMER
BAND TO LAUNCH A HANDFUL OF SELECT DATES AND U.S. FESTIVAL APPEARANCES MAY 18 THROUGH MAY 27
After thrilling sold-out crowds with their critically acclaimed U.S. tour last month, THE DARKNESS are honored to announce they’ll join Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way Ball’ Tour’ for Summer 2012. THE DARKNESS will provide main support for the dates across Europe. Before joining Lady Gaga, THE DARKNESS return to Australia for the first time in six years (their Melbourne show sold out within an hour this past Friday). Next, they’ll head to the U.S. in May for select dates as well as three festival appearances: Saturday, May 19 at InfieldFest (Baltimore, MD), Sunday, May 20 at Rock On The Range (Columbus, OH) and Saturday, May 26 at Rocklahoma. They’ll perform festivals across the U.K. and Europe as well as a hometown outdoor headlining gig at Thetford Fest in Suffolk before teaming up with Lady Gaga. See all confirmed dates below, and tickets are available now at: www.theactualdarkness.com.
“I’ve been living with my Lady Gaga secret for many moons and it’s such a relief to be able to tell folk at last. I was beginning to go insane,” says lead vocalist JUSTIN HAWKINS. “She is the best pop star of the 21st century bar none and we’re honoured to have been selected. 2012 has been the most brilliant of years so far, and it’s about to get even more magnificent!”
Since THE DARKNESS—JUSTIN HAWKINS (vocals/guitars), DAN HAWKINS (guitars/backing vocals), FRANKIE POULLAIN (bass) and ED GRAHAM (drums)–resumed active service almost 12 months ago on the main stage of 2011’s Download Festival with their original line-up, the British group have accomplished a lot. They’ve completed sold out tours of the UK and North America; were featured in a Superbowl ad (broadcast to over 100 million viewers in the tense fourth quarter of the game); finished recording their long-awaited third album and first offering in eight years (as-yet-untitled, release date TBA); and released a free teaser track and video, ‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us’.
Due out late summer, the album marks the follow-up to the group’s multi-platinum debut Permission To Land—which spawned fan favorites “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” and “Get Your Hands Off My Woman–as well as the revered One-Way Ticket To Hell And Back which featured “One Way Ticket” and “Is It Just Me?”
So far, 2012 has been a stellar year for THE DARKNESS, described by the LA Weekly as “…heroically reunited, with a returned sense of fun and still this millennium’s most multi-dimensionally entertaining live rock show.” Elsewhere, Yahoo! News noted, “…on the HOB stage, it still came down to the band’s undeniably impeccable pop songwriting on virally infectious glam numbers like ‘Growing On Me,’ ‘Friday Night,’ ‘Is It Just Me,’ and of course ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love.’ Yup, the Darkness are back to rock us like hurricanes, just when we need them most. Permission to land? Permission granted. It’s their world once again” (2/20/2012). AOL Music added, “Transforming the venue into a joyous, raucous, rollicking English-pub, the adoring crowd sang along with the band’s trademark catchy, anthemic choruses and hung on every move of limber lead singer, Justin Hawkins. It was a raise-the-rafters love affair between band and fans that easily could have gone all night” (2/22/2012). The Toronto Star explained “It was a non-stop barrage of succinct, high-impact popsmithery” (2/2/2012).
THE DARKNESS are poised to hit the stratosphere in 2012 and beyond.
www.theactualdarkness.com
www.facebook.com/thedarknessofficial
https://twitter.com/#!/TheDarkness
THE DARKNESS videos:
‘Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us’ video:http://youtu.be/lEhgNW-l2Ys%20–
‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’ (live at Hammersmith. featuring Brian May of Queen) video:
http://youtu.be/4t5aOdDIXJ4
THE DARKNESS Headlining shows and Festivals 2012:
| Date | City | Venue | |||
| Fri | 5/4 | Brisbane, Australia | Eaton Hill | ||
| Sat | 5/5 | Newcastle, Australia | Workers | ||
| Sun | 5/6 | Sydney, Australia | Roundhouse | ||
| Tue | 5/8 | Melbourne, Australia | Palace | ||
| Wed | 5/9 | Melbourne, Australia | Palace | ||
| Thurs | 5/10 | Canberra, Australia | ANU | ||
| Sat | 5/12 | Adelaide, Australia | |||
| Fri | 5/18 | New Haven, CT | Toad’s Place | ||
| Sat | 5/19 | Baltimore, MD | InfieldFest | ||
| Sun | 5/20 | Columbus, OH | Rock on the Range Festival | ||
| Tue | 5/22 | Nashville, TN | Marathon Music Works | ||
| Wed | 5/23 | New Orleans, LA | House of Blues | ||
| Fri | 5/25 | Austin, TX | Stubb’s | ||
| Sat | 5/26 | Pryor, OK | Rocklahoma Festival | ||
| Sun | 5/27 | Dallas, TX | House Of Blues | ||
| Fri | 6/8 | Solvesburg, Sweden | Sweden Rock | ||
| Sat | 6/16 | Spain | Azkena Rock Festival | ||
| Sat | 6/23 | Milan, Italy | Gods of Metal Festival | ||
| Sun | 6/24 | UK | Isle of Wight Festival | ||
| Fri | 6/29 | Belgrade, Serbia | Usce Park | ||
| Fri | 7/6 | Kinross, Scotland | T in the Park | ||
| Sun | 7/8 | France | Sonisphere | ||
| Sat | 7/14 | Suffolk, UK | Thetford Forest | ||
| Sun | 7/22 | Palma de Mallorca, Spain | Iberostar Stadium (w/ Guns’n’Roses) | ||
| Sat | 8/4 | Oder, Poland | Woodstock Festival | ||
| All dates below, with LADY GAGA: | |||||
| Tue | 8/14 | Sofia, Bulgaria | Vasil Levski National Stadium | ||
| Thu | 8/16 | Bucharest, Romania | Arena Nationala Stadium | ||
| Sat | 8/18 | Vienna, Austria | Wiener Stadhalle | ||
| Tue | 8/21 | Vilnius, Lithuania | Vingis Park | ||
| Thu | 8/23 | Riga, Latvia | Mezaparks | ||
| Sat | 8/25 | Tallinn | Tallinn Song Festival Grounds | ||
| Mon | 8/27 | Helsinki, Finland | Hartwell Arena | ||
| Thu | 8/30 | Stockholm, Sweden | Ericsson Globe | ||
| Sun | 9/2 | Copenhagen, Denmark | Parken Stadium | ||
| Tue | 9/4 | Koln, Germany | Lanxess Arena | ||
| Sat | 9/8 | London, UK | Twickenham | ||
| Tue | 9/11 | Manchester, UK | Evening News Arena | ||
| Sat | 9/15 | Dublin. Ireland | Aviva Stadium | ||
| Mon | 9/17 | Amsterdam, Netherlands | Ziggo Dome | ||
| Sat | 9/22 | Paris, France | Stade de France | ||
| Mon | 9/24 | Hannover, Germany | TUI Arena | ||
| Wed | 9/26 | Zurich, Switzerland | Hallenstadion | ||
| Sat | 9/29 | Antwerp, Belgium | Sportpaleis | ||
| Tue | 10/2 | Milan, Italy | Mediolanum Forum | ||
| Thu | 10/4 | Nice, France | Stade Charles-Ehrmann | ||
| Sat | 10/6 | Barcelona, Spain | Palau St Jordi | ||
THE DARKNESS L-R: Ed Graham, Frankie Poullain, Justin Hawkins, Dan Hawkins.
Photo credit: Marianne Harris.
For THE DARKNESS publicity, contact MSO:
Libby Coffey/MSO 818-380-0400 x224,
LCoffey@msopr.com
Mitch Schneider/MSO 818-380-0400 x235,
MSchneider@msopr.com
Bari Lieberman/MSO (tour press) 818-380-0400 x222,
BLieberman@msopr.com
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