A WHOLE lot of work went into the gig for The Darkness last night.

The band members certainly aimed to leave an impression on the mainly black-clothed, moshing crowd.

The lighting had clearly taken a lot of work, changing sometimes every few seconds, and a huge effort had been put into getting the instruments onto different levels on the stage to make for a more visual set-up for the rock concert, which was full of bass and electric guitars and one cowbell.

For somebody who last saw The Darkness on Top of the Pops in around 2003 playing I Believe in a Thing Called Love, it wasn't quite the fun poppy night I'd expected.

I don't think I quite realised how popular the band still are, with a near-full room of people singing along to each tune, in between enough swear words from the stage to turn the air blue.

However, put that aside, and you've got a band who played for nearly two hours, colourful costumes and tracks such as Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End), Growing on Me and Get Your Hands Off My Woman for their Blast of Our Kind 2015 Tour. Oh, and during the encore, an inflatable Santa and penguin popping up.

At one point the well-spoken lead singer, Justin Hawkins, told the crowd that he had been ordered, in no uncertain terms, not to climb onto the balconies at the side of the stage.

This only proved to make people cheer and whoop in delight at the prospect, but I'm pleased to say that he finished the gig in one piece.