It's one of those songs where I was thinking it was a bit lighter and a bit poppier than most of the record. And one of the things I wanted to try was a list, because I think pop songs often have lists in. Like, ‘Monday, did this, Tuesday, did that’, or counting numbers, and I was keen to explore those kinds of devices. So I thought about all the stuff that I used to do when I was at school, and I tried to make it into a love song as well. But it’s an unrequited love song. There's a bloke chasing a girl around, doing everything she does, but all of his efforts fall on deaf eyes. That's it: deaf eyes.” There will also be a very special expanded "Permission To Land" deluxe album release coming later this year via Warner Music, with further details to be revealed soon. Of the three separate live recordings compiled on Permission To Land… Again, supporting Robbie Williams on his huge summer 2003 shows at Knebworth, a high-intensity Astoria show and a triumphant Wembley headline set, it’s the first that makes the most interesting listening. Here, the band are heard playing to a crowd of 100,000, few of whom one assumes were actually there to see them, and in real time you can hear Justin Hawkins winning over vast swathes of them. Towards the end he asks outright who amongst them has been converted, receiving a great roar in response. “Everybody else, repeat after me,” he declares. “’I. AM. WRONG.’”

And when the Darkness did play it straight, the result could be incandescent. The deathless single “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”—which debuted at No. 2 in the UK—pairs a crunchy AOR riff with a half-yodeled chorus straight out of “ Focus.” There are two couplets masquerading as verses; everything’s a race to the giddy nonsense of the refrain. When the trash can ending hits, it’s as if the song is taking its own bow. The nostalgic late- Kinks power-pop of “Friday Night” was an academic exercise—“Lyrically, I realized people liked songs with lists in,” Justin Hawkins recalled in 2013—contrasting the titular dance night with a list of extracurriculars (“I got ping-pong on Wednesday/Needlework on Thursday”) that would exhaust Max Fischer. The final result is touching rather than rote, even when, right before the solo, Hawkins purrs like a tiger.The Darkness have announced the European leg of their planned 20th anniversary Permission To Land tour.

We’ll also play all of your favourite Darkness songs from the rest of our illustrious and tipsy turvy career. It will be the best show you’ll see this year. I should know, I’m the singer and also a YouTube music expert.” Commenting on the shows, The Darkness’ frontman Justin Hawkins says, “We, The Darkness, are delighted to announce that we’ll be hitting the road in the UK once again.Alongside the tour, there will also be a very special expanded ‘Permission To Land’ deluxe album release coming later this year via Warner Music, with full details to be revealed soon. The Darkness’ ‘Permission to Land’ 20th anniversary UK & Ireland tour dates: