Justin Hawkins Takes “Hot Leg” To The Stage
August 8th, 2008 by Music Review Zone
Two nights ago marked the return of former “The Darkness” front-man Justin Hawkins to the live stage.
In his first gig in 2 years Justin unveiled his new band “Hot Leg” to an audience at the Proud Galleries in Camden, performing a mix of both original material and a few covers.
Justin left the Darkness in 2006 after a drug-induced breakdown, but according to reports was back to his old flamboyant self on Wednesday night. The band finished up their set by playing a reminiscent version of The Darkness’ “I believe in a thing called love”, a major hit for the band in 2003.
The bands tour is set to continue:
- Birmingham Barfly (August 7)
- Manchester Roadhouse (8)
- Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (9)
Justin spoke to reporters after the show telling the BBC :
“It’s the first time I’ve done a proper music concert in a couple of years“.
In its height of success, Justin’s previous band, The Darkness, won three Brit Awards and had five UK Top Ten hits as well as a five times over platinum selling album.
Justin Hawkins Has Hot Legs – #2
by Paul Cashmere – August 8 2008
photo by Ros O’Gorman
Justin Hawkins from The Darkness is back with a new band called Hot Legs.
It has been a few years since we have heard from Hawkins following the split of The Darkness after just two albums in 2006.
He has been fighting addictions to cocaine and alcohol and had suffered a breakdown. Hawkins was admitted to a rehabilitation clinic in August 2006 and the third album was The Darkness was aborted.
At the time he admitted to having spent £150,000 on cocaine.
Last night, Hawkins performed his first show with Hot Legs in Camden, UK. He told the crowd, “It’s the first time I’ve done a proper music concert in a couple of years. I think in the time since then I’ve suffered what you might call a breakdown.”
Hawkins closed the show with his The Darkness hit ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love.
Former THE DARKNESS Frontman Returns To Stage With New Band
NME.com reports that former THE DARKNESS frontman played his first gig in two years in London Wednesday night (August 6).
Unveiling new band HOT LEG, Hawkins told the crowd at Proud Galleries in Camden he had “suffered what you might call a breakdown.”
The band played a set of cock-rock numbers, in a similar vein to his previous band, and covered two songs entitled “The Power Of Love” — one by HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS, the other by JENNIFER RUSH, both massive UK hits in 1985.
The band then finished with a version of THE DARKNESS‘ “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”.
Check out photos of the concert from BBC News.
Justin Hot Legs it to Brum
Justin Hawkins back on stage with his new band.
Hot Leg
The Barfly, Birmingham
There wasn’t a sequinned catsuit in sight as former Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins made his return to the stage with his new band Hot Leg.
Hawkins says Hot Leg is ”a more intense version of the Darkness” and he certainly delivered on that promise last night with his trademark falsetto and flamboyant harmonies.
See our gig photo gallery below
Sporting tiger stripe jeans, a headband in his shaggy blond hair and bright orange finger polish, he looked lean and energetic after two years away which have included a session in rehab to help him kick his well-publicised drink and drug addictions.
It was business as usual as Hawkins continued on his mission to put the smile back on the face of rock along with his four-piece band.
Last time he played in Birmingham, he was greeted by 11,000 Darkness fans at the NEC as he arrived above the stage inside a giant pair of illuminated boobs.
The time there were about 300 fans packed inside the tiny Barfly for the band’s first low-key dates, and the singer-guitarist merely strode on to the stage, but the welcome was no less rapturous.
The set was heavy on material from Hot Leg’s soon-to-be-released debut album, including Trojan Guitar and Gay In The 80s, which might turn out to be the band’s big anthem, plus the download-only track Heroes.
There were two intriguing and somewhat eccentric covers, both called The Power Of Love – the Jennifer Rush and Huey Lewis songs – as well as a blast through Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher which saw Hawkins do a quick change and come back dressed for a game of tennis!
Hot Leg wrapped up the show with what was called on the set-list “The Ultimate Song”. It turned out to be his former band’s biggest hit, I Believe In A Thing Called Love, and won the biggest cheer of the night.
The Darkness may have divided rock fans like no other band, but Hawkins showed last night that he can still light up any stage.
By Ian Harvey
Just should sing in Darkness
OH dear! Here’s the proof former THE DARKNESS frontman JUSTIN HAWKINS is back.
The singer, who quit the group in 2006 as he battled drugs, launched his band HOT LEG at the Proud Galleries in London’s Camden.
He said: �It’s the first time I’ve done a concert in a couple of years. I think since then I’ve suffered what you might call a breakdown.�
And as you can see, he hasn’t become all shy and retiring in his time out of the spotlight.
(can’t use the photo. see link)
Justin Hawkins Hot Leg Interview – bbc
JUSTIN HAWKINS RETURNS TO THE STAGE
The flamboyant frontman left the Brit award-winners in 2006 after suffering a drug-induced breakdown but played his first gig with his new band in north London on Wednesday night.
Hot Leg took to the stage at the Proud Galleries in Camden and performed a mix of original material and covers.
Kicking off a mini-tour which also takes in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, Hot Leg played their own efforts Trojan Guitar and Heroes as well as covers of both Jennifer Rush’s and Huey Lewis and the News’ The Power of Love.
And they closed the set with a rendition of I Believe In A Thing Called Love, one of the Darkness’ biggest hits during their remarkable run of success in 2004, which saw the foursome win three Brit awards, achieve five UK top ten hits and a 5x platinum album.
“It’s the first time I’ve done a proper music concert in a couple of years,” Hawkins told the BBC after the show.
“I think in the time since then I’ve suffered what you might call a breakdown.”
Justin Hawkins has returned to live performing two years after drug abuse caused the breakup of The Darkness.
Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins returns to the stage
Justin Hawkins has returned to live performing two years after drug abuse caused the breakup of The Darkness.The flamboyant frontman left the Brit award-winners in 2006 after suffering a drug-induced breakdown but played his first gig with his new band in north London on Wednesday night.Hot Leg took to the stage at the Proud Galleries in Camden and performed a mix of original material and covers.Kicking off a mini-tour which also takes in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow, Hot Leg played their own efforts Trojan Guitar and Heroes as well as covers of both Jennifer Rush’s and Huey Lewis and the News’ The Power of Love.And they closed the set with a rendition of I Believe In A Thing Called Love, one of the Darkness’ biggest hits during their remarkable run of success in 2004, which saw the foursome win three Brit awards, achieve five UK top ten hits and a 5x platinum album.”It’s the first time I’ve done a proper music concert in a couple of years,” Hawkins told the BBC after the show. “I think in the time since then I’ve suffered what you might call a breakdown.” 
NME’s noncommittal words
Singer returns after ‘suffering a breakdown’
Justin Hawkins played his first gig in two years in London last night (August 6).
Unveiling new band Hot Leg, the former frontman in The Darkness told the crowd at Proud Galleries in Camden he had “suffered what you might call a breakdown”, reports BBC News.
The band played a set of cock-rock numbers, in a similar vein to his previous band, and covered two songs entitled ‘The Power Of Love’ – one by Huey Lewis And The News, the other by Jennifer Rush, both massive UK hits in 1985.
The band then finished with a version of The Darkness‘ ‘I Believe In A Thing Called Love’.
Hot Leg‘s tour will now visit:
Birmingham Barfly (August 7)
Manchester Roadhouse (8)
Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut (9)
Hot Leg Review – first Hot Leg Review EVER?
Aug7
Was as we expected, maybe hotter, certainly smellier than I would have liked. We spent the evening secretly wishing they would play some songs that we knew – not necessarily Darkness songs, but maybe some cheeky covers, tipping their hat to their references. Didn’t quite get that. Apart from the free mp3 download “Heroes”, the first song that stood out was “The Power Of Love“. Then next came “The Power Of Love“. Yes, the Jennifer Rush version then the Huey Lewis song of that name. Then (maybe not right then, we had slipped back into the stables bar area by this point) a costume change, and “I Believe In A Thing Called Love“.
Was a good gig, good to be there with friends, and meet up with more friends, some of whom we’d not seen since The Darkness were a force to be reckoned with.
Not the best gig ever, but a good gig, and the best for a while.
Some video from a chum at the gig: And here’s a clip of the Jennifer Rush cover: (edit: Both already on the site so not shown here)
Shot on some kind of thermal imaging camera obviously! His review – hope posting that isn’t going to mess up my own extensive seo campaign…
Forgot to mention last night when I first posted this (what on earth was I doing posting, why did I not go straight to bed), Naboo the Enigma was also at the gig.
![Hot%20Leg%20Single%20a7[1]-2](https://live.staticflickr.com/3213/3078192668_0d8a399b63_s.jpg "Hot%20Leg%20Single%20a7[1]-2")
![Hot%20Leg%20Single%20a7[1]-1](https://live.staticflickr.com/3270/3077361749_743052b4bc_s.jpg "Hot%20Leg%20Single%20a7[1]-1")
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