This morning, Darklings were ready and waiting for the announcement promised for today, mostly expecting (not unreasonably) some news about the album release date, maybe some gigs to look out for. Lady Gaga’s little monsters were also waiting for news on her Born This Way Ball tour dates in Europe. Neither had ANY idea that the news was going to involve each other… At 7.30 this morning, Capital FM’s site posted the tweeted news that The Darkness would be supporting Lady Gaga on 21 European dates through August to  October. Two were in the UK – London and Manchester – and a third in Dublin. Retweeted, it flew round the Darkling set.

Twitter went into an absolute frenzy. Both Darklings and monsters were relaying their shock, awe, amazement, and initial disbelief. WTF? REALLY? It came like a bolt from the blue, this one. Leftfield.  Both sets of UK fans were split pretty much down the middle. Awestruck wonder and fairly vehement disgust were both expressed, along with disappointment. There weren’t many neutrals. A good many monsters will need a bit of a Darkness learning curve by all accounts. Some had set off to download albums and watch youtube – result! For over 5 hours ‘The Darkness’ trended worldwide, longer in the UK.

Let’s take ‘Awestruck wonder’ then, first. Why? Being fans of both helped with that one, to start with. If you are, then this is going to be one special night! Then there’s the ‘The Darkness/Lady Gaga gig’ phenomenon, whichever one you prefer. An expensive one, but Gaga gigs are few and far between here at any time, and Darkness ones also this year, so far. Then once those feelings had ebbed, and the bank balance had been checked, there were so many other things to consider.

This is a HUGE thing for TD to have secured. Main support to a woman of international renown, critically acclaimed, and truly individual. There’s no one like her right now, and she has power. She also has brains, and if she wants TD on HER tour, then she has good sound reasons for doing so. Impeccable taste, too, obviously. The amount of exposure that this will give TD is so immense it can’t be quantified. Not only will they get the captive audience exposure to thousands, but the PR benefits are just staggering. Even just being associated with the tour is like a rocket launch – especially as Justin tweeted in the middle of this afternoon that the album will be out this summer, which is before or as this tour starts for them. The Samsung SuperBowl ad has been blown out of the water!  Next up is the creativity bit. Apparently the stage set took 18 months to build. Now, if you’ve got a main act who can pull off the sort of stuff that Gaga does, aren’t you going to take a little advantage of that when it comes to your own stage act? I doubt the stage will be completely bare for TD. I doubt the general atmosphere will encourage toned down costumes and restrained performances. Oh wow.. the costumes… I think that we’re going to see something very special, in all sorts of ways. I also think that actually, these two acts aren’t so very dissimilar and that they will understand and gel with each other very well. They seem to me to have the same sort of attitudes and desires in what they do and what they give to their fans. This has the potential to be completely mental, in a stupendous way. Bring it on.

I don’t want to do the ‘fairly vehement disgust’ bit. Leaves a bad taste in the mouth. But why oh why is this tour such bad news for some people? It’s true that the album news Darklings want was not what emerged today. Nor was a list of UK and Europe tour dates. Since when has THAT been an excuse for some of the things I’ve seen today? I can’t  comment on some of Gaga fans’ comments. They have their likes and dislikes, and some wanted another band instead. BUT… I didn’t want to believe  some of the things I read from both sides. Losing respect for their idol for arranging this. Saying that you’re not going to see your idol because TD/Gaga would spoil it. Accusations of selling out. Pouting and stamping feet because things weren’t going their way.  Objections because the other band just weren’t right for ‘your’ band. TD knew this was going to divide people, and their small warning wasn’t without substance. Sadly.

Sheesh. This is a tour, and a damn prestigious one. It’s not a joining at the hip. It’s going to be a learning curve on both sides in some degree, it’s going to be incredibly beneficial for bands and fans alike in one way or another. No one is losing any credibility and no one will have a career damaged. I hope people get their heads round this, because this IS happening.

Justin said:

“It was put to me as a question – do we want to be a main support band on one of the biggest – if not the biggest – stadium, worldwide mega-tours that have ever been? And, I think I replied, ‘Yes please’.

“It was really straight forward.”

and Frankie added on FB: Haha, well said Justin! Why would The Darkness shy away from something this ridiculous?

And it is, gloriously so. Right up The Darkness’ street.