Dreams on Toast Tour: The Darkness W/Mark Daly and The Ravens

Phantom Light Media
Nov 21, 2025
3 min read

Since it's November and it's time to give thanks, I will be happy to share. I'm thankful “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”. Do You? On a balmy Saturday night The Darkness graced us with their presence all the way from the UK. Bringing their Irish friends Mark Daly and the Ravens.

Kicking the night off was Mark Daly. Their music lives somewhere between hard rock, soft rock and I would wager to say little hints of outlaw country when they brought out their acoustic guitars. High in energy, and presence the members interacted with the fans, giving cheers and sharing with a very welcoming Boise crowd.

At last it came to that time of the night…like 9pm. The Darkness took the stage to gentle intro music. Then kicking the night off with “Rock and Roll Cowboys”. This followed with some banter for the crowd, another song and some more banter. We were in for a night full of their music with the 19 song set.

The lead vocals and guitar, Justin Hawkins kept the crowd hyped all night. Keeping spirits and the energy high. Sharing the stage with brother and fellow band mate, guitarist Dan Hawkins. Shredding through the night with stellar solos and some blues Keeping the time was Rufus Tiger Taylor on the drums.

Bring the crowd into the mix for “Given’ Up” to sing the chorus. I was blown away shortly after when Taylor stepped up to sing “My Only”. That deep voice was out of this world and made even better supported with some blues guitar. This has to be one of my favorite songs of the night.

At the end of the night they played the song everyone was there to hear and see. “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” kicked off and was stopped shortly after by Justin Hawkins. Much to my delight he called out the crowd and told them to put their cell phone away and just live in the moment for at least one song. I can appreciate this and support this every bit. They started from the top and in a rare moment I saw the entire crowd just jumping and dancing without a single cell phone in view. Except for the two kids in front of me who obviously can’t listen.

One more amazing moment happened that night when they came back on for their encore. Justin came and said he had a few words to share. A fan shouted “God Bless America” this led to the band doing a quick cut of the national anthem and the entire crowd began to sing it back to the band in its entirety even after the band stopped. This was not a part of the show according to Hawkiins but honestly it was pretty damn impressive.

The Darkness in Boise, ID was a great show. I was glad I got to attend. I didn’t know what to expect from the opener, but I was highly impressed and look forward to Mark Daly and His Little Raven Children coming back ( A name coined by Justin Hawkins at the end of the night.) . I’ll be keeping my eyes open for the next The Darkness show when it comes through town.