Danko Jones and Tuk Smith – London Underworld 2025

Tuk Smith and the Restless Hearts opened to a packed house at 7.30! He’s no stranger to the UK and has built up a cult following of people who travel round his gigs. To watch them even for one song is to realise why.

‘Ballad Of A Mispent Youth’ has more of the intensity of the early Stones than the most recent offering from Jagger & Co. and it is truly a treat to hear that stomping rhythm and divine licks as if it were Keith Richards in his twenties standing there by the magic of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Tuk Smith got into a lot of trouble in his earlier life for being a bit of a live wire and he has lived his lyrics no lie.

‘Little Renegade’ is literally about staying true to your Rock ‘n’ Roll soul and never letting the world grind you down. This band embodies that spirit and even if the costs of touring are prohibitively high, Tuk makes it happen, because he has to be who he is.

‘Looking For Love, Ready For War’ played later in the set, although a single, was from an album that was never released because Tuk wouldn’t put up with corporate realism standing in his way. ‘Take The Long Way’ refers to that time he got himself kicked off a Motley Crue tour..guess how badly behaved you have to be for that!

Not even the dreaded technical difficulties and a bit of a ‘uh oh’ moment ironically around ‘Glorybound’ can stop them: luckilly the Underworld team comes to the rescue and the rest is plain sailing.

 

This band looks the part and jokingly Tuk complains that there is no mirror in the dressing room (it’s so dark in there and the mirror that used to be there was covered in band stickers long ago). I shout and remind him of the one in the ladies and he admits the band had to go in there to get ready. It was worth the effort as the band are notoriously cute.

Tuk jokes that their new drummer is a failed movie star and now plays in a band with himself so it’s hard to work out what’s worse. The drummer just smiles and certainly doesn’t let the side down.

This is not a Thin Lizzy Song, it just sounds like it” Tuk announces before they get into ‘Girls On The East Side Of Town’. However the band add in a fair bit of swagger of their own and the result is sexier than thou. Artist have always borrowed and re-interpreted and since we can’t have 70s Thin Lizzy for a whole host of reasons we’ll take these angels instead who can recreate the spirit of these great seventies bands and allow the audience to time travel just for an hour or two.

In the final segment of the show we get two songs from the new EP the ballad ‘Sadie Mae’ and the contagious ‘Running With The Wild Ones’. And like all amazing things it’s over in a flash. The good news is they’re planning to come back to the UK again next year.

I’m excited to see Danko Jones as one listen of the new album ‘Leo Rising’ was enough to get me hooked! As they take the stage the Underworld is the most packed I think I have ever seen it and so clearly I’m not the only one.

If you want big riffs, power pop choruses and rocket fuelled sky high energy look no further. Immediately we are delivered a suckerpunch of ‘What You Need’ and ‘Diamond In The Rough’ with its blistering guitar solo. Within the first five songs the killer ‘Everyday Is Saturday Night’ comes in. All these songs are from the new album and everyone in the audience already knows them all. There’s no doubt the band are riding high! Talking of which after ‘Get High’ Danko announces (in a loud echoey voice worthy of a Hollywood voiceover) the new album as their twelfth to huge cheers. It’s clear they are just getting better and better.

After taking pictures, there are so many people in the room it is extremely difficult get out and round to the little crows nest at the side of the stage, but when I finally reach this vantage point I can clearly see the whole audience and how nuts they are going for this band. There’s a guy who looks like Charlie Manson on someone else’s shoulders. I think that’s the first time I have ever seen such a sight at this venue. Some wag shouts at Danko “Can we party?” And he flashed back “Yeah I love to party with scary dudes!” as they launch very appropriately into ‘Good Time’.

 

The crowd are so hyped up they launch into a prolonged chant of “Danko! Danko!” The Danko chant, it’s a thing! Such is the hero worship all the hairy ass men in the audience are oblivious to the comedy of them singing “you are my woman and I am your man” back at the band.

Earlier Danko had said “Rock ‘n’ Roll is all about fakin’ it”, but I was surprised when, after they go off for the encore, he came back and asked the crowd to suggest songs, saying they had nothing planned: anyone in the front row could read the rest of the set list! It was such a good gig though I think we can forgive him. The three “unplanned” tracks were ‘Guess Who’s Back’, ‘Lovercall’ and ‘My Little Rock ‘n’ Roll’.

For a threesome this bunch pack a powerful punch live as well as on vinyl. If they can continue to knock out albums like ‘Leo Rising’ I too shall remain one of the faithful.

Dawn Osborne