Verge01a

Last night’s final show of Darren Hayes ‘Side Two Tour’ was utterly incredible.  Emotions ran high in the packed-out Islington Academy in London as hardcore fans from around the globe realized this may be a long time until Darren Hayes takes to the stage again.  There were smiles, there were tears, there even were a few fans that fainted from the experience, but all-in-all the show was one of Darren’s career bests.

Darren looked really happy on stage – joking about live technical fuck-ups to the endless exclaimations of love he had for his guitarist Steve Young and the keytar maestro Justin Shave.  Treating the London fans to some setlist extras including ‘Unlovable’ and the energetic ‘Carry On Amedeaus’ (even the bouncers were enjoying this tune) it was a very special show to say the least.  Darren even paid tribute to Madonna by incorporating lyrics to ‘Vogue’ into ‘Dirty’ and ‘Get Together’ into ‘So Beautiful’Leona Lewis even got a nod as Darren belted out the chorus to ‘Bleeding Love’ in one track.

After the show I chatted to Darren about what he had planned now that he’s finished the last show and he was quite happy to say that he was looking forward to his downtime and getting to do a whole lot of nothing!  Hearing Darren say this was a joy because if there is any musician out there that deserves a bit of a break – it most certainly is Darren Hayes.  He has toured and promoted ‘This Delicate Thing We’ve Made’ tirelessly over the past year and looks forward to making more music for the legions of fans that embrace what he does.  It doesn’t matter if radio or the music industry "get it" anymore – he’s going to be making music for all of us who do.

And with that said, we look forward to seeing Darren again in the future when he has a new story to tell through his music in that fascinating way that he does it.  Thanks Darren for entertaining us all this past year with your beautiful record and generosity.

Make sure you buy the epic single ‘Casey’ when it drops on 3 March and if you want to relive the magic of ‘The Time Machine Tour’ make sure you pick up your copy when it drops on DVD soon.