It’s not a night for sensible shoes and a cardi: it’s Saturday, it’s Cardiff and just about the finest arena rock tour you are likely to see this year is going down in the International Arena. Kentucky’s Southern rockers Black Stone Cherry team up with The Darkness for what promises to be a night to remember.

Helping to get people through the doors early on are Canadian trio Danko Jones. Headed by an eponymous frontman, the trio have dipped in and out of multiple rock genres during their 25 years, touring with acts as varied as Beck and Sepultura. But when it comes down to it, they’re a very good metal band, and tonight a lively performance to a game crowd proves them to be the perfect apéritif.

This being a co-headlining tour, one assumes headline status will be swapped over nightly, and tonight Cardiff is treated to The Darkness first. It’s well established that frontman Justin Hawkins was made for the stage, and his Freddie Mercury-esque tones show no signs of tiring with age as they hit the stage to Growing On Me. Backed by a pyro shower, this is rock as it should be: loud, brash and an absolute spectacle.

The vocalist decides he’s wearing entirely too many clothes by just the second song, launching bare-chested into Black Shuck, but this isn’t merely the Justin Hawkins show. The rest of The Darkness are also in fine form tonight – using every inch of the stage without missing a note, they batter through a set that grabs the best parts of every album. The crowd sing along to every word, particularly amusing when Hawkins reaches for those high notes in tracks like Get Your Hands Off My Woman. Never afraid to engage the crowd, Justin plays a series of call-back notes on his guitar – to which the crowd duly respond – before launching into I Believe In A Thing Called Love and finishing up with Love On The Rocks With No Ice. A hot, energy-sapping set, and that’s just for the onlookers.

Indeed, there’s a noticeable dash to the exit after The Darkness, though a solid gathering of people remain for Black Stone Cherry. A huge curtain is draped stage-front as intro music is piped through the PA, dropped as BSC throw themselves into Me And Mary Jane before taking it back 15 years with Blind Man, the opener from 2008’s Folklore And Superstition album. A different prospect to The Darkness, Black Stone Cherry relies solely on their ability to get your head nodding to see them through – mission accomplished, as few people in the arena tonight aren’t moving in some way.

New single Out Of Pocket gets its first live outing, showing much promise for their new material, and drummer John Fred gets to show off his skills for the obligatory drum solo during Cheaper To Drink Alone – but it’s the combo of Things My Father Said and White Trash Millionaire that get the beers in the air, sing along treatment.

Black Stone Cherry finish off with a rousing rendition of Blame It On The Boom Boom before re-emerging to drain the crowd of every last bit of energy with a cover of ELO classic Don’t Bring Me Down. All three bands brought their A-game tonight and it was impossible not to have fun: arena rock done properly.

Black Stone Cherry, The Darkness + Danko Jones, Cardiff International Arena, Sat 28 Jan

words CHRIS ANDREWS photos ANTHONY JAMES