British rock band The Darkness are honoured to announce their addition to the bill as main support for Lady Gaga's 'Born This Way Ball' European tour 2012.
The Darkness will join the tour in Bulgaria in August and spend through till October lifting the roofs of stadia and arena alike across Europe, Scandinavia and the UK & Ireland; wrapping up in Spain on October 6th.
Vocalist Justin Hawkins commented: "I've been living with my Lady Gaga secret for many moons and it's such a relief to be able to tell folk at last. I was beginning to go insane. She is the best pop star of the 21st century bar none and we're honoured to have been selected. 2012 has been the most brilliant of years so far, and it's about to get even more magnificent! "
Since the original line-up resumed active service almost twelve months ago on the main stage of 2011's Download Festival, The Darkness have completed sold out tours of the UK and North America, featured in a Superbowl ad (broadcast to over 100million viewers in the tense fourth quarter of the game), finished recording their long-awaited third album (as-yet-untitled, news and release date coming very soon), and released a free teaser track and video entitled 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us'.
Prior to the start of the Lady Gaga tour, the band will tour Australia for the first time in 6 years (where the Melbourne show sold out in less than an hour last week), return to the USA for a brace of shows and festival appearances, and play a wealth of festivals across the UK and Europe, as well as their own 'hometown' outdoor headline show at Thetford Forest in Suffolk.
HEADLINE SHOWS/FESTIVALS:
MAY
Fri 4 Australia - Brisbane - Eaton Hill
Sat 5 Australia - Newcastle - Workers
Sun 6 Australia - Sydney - Roundhouse
Tue 8 Australia - Melbourne - Palace
Wed 9 Australia - Melbourne - Palace
Thurs 10 Australia - Canberra - ANU
Sat 12 Australia - Adelaide
Fri 18 USA - New Haven, CT - Toad's Place
Sat 19 USA - Baltimore, MD - InfieldFest
Sun 20 USA - Columbus, OH - Rock on the Range Festival
Tue 22 USA - Nashville, TN - Marathon Music Works
Wed 23 USA - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
Fri 25 USA - Austin, TX - Stubb's
Sat 26 USA - Pryor, OK - Rocklahoma Festival
Sun 27 USA - Dallas, TX - House Of Blues
JUN
Fri 8 - Sweden - Solvesburg - Sweden Rock
Sat 16 - Spain - Azkena Rock Festival
Sat 23 - Italy - Milan - Gods of Metal Festival
Sun 24 - UK - Isle of Wight Festival
Fri 29 - Serbia - Belgrade - Usce Park
JUL
Fri 6 - UK - Kinross, Scotland - T in the Park
Sun 8 - France - Sonisphere
Sat 14 - UK - Suffolk - Thetford Forest
Sun 22 - Spain - Palma de Mallorca - Iberostar Stadium (w/ Guns'n'Roses)
AUG
Sat 4 - Poland - Oder - Woodstock Festival
WITH LADY GAGA
Tue 14 Bulgaria - Sofia - Vasil Levski National Stadium
Thu 16 Romania - Bucharest - Arena Nationala Stadium
Sat 18 Austria - Vienna - Wiener Stadhalle
Tue 21 Lithuania - Vilnius - Vingis Park
Thu 23 Latvia - Riga - Mezaparks
Sat 25 Tallinn - Tallinn Song Festival Grounds
Mon 27 Finland - Helsinki - Hartwell Arena
Thu 30 Sweden - Stockholm - Ericsson Globe
SEPT
Sun 2 Denmark - Copenhagen - Parken Stadium
Tue 4 Germany - Koln - Lanxess Arena
Sat 8 UK - London - Twickenham
Tue 11 UK - Manchester - Evening News Arena
Sat 15 Ireland - Dublin - Aviva Stadium
Mon 17 Netherlands - Amsterdam - Ziggo Dome
Sat 22 France - Paris - Stade de France
Mon 24 Germany - Hannover - TUI Arena
Wed 26 Switzerland - Zurich - Hallenstadion
Sa 29 Belgium - Antwerp - Sportpaleis
OCT
Tue 2 Italy - Milan - Mediolanum Forum
Thu 4 France - Nice - Stade Charles-Ehrmann
Sat 6 Spain - Barcelona - Palau St Jordi