The Damned - Manchester Ritz - December 8th 2012

The Damned

Tis the season too be jelly, or so Mr Zappa said, but tonight there will be a cause for sanity, for The Damned are playing, time to dust off the old pogo and get gone. Unfortunately due to my recent illness I am still prone to a little dizzyness and not sure about driving, but Mr Kieran being such a nice chap, was willing ready and able to provide the necessary transport, plus I had his ticket.

Captain Sensible

Supporting The Damned on this tour are The Dickies, so Punkdom was alive and well for the evening, rhythmically moving up and down whilst throwing itself about. My familiarity with The Dickies ends with Banana Splits, Paranoid and Nights In White Satin, one of which I heard, not sure about the others as we missed the beginning of their set, but all was not at a loss. After they had set the sprung dance floor a bouncing, entertaining many ageing punks a quick encore followed and they were off, and so were the punks, to the bar that is. That gave me and Kieran the opportunity to get a good spot to witness The Damned, plus Kieran had his recorder with him and would be recording the gig for posterity.

Stu West

The Damned never disappoint, from start to finish they are having fun on stage as we are having fun off stage. Tonight there is no album to promote, no special anniversary to commemorate, just a fine selection of top tunes from a magnificent back catalogue. There would be no singalong to Eloise, but and I must emphasise the but, we would be treated to some absolute classics, some of which I am sure have never been played live before, but I may be wrong, but I don't care, I was there when they played White Rabbit.

Dave Vanian

The last few years they have grown as a band, considering only Sensible and Vanian remain from the original line up, they connect well on stage, being well rehearsed, tight and having fun being on stage with each other. The usual banter between band and fan keeps up the hilarity, they are a fun band, but take their music seriously. Sensible pulls off many Hendrix-esqe solos when required, Pinch and Stu are a solid rhythm section while Monty is just a crazed loon on keyboards, that just leaves Vanian to be himself, simple as that.

Monty On Keyboards

The tempo rises and falls throughout the set, teasing us with a classic singalong while swiftly moving into a punky throw about. Directly infront of the stage are the die hards, New Rose and Neat Neat Neat gets them thrown about, only to be stood back up and croon along to Grimly Fiendish. Rabid gets a good shout a long while Christmas is celebrated with Sanity Clause. All the usual suspects are here, Smash It Up concludes the evening with Dr Jeckyl and Mr Hyde making an appearance along the way.

Another great night out with The Damned, they never disappoint, lets just hope that next year brings a 30th anniversary tour with Strawberries, that would be interesting.

SET LIST:

Under The Wheels

Noise Noise Noise

Rabid

Danger To Yourself

Neat Neat Neat

Grimly Fiendish

Dr J

Love Song

Democracy

Stranger On The Town

Antipope

She

White Rabbit

New Rose

Ignite

Sanity Clause

Lovely Money

Looking At You

Wot (of sorts)

Smash It Up

Photo's (c) Doctor Majuba

Damned - Manchester Academy November 2011

Went to see the Damned at the Academy in Manchester, as they were celebrating their 35th anniversary. Marking the occasion by playing the first album Damned, Damned, Damned, in its entirety, and following that with The Black Album. How could I not go see that.

Obviously I drove over, having a car and all that, met up with Julie Windle, and Darren 'Mumpy' Hill, and headed forth. Julie knows the manager so was able to get in on the guest list, so that left me and Mumpy to fend for our selves. As you cannot smoke inside Mumpy went outside to have a quick one. Whilst waiting I could hear someone shouting my name, not sure who or where it was coming from I looked around, only to be face to face with Carole, my friend Sandra's younger sister. Bizarre or what, but she being a bit of a Damned fan, not really.

We had a quick chat as you do and got myself a good spot to enjoy the gig, and did I did.

A proper sing along commenced, with them buggering off after the first album was complete then to return for the second. What an event, the Black Album is probably one of my fave albums of all time, and to see it being performed was a dream come true. Even the wierd little intermission bits are performed, ending with the most amazing version of Curtain Call, light show and all.

Buggering off again they return to play 4 more songs from their impressive back catalogue and the night is over, but not yet........We had arranged to meet up outside the venue as I had agreed to give Julie and Mumpy a lift home, so outside we are, Mumpy is having a fag and I get a phone call, it's Julie.

She had okayed it for us to go into the VIP lounge and have a drink, so you cannot pass up and opportunity like that everyday so we do. After negotiating security we wander upstairs. There are a few people scattered around chatting, amongst them is Captain Sensible, obviously he is there he plays guitar in The Damned. So what else is there but to go up to him and say hello, and so I did. After saying hello I asked him what are his recollections from the 10th Anniversary gig in London, and his face dropped, he kinda recognises me and asks me how the hell we got to that house, so I recounted the events of the night to him, and during my retelling of what happened, you can see he remembers bits of it, then fills in some gaps that he remembers from his perspective. Very funny.....

All that is left is to get a quick piccy with him and he has to go, and so do we.

Driving home was quite the adventure, thick fog had descended and the junction I need to get off at had been closed, so a slight detour was needed, and no Julie if you are reading this, we didn't go to Wales.

Oh yes, the gig was recorded, so I got myself a copy, couldn't miss reliving this one.

June 2010

Friday the 4th of June saw the payoff of what I started back in October 2009, but more of that later.

5th of June was The Damned in Manchester Academy, so myself Lee and Kieran met up with Julie Windle and set fort on the train to Manchester for beer and merryment, and was had with aplomb. Since we spent time in the bar consuming pints of golden liquid, we missed the support bands, but as soon was available we set forth and entered the room of delight.

The Damned never dissapoint, always a great show, and quite often as tonight was the case, play some old songs from their ever expanding catalogue. The delight's they played tonight were, Fan Club, Fish, Gun Fury, Bad Time For Bonzo, Limit Club and Thanks For The Night. Great banter between the band and the audience punctuated the set, as as the good Captain remarked, we (Manchester) were a better audience than the previous night (London). Well we Northern Scum do appreciate good music when we hear it.

Microphones had been placed on the sides of the stage, maybe they were recording, they did record the Machine Gun Etiquette DVD here, so maybe we have been recorded for posterity.

Anyhow, didn't take my camera with me, but some kind person did, so here is a link to what they took - Kevin Ruscoe's pictures, here is one of those mentioned, not taken by me pictures for you to enjoy.

Damned - Manchester Academy

Damned - Manchester Academy, December 9th 2006

The Damned may not be the greatest band in the world, or the best musicians, but boy could they write a good tune or two. So here we are again at the Manchester Academy to see this band perform but a small selection of fine tunes they have entertained us for many a year.

Last time we saw them they were on the 25th year Machine Gun Etiquette tour, so they were promoting that, but this time nothing to promote, just a bunch of aging punks playing to an audience of aging punks.

Included amongst the classics were Alone Again Or, General and Rabid, all of which I never expected to gear live. As usual the band is on form and the pantomime banter punctuates the set list with the obligiatory 'Sensibles a wanker' being chanted whenever possible.

The Damned never fail in their ability to entertain. They may not be the best band in the world (possibly in my top 10), but for sheer entertainment, they are up there with the best of them.