The Damned
I love The Damned. It hasn’t always been this way. I only saw them live for the first time in 2011, but it was that first eye opening live experience that turned me from casual admirer into a proper fan. I’ve seen them twice since, most memorably earlier this year at their 40th anniversary show at the Albert Hall which sits comfortably in my top 10 best gigs. Even with these high standards to live up to I never doubted for a second that the Damned would deliver at a sold out Waterfront.
Ipswich punk band Smart Alex were the support and they were – alright. Punk by numbers, the kind of band I see first on the bill at the Owl Sanctuary all the time, nothing special. I’d far rather see a young band being given the chance to support though. Shortly before eight the lights went down, and The Damned launched into a full rendition of Damned Damned Damned, their classic debut album. The band of firsts – the first punk band to release a single, the first to release an album and the first to tour America, hearing this album in its entirety showed exactly why they were leaders. It’s a fantastic thirty minutes of garage rock infused punk. Any gig that begins with Neat Neat Neat (best chorus ever), features New Rose (the song that started it all) and squeezes in a Stooges cover with I Feel Alright within its first half an hour can’t fail to be anything other than brilliant. Worth noting too that Captain Sensible was ‘only’ the bass player on this album. There are no keyboards on the record so crazed keyboardist Monty Oxymoron simply danced behind his gear like a loon and helped out on backing vocals.
For the next ninety minutes the Damned showed exactly what makes them so special. As a live band they are up there with the best I have ever seen. Captain Sensible may be the cartoon face of the band, but strip away the beret and the plastic shades and you will find an incredible guitar player, his Gibson SG an extension of himself. Dave Vanian is beyond cool, dressed to impress as ever, his voice is what has always made the band stand out from the pack. The cliché of the punk shouter couldn’t be further from the truth, his rich baritone still sounding as impressive as ever. There was a shout out to Rik Mayall before Nasty, the song they performed on The Young Ones, and former bassist Paul Gray also got a nod.
The crowd were animated and completely into it right from the start, the good natured mosh pit never letting up with beer everywhere, just as it should be. The classics kept on coming – their version of White Rabbit was a highlight and Melody Lee was another. When the Captain announced they had one more song I hoped we would get the full fifteen minute rendition of Curtain Call but sadly not this time, and at 11pm the two hour show came to an end.
Sure, this was a night where we were looking backwards, but The Damned showed that they are unique. So much more than merely a punk band, whatever that means. They are brilliant songwriters and superb performers. Despite the length of the set there were still many songs I wished they’d have played. So great too to get selections off the Black Album and Strawberries, those oddly overlooked mid period classics.
With a new album finally on the way, it will be nice to see the band looking forward again, but for the time being who could deny these originators the right to celebrate their 40th anniversary in such style?
