Fangbase - Reviews

The Empire, Belfast

Saturday 7th December 2002

And so the Damned road show rolled into town again for a show at a packed Empire.

Last time it was only half filled. This time after the criticism for playing a punk greatest hits comp twice on their previous visit they actually had two support bands.

First band on were The Things who were musically steeped in the sixties but were a very tight unit. Local rockabilly kings the Sabrejets were up next, fronted by Brian Young - ex Rudi. The band tore through a set of hard rockin originals with a couple of greased up covers of Johnny Thunders "Lil bit of whore" and the Ramones "Blitzkrieg bop" . Though Youngsy was clearly pissed off at some people in the audience calling for Rudi songs . No one in the place would have been more delighted than me to hear a Rudi classic but at the end of the day the Sabrejets are where he's at now and you have to respect that and they are a very good band and they put on an excellent show and I'm sure the audience would agree.

On came the Damned. The band performed their usual high energy chaotic show Neat Neat Neat, Love Song, New Rose - one classic after another. On the stage right we had the Captain dressed in regulation berret and shades a kilt which he frequently lifted and a 'Don't bomb Iraq' t shirt, stage left Patricia Morrison was looking gothicly good laying down some thundering bass which last time was bearly audiable and seemingly in a world of her own . Dave Vanian can surely lay claim to being one of the coolest men in punk the guy just looked great as he prowled the stage with the gold Elvis mic and black leather gloves and sounding great.

But it was during the encore of "Smash it up" that things on stage turned nasty . The Captain by now was virtually naked except for a leopard skin thong and showing his spotty arse to the audience which we had already become immune to anyway as we had seen it so many times, not a pretty sight.

Punkyjoe

Another...

Must say, they were on top form last night. Dave Vanian is very much still the man. Like a devilish incarnation of a lounge lizard. The Captain even dedicated 'Ignite' to the firefighters. He spent the night wearing a 'Don't Bomb Iraq' T-shirt... until the encore where, in fine Sensible tradition, he stripped to nowt but his beret, specs and a frighteningly skinny g-string.

Sound was a little too loud to hear at times. I think for such future gigs I'm going to invest in some earplugs to filter the excess. Well worth the £12.50. Support was by The Tongues & The Sabrejets... both local bands I think. The first group where a fairly nice classic 60s style rockout group. Very young. Lead singer stole his facial hair from supergrass and his dance from Ian Curtis. Second lot played great psychobilly/rockabilly with a standup bass. Frontman with a impressive quiff. Of course as usual when I'm at a gig I found very few people even willing to give the support much support.

I picked up a copy of the new album [Grave Disorder] while I was there. Gorgeous exotic goth-chick was manning the merchandise table which had a poster sellotaped onto it advertising the album for a tenner along with a disclaimer firmly stating that the album was a tenner not the poster or the table. A fine album, classic darkly humourous rock and of course The classic Damned with the mark of Captain Sensibles humour all over it and the first to do so in 20 years. Also of course featuring the new Damned bassist Patricia Morrison (also the new Mrs Dave Vanian and a survivor of Baron Eldritch's tyranny).

Vehemently recommended if you are even remotely into this sort of business.

PRAEst76

And another...

The Damned Never Fail to come up with the goods and tonight was no exception..FANTASTIC !!!!!

After Dublin the night before, the Damned were so fresh looking and sounding I found it amazing!! Where do they get their energy, guess it's because they love what they do and we love them for it.

The support bands have already been mentioned in previous reviews here which just leaves me to say, I thought they were pretty good and enjoyed the sound they made.

Sorry,no setlist this time :o(

Stand out moments which stuck in my mind were as follows:

-Captain playing his guitar with a beer can
-Patricia's bass must have become un-plugged. She ended up sitting on the floor laughing whilst a guy was trying to sort of the problem, what a great smile :o)
-Patricia sitting at the front of the stage right infront of me playing her bass. She looked like she had an absolute ball really enjoying herself.
-Dave was incredibily sexy, I kid you not...I felt like I was melting just looking at him....and it wasn't from the heat either!!!..lucky Pat mmmm
-The speed Captain stripped off at the end..lol
-Getting to hear the amazing AMEN again

My highlight of the night was Dave coming over to me with his mike to squeal Neat Neat Neat into it. Some guy beside me grabbed it and pulled it away, Dave pulled it back and came back to me for the next shout of NNN ..Wot a Guy!!!!!...Cheers Dave :o)

An absolute blinder of a gig, but then again the Damned always put on a fantastic show...keep on doing what your doing......coz you do it so well :o)

Guess it's back to the records'n'video's now whilst awaiting the next gigs...don't make it to long guys eh !

Eternally Damned
Georgie (Mistress of Disorder)

Thanks to Punkyjoe for the main photo!