Fangbase - Reviews

Hertford Castle, Hertford

Saturday 17th May 2003

This was just a superb night from start to finish (maybe the real ale pub down the road helped with that?? Cheers to the Old Cross!!).

The band were excellent tonight, and it was great to see that everyone was enjoying it, none more so than the Captain. He was well up for it, and I thought he played a blinder!

The highlight for me was, without doubt, getting dragged up on stage by the Captain, and then him letting me have a thrash on his guitar in Smash It Up (cheers mate!!)……apologies to the five hundred people who very quickly realised that I can't play, especially when I'm totally bolloxed on Brewer's Gold!! What a great night though…..when can you come back??

ROCK AND ROLL!! This must be the best gig ever in Castle Hall….we normally get lumbered with Pam Ayres, Fred Dibner or some 'sixities' tribute band! Let's hope this gets a few more decent bands to head on down into our town....we may be surrounded by old Tories in four wheel drives, but we can still mosh with the best of 'em!!

Cheers boys and girls…until the next time….

Steve….'Hertford's Very Own Rock God' (well for 5 minutes anyway!)

Another...

Hertford Castle Hall? An unusual venue for the Damned, to say the least. Was this really where the battle for the hearts and minds of new fans would be fought? Looking through the venue's event listing showed Chas 'N' Dave, Sir Patrick Moore and Spud Pirate and the Very Hungry Crocodile, so was this a gamble too far by the Damned? Even Captain hinted at such a fear when he said that the last gig here was Motorhead about twenty years ago before dedicating "Just Can't be Happy" to the Leader of the Council when he saw the trashed venue!

However, this was a gamble that worked big style; The place was heaving by the time the Damned took to the stage after the seriously good Teasing Lulu. There were new fans, old fans and one or two much older couples who looked like they had thought "The Damned" was an obscure work by Gilbert and Sullivan!

And what a storming gig this was; Opening with Disco Man set the place going and there was some top quality moshing at the front. The set included (in no particular order), Street of Dreams, Song.Com, Democracy, Would You Be So Hot, Looking at You, Neat Neat Neat, New Rose, Amen, Eloise, Plan 9, Just Can't Be Happy, 13th Floor Vendetta, History of the World and Smash It Up (and probably one or two I've missed). All of this was delivered with tightness and precision, though Monty did miss his cue on Eloise. We'll forgive that though; it's the end of a long tour! High point for me was Neat Neat Neat, with a cool Doors bit in the middle, and Looking at You which is always a belter live. Not sure about History of the World as a live track; it was done well and it was good to have something different, but to me it didn't "cut it".

There was the usual good natured bantering with the crowd and a bloody good atmosphere all round. It felt to me that the band were trying to include new fans who might be there, which is a good thing as some long lived band's gigs can feel a bit like an old boy's club. The sound was also pretty good but those speaker stacks were wobbling a bit too much for my liking!

This was the Damned at their best, it really is difficult to see how they can keep getting better, but somehow they do. Playing this venue must have taken a bit of courage as it so easily could have been a flop, but it worked so there you go! This band deserve a good record deal NOW!

Sniper