Fangbase - Reviews

Holidays In The Sun punk festival,

Morecambe

Friday 20th June 2003

By hook or by crook, I decided to go to this gig. As luck would have it, Anti Pope Davis had a spare ticket which was brilliant.

As a relatively young Damned fan, it was superb to get the chance to see the other bands, who I had heard so much about, but never had seen play, like for example the UK Subs. It felt rather like a History lesson, and I felt I should really have been taking notes or something the whole way through!

When we arrived, the place was awashed with Punks as you'd expect. APD said it was like going back in time. The locals in Morecombe didnt really bat an eyelid though throughout the whole time we were there, and the punks seemed to be acting more like hippies, with their lazing out in the sun and drinking cans of beer.

The fans at the gigs seemed to be either religious followers of certain bands who all knew each other from gigs like the Damned message board people, or those who just generally liked punk bands and were there to watch them all. There was obviously a bit of rivalry between the bands followers, and it was interesting to see the reaction from other fans when you mention that you were a Damned fan. It was either enthusiatic agreement or mild frowns. Our fans certainly didnt disappoint in the fashion stakes, and it was easy to spot the Damned fans if you looked closely enough. We were the ones with original clothes, whereas the other fan groups seemed to all be wearing outfits that you would stand no chance of getting through security at heathrow with, and lots of Mohicans etc. Saddamned Insane was wearing full tucks, CC a Mambo beach wear ensemble, Ellie had a Harry Potter T-shirt with Andy Pandy style hot pants and I had a bright yellow Elvis T-shirt with Burger King logo, until I got changed later and did a Cher! So we all did stand out quite a bit (and made the effort folks!)

I got talking to a young female Subs fan at the bar, complete with pink Mohican and anarchy T-shirt which clashed with her zits. I tried to convince her how great the Damned were, but she was a little unconvinced, and vice versa with me and the Subs. So we both put our pride on the line for the sake of our bands. Anti Pope and I only caught the end of the Subs, but I did think they were pretty good and the singer was at the bar for a while, so that kind of made me think they were quite decent too. Miss Pink Mohican was busy telling me how it would be the best set of the night, and I let her run for a while and told her that I thought the Subs had been quite good but wouldnt be better then the Damned, because I knew our boys would steal the show when they took the stage.

Some band with a female singer took the stage next, and well to be blunt, I thought they were rubbish. The singer had a lot to say, but nothing really worth hearing.

Then a period of Vodka and Red Bull took place and MB people were getting more and more legless and infantile ha ha. Everyone seemed to be having fun. Roll call I think was CC and Ellie, GDB, Woody and Vicki, Julian, his mates Paul and erm (cant remember the other guys name?), Wayne, Anti Pope, Saddamned and Mrs Insane, and im bound to forget a few people! The venue was like a big barn, with a stage at one end, and a bar at the other, which made the rubbish bands feel even more rubbish, as everyone jammed up by the bar when they didnt want to watch them.

The next band I can remember seeing (as was somewhere close to out of my mind) were the Addicts. Had never seen or heard of them before, but like a sheep ran down to the front when I noticed the crowd was swelling. When the Clockwork Orange them tune started up the crowd went wild. Several drooges came onstage and I was really excited because its one of my favourite films.

Then the singer Monkey careered onto stage and gave it everything. I was gobsmacked from the word go. He reminded me of a youthful Jagger the way he moved and pranced around, but his Clockwork Alex/Joker outfit was very cool. Definately a very disturbing guy in a supercool way, although as I am biased, not as cool as Captain and DV! :o) Have half a plastic bowler hat from the assortment of things chucked out from stage, including confetti and beach balls. But must have had three pints of ale tipped over my head and it stank! Had to get out of the mosh pit before I completely messed up my hair (how lame) so turned to move out. A huge ape of a Punk was in my path as I was groping to get out, he simply said, "If you can't handle the mosh pit, you shouldnt fooking be down here...." (GDB would extend those sentiments to kids too which I have to agree with lol) but I explained about my hair, and the Damned and he smirked, "Hmm Damned fan.." as if to imply we are not hard-core, how dare he!!!!! I really enjoyed the rest of the set from near the bar and noticed a lot of people singing along, and the mosh pit looked pretty wild. Really would love to see them again, as was very taken with their performance, but this wasnt the highlight of the night yet...

The Damned came onstage at around 1am, very late, but an expectant and huge crowd had stayed behind to see them and crammed forward to the front. It was quite quiet as the Damned came onstage as the punks looked suspiciously at the group of rather attractive, and no way near beat up looking band as they made their entrance to the usual dramatic background music. The ape who had barred my way in the mosh pit tapped me on the shoulder and said, "I wouldnt expect to stay dry during this set either love..." with a smirk on his face, and I didnt at all thanks to Anti Pope and a pint of lager swaying above mine and Ellie's head throughout most of it (sorry pal! lol). All the MB people were stood in front of Pat and we were willing the band to wow the crowds but there was a bit of an initial murmering and quietness as the band suspiciously eyed the crowd, and the crowd suspiciously eyed the band. It was a bit like the relationship between Tony Blair and the Labour Party. They can be very proud of him and his success when they want to be, but underneath it all realise he's not REALLY one of them in the strictest sense.

However, as soon as Dave launched into Disco Man, the crowd erupted and the master DV held them in the palm of his hand for the rest of the set. With the Addicts there was a pretty consistant level of moshing and noise from the audience, but with the Damned, the early suspicion gave way and the crowd seemed to get louder and louder, and grow and bulge like a snowball gathering momentum. Dave had a half-smile on his face throughout the whole gig, which seemed to show that he knew something we didnt (but lets face it, he probably knows a lot we dont anyway lol). Looking very much like the latest male stereotype, the 'Metrosexual man' he was wearing a clinging black T-shirt, perfectly fitted black trousers, stylish well kept hair, not an ounce of fat on him, and some rather expensive looking shades. Not really like the other performers and it would be interesting to know what the other punks thought of him. However they seemed to be led along by our DV the Pied Piper quite happily through the set, and were screaming the lyrics with as much joy as they did throughout the Addicts.

Captain was back in his beret and looked over his dark glasses watchfully at the crowd. Never really affected by any abuse by the fans, he seemed quite keen to see what they would throw his way. The mischievious bright blue eyes looked expectantly into the mass crowd for any snipers chancing their arm, but it never really came his way, apart from a little mild chant of "Sensible's a....." (you know the rest!) An ear to ear grin spread over his face as he took in the culprits, and cheekily replied, "Oh.....I havent heard that before..." and winked. This seemed to temperarily dumb the crowd, as they were not up to his level of banter and didnt really have much else to chant. (Not as clever as us Damned fans eh?) But the noise came back when the next song started up, and the crowds just listened to the brilliance of Captain's guitar playing with obvious joy. During Ignite I thought about the Pink Mohican Subs fan and thought, "Nah na na na na....bet you dont have a guitar player who can play like that!" Cap briefly mentioned the great guitar players the Damned have had, but omitted to put himself on the list. When will he realise what a genius he is?

Pat looked her usual stunning self, and it was charming to see her playing so well and making a real effort so late at night, she really worked hard and sounded great. So was a pleasure to watch, and I watched her closely, as hadnt really been that side of the stage since way back at
Cambridge.

But what made me laugh the most was Monty, he really let rip just before Democracy and went to the front of the stage and really went mad in front of all the punks - a great moment! They just stared back unbelievably shaken. Ok........a bloke in Clockwork Orange costume and Joker face paint didnt make them bat an eyelid, but our Monty sure scared the shit out of them. Well done Monty!

The set was made up of a lot of fast songs, and although it didnt match Manchester for the best set ive seen, The Damned were still the best band by a mile. Great performance. Didnt see the young girl with the Pink Mohican who was a Subs fan on the way out, but I knew who had won the battle of the bands. The boys and girls made me feel very proud on Friday night, and so much so, I bowled out of the venue with as much arrogance as Liam Gallagher on a coke binge. It was so nice to hear all the comments from the more hardcore element of punks talking about the band as I was leaving too. And I had to look over when the crowd went apeshit during Eloise. Perhaps the punks were too pissed to realise what song it was, but they went bonkers :o) (Whoever left it in the set wasnt without a sense of humour, perhaps that's what DV was grinning about all along? ;o)

A very happy, needing a Damned helpline for my withdrawal, Nightgirrl!