Northampton, Roadmenders

Friday 19th December 2003

It was the second time in one year that I had been to see The Damned and might I just say these guys never grow old.

As usual it was a sell out show with fans new and old cheering with anticipation. The support band 4ft Fingers were brilliant but at the end of the day The Damned were who we had paid to see.

The lights went down and Pinch stepped on stage, followed by the lovelly Patricia. Finally out came the Captain sporting his usual fashion sense that we all know and love, followed by David.

As the first song rang out into the crowded dance floor beer glases and hands flew into the air. Disco Man, I just Can't Be Happy Today and Democracy were played to their finest. After a vast array of songs new and old, it was time for the classics. Dave announced those famous lines "Just for you....heres a love song" The thundering bass line of Love Song ripped through the night and absolutley every one jumped of their feet.

Towards the end of the gig the Damned summed up all what they were about. New Rose, Eloise and Looking at You by the MC5 were blaering out of the marshal amps.

For the encore the Captain did his little song for xmas. 'Eres Your Xmas' followed by the whole band coming out to perform the all time classic Smash it up. Over a hundred voices shouted out "oooh smash it up" in glorious splender. The "mosh briade" as you could call them, made their presence felt and the whole crowd just bassicly whent f*^/~#ng mad.

The Damned, for me have never been a let down and they proved tonight that they never will be. Ok so I wasn't even born when they realeased their debut album, but then who cares? The great thing about The Damned is that they bloody well rule the current punk sceene.

Untill next time, merry xmas every one. and oh yeah Captain ..buy your'e own bloody drinks.

JaY

Another...

Made it to this one completely without incident! Blimey was it crowded - I shouldn't think another person could have squeezed in. It must have been sold out.

4ft Fingers were the support here too, and I'm think becoming a bit of a fan of theirs. Nice tight, fast and loud songs and pretty entertaining all round.

The Damned's set list was again the same as the other gigs I attended this time round, but with an extra encore (Looking At You) and instead of Happy Talk we had the Captain and inflatable Santa doing a version of the Punk Aid Christmas single. During Captain's turn, members of both 4ft Fingers and The Damned (including Dave who I've always thought tends to make himself scarce at such moments) looked on from the side of the stage in a kind of bemused admiration. "You wouldn't catch Eric Clapton doing that" said Captain as he finished his performance. Captain does a fine Iain Anderson (of Jethro Tull) impression too.

You don't really need me to tell you that the earlier part of the set was played at full bore and was highly entertaining or that the encore numbers alone were worth the ticket price. Think the highlight of this one was the enthusiasm of this crowd - Pinch made a point of congratulating them. During the tremendous Smash It Up at the end, the pogoing seemed to spread out from the front (where some serious bouncing around was going on) right through the crowd. Even I had a gentle bounce around.

Quote of the gig (Sensible and Vanian have the makings of a comedy double act when they give up the day job!):

Crowd: Sensible's a Wanker

Captain: You wouldn't say that to Paul Weller

Dave: I would!

Pinch can do the jokes too "we've played Torquay. You know Torquay, Torquay Happy Talk"

Froggy

		Thanks to Nitegirrl69 for these photos!