Fangbase - Reviews

Rock Café 2000, Stourbridge

Friday 18th July 2003

A really good gig...

...everyone covered in beer or sweat including the keyboards, not at all happy was he?!

Glad they played Curtain Call my fav and "the internet song" for my daughter Leanne 10, who sat on stage.

Thanks to the Captain for saying Hi to Leanne even though she told him his pants looked stupid!

Cheers. Mandy

Ps Dave looks fitter each time I see him!

Another...

When I went to the Bilston gig in May, I had assumed it would be the last time I would see the Damned until the autumn. Imagine my delight then when it was announced on the website that they would be playing Stourbridge before jetting off to the States.

This is the third time that I had been to the Rock Cafe so I was well prepared for the evening and turned up in shorts and a t-shirt as I knew it was going to be roasting. When I got there most people were milling about outside having a drink. I'm not sure how many came in to watch the support but those that did were well rewarded as the Bleeding Hearts were excellent and worth the admission money themselves.

By the time the Damned came on well after 10 the place was packed and steamy and they started with a rousing version of Ignite followed by a welcome return of Wait For The Blackout.

They dedicated the set to Adam Ant following "The Madness of Prince Charming" programme on Channel 4 the night before and in a number of songs during the evening Pinch broke into a few bars of Ant Music. Of course there was plenty of opportunity for banter with the crowd as the older members of the band (well Captain really) needed a rest between songs because of the heat.

The gig continued with I Just Can't Be Happy Today and then the now familiar combination of Amen followed by 13th Floor Vendetta. There were a few technical problems when Patricia's amp went during 13th Floor and Dave seemed to be having problems hearing himself although we could hear him fine. His singing was spot on as usual helped, I am sure, by generous helpings of port - for medicinal purposes only I assume!

Plan 9, Channel 7 was followed by New Rose, by this point sweat had stopped dripping off people and was now pouring. Song.com was next and one of only four songs off the Grave Disorder album (must be three years since I hadn't heard Democracy at a gig although the support did their own song of the same title).

The excellent Street of Dreams was then followed by the appropriate So Hot. It was at this point that some idiot decided to throw a full pint (of what I'm not sure) onto the stage most of which went all over Monty's keyboard. Poor old Monty, who was having such a good time til then, had a complete sense of humour failure understandably and stormed off. It took some towelling down off the keyboard and some soothing words from DV to get him back in time to do She.

We then had a nice chill out during Curtain Call before the band left the stage for the first time after an excellent extended version of Neat Neat Neat. When the band returned, Pinch had discarded his T-shirt, and Captain had discarded everything apart from a blue thong with white stars.

We then got the choice between See Her Tonite and Born To Kill with See Her Tonite coming out on top. The final three were History of the World - now rightly elevated to encore status following its success on the recent tour - and the customary Eloise and Smash It Up. By the end everyone was absolutely knackered although Captain still had enough energy to be jumping up and down during Smash It Up.

All in all another excellent steamy night in Stourbridge and a great send off for the band as they head over the pond. Hope all goes well over there and that we can look forward to more of the same in the autumn.

Paul N

Another...

Well, this must have been the largest turnout of message boarders that has assembled in one place. There was at least 35, but I'm not going to name them all here because I'll miss somebody out (bound to). Anyway you know who you all are.

So having not seen the Damned since Morecambe In June, myself and Neil (Fellow Damned botherer) Set of from sunny Lancashire about 5.30pm after previously arranging to go early to avoid the rush hour traffic.......After getting stuck, in the rush hour traffic, we finally landed in Stourbridge about 8ish. Not knowing the area we contacted Mr Anti Door Davis who is a local of these parts, and met at the designated pub. After meeting a number of the afore said MBers and relieving the grateful landlord of some of his lager, we duly adjourned to the venue.

Bit of a strange old set up, the gig was in an industrial park. Maybe they wanted to keep us lot out of town, well we'd all be wanting to 'Smash thing's up' after the gig, after listening to Smash It Up. Looks were a bit deceiving as inside it just seamed like an ordinary pub, although like a pub in Borneo, the heat was intense.

By this time, the support band was already half way through their set. Don't know the name of them (See above - Ed.), but they reminded me a bit of the Levellers as they had a violin player and some other strange sounding thing's.

After a suitable number of refreshments, and plenty of ear bending on my part our heros finally appeared on the stage. The usual shouts and cheers heralded the evenings entertainment.

The set was opened by Ignite, which wasted no time in getting the place bouncing. By the time the opening bars of Wait For The Blackout, the happy dancers were in full flow. Blackout, Hummm.. a welcome return. The first Grave Disorder track of the night was Amen. Then it was back to the Black Album for 13th Floor. Moving on up to number 5 spot was I Just Can't Be Happy Today. Followed by our old fave Plan 9 (from outer space) which sounded great as always. the pace now quickened as they blistered on through New Rose, Song.com, Street of Dreams and She. Next came for me, the highlight of the evening. With another welcome return, Curtain Call, don't think I've heard that live since the days of Roman Jugg and Bryn Merrick. By this point the Happy Damned Dancers were going berserk all singing along, which carried on through Neat (Break O Through) Neat to the end of the main set.

During the encore's I spent most of the time at the bar hanging on for grim death just singing along. The first treat was from way back pop pickers, See her tonight. History of the World followed, this in my mind has become the hit of this years gigs, the band could stop playing the song, cause at every gig its been played, the audience nearly drowns out the band.

Eloise was next, then we had a sort of tribute to Adam Ant - Antmusic, as the guys been very ill I think the band wanted to wish him well. Smash it Up brought up the rear as it has on most of tour.

After the gig, the Mboarders present all assembled for a group photo. During our shoot, Captain seemed to come out of the wood work and landed right in the middle of party - top chap.

Certainly one of the best gigs of the year for me. Good sound, good company, great playing. Meeting members of the band at the end, Brilliant.

Thanks to Kevin for the set order and Neil for the Lift, and all you crazy Damned obsessed manics.

Saddamned Insane

Thanks to Al Fiendish for the above photos!

Stourbridge Gallery