Fangbase - Reviews

Penningtons - Bradford

13th June 2001

Made my way to Penningtons (instead of the almost customary Rio's) and was confronted by an impressive venue. Quite large inside with a decent sized stage. Backdrop in place the signs were good. Except the keyboards didn't work. At all. No sound, nothing. Even the display was blank. Monty naturally unhappy and a hastily found substitute had to be found - quickly. Not ideal but the show must go on. It was decided that 3 planned songs couldn't be performed on the substitute keyboard- 'Absinthe', 'Thrill Kill' and '13th Floor Vendetta'. "Eloise' was an 'only just'. Curse of The Damned still with us then. Right! Or was it the curse of the airline...

Support for the evening was a band called 'Slutch' formed by ex-UK Subs bassist Brian Barnes, except for this band he plays guitar... and sings lead vocals. The full line up being dual guitars, bass and drums. I thought the first track started like the first 15 seconds of Subs 'CID'. Slutch, sometimes aggressive, sometimes melodic and you could buy their CD for a measly fiver at the merch stand. What more do you want. Try the web site: http://www.slutch.co.uk if you want to find out more.

Onto The Damned. The chime of Big Ben rang out and the it was announced that we were witnessing grave disorder. 'Democracy' the opener, got everyone going, I noticed Captain was using a new amp rig - the impressive Line 6 glowing away at the back. Patricia had rested her faithful Jazz/Precision bass and was using a Yamaha, presumably the same one that she used in the studio for the new album. That's enough of the techno wibble. Pinch, who I must say gets better every time I see him was pounding away at the back, that shock of pink ('It's RED'- Pinch) hair making his presence more visible. He plays the old faves with a certain feel and power pretty faithful to the originals, no mean feat. The new tracks are just as good. Dave was everywhere and Monty at first was having problems with the new keys. It took a couple of tracks to iron out the keyboard problems but as soon as they did, he was soon jumping around like a good 'un!

The repertoire included 'Song.com' from the new album, definitely single material. The band were enjoying themselves, and Captain was having a laugh with the well behaved crowd. Highlights of the evening included 'Eloise' with the band filling out the first missing keyboard parts with a bit of tongue in cheek ad lib. 'Curtain Call', 'Disco Man' and 'I Just Can't Be Happy Today' were also personal faves of the night. A bit of crowd participation ensued with guest vocalists attempting to deliver a couple of verses. Very good too I might add! The second 'vocalist' had a baseball cap and seemed to deliver the vocals almost Eminem style - putting the 'Yo' into The Damned, most enjoyable to witness. Strangely (and perhaps worryingly!) it seemed to work.

'I Feel Alright' got an airing along with the singles 'New Rose', 'Love Song', Smash It Up' and the impressive 'Shadow of Love'.

Special mention of the evening goes to Jack with his home made 'Damned - Official Web Presence' T-Shirt.

'Buy the new record' says Captain 'We need the money!'.

Buy the record anyway, it's great. I heard the final mixed album that night and it's AWESOME.

Mark Orbit

Another......

Well, what can i say except last night's gig in Bradford was awesome , first
time i have seen the boys live for a while (last time a couple of years ago
in sunny Cleethorpes) Good to see the Capt and Mr Vanian back in action ,
looking forward to getting the new album when it comes out , keep up the good
work .

P.S. when you coming back to my home city of Hull (remember
Dingwalls 81,82 )

ta ta for now

Dave Buttle