Fangbase - Reviews

Metro, Chicago, IL

12th October 2001

Talk about a late show...doors didn't open till well after midnight. I gave Swingin Utters a miss...to busy pouring a beer or two down my neck and going about the work of getting my Grave Disorder vinyl signed by all. I carried that damn record sleeve around all night so I wasn't about to leave with it un-scribbled upon.

Luck was with me (and a helpful roadie) and the mission was accomplished along with brief chats with all except Monty. (shame that) but I digress...

The Damned took the stage at about 1:30 A.M. and kicked into Democracy. They sounded great and looked like they were having fun. Captain must've accidentally kicked his guitar cable out 3
times over the course of the evening (oops!) and was very amusing with the
between song banter.

Someone threw a cup of ice at Pinch and pissed him off. He got out from behindthe drums after the song and tried to get the culprit to come forward and get a punch in the face or a kick in the nose or some other unpleasant fate, but whoever did it wisely stayed clear of the stage.

 

 

The set was most of GD (all but W, Till The End Of Time, Beauty Of The
Beast, Obscene or Lookin For Action) plus old classics New Rose, Wait For
The Blackout, Eloise, 13th Floor Vendetta, and Neat Neat Neat. For
encores we got She, Love Song, Disco Man, and Smash It Up....ending with
Dave yanking Captain's tu-tu down treating us to his bare ass. Lovely.

Overall the crowd was fairly mellow during the new songs but there was much applause after each one. The young punks went apeshit for the old classics (of course) although some were probably not into the other stuff very much. It was a marked improvement over the last Chicago show and I can't wait until the next one!

Ken The Great

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

Another....

The show started a bit late for an old guy who drove 200 miles after work, but was well worth the coma I was in the next day. They could have saved some time by skipping the Swinging Utters-I was definitely lactose intolerant towards them.

 

The place was at or near capacity which is quite a switch from my experience at other venues in recent years. There was an opening on the main floor that started due to slam-dancing and ended up drunken brawl during the Utters. Security finally stepped in checking I.D. and tossing a few. I watched the entire show from the relative safety of the balcony which was a great vantage point. If the beer hadn't been so expensive,you could almost have spilled it on the stage from there.

The Damned played a great show even though I'm still hoping to hear "Drinking About My Baby" live some day. Lots of tunes from Grave Disorder which I love and was the overriding reason I came so far to see them. Captain seemed a bit subdued in the early going, but ended up in a tutu and wig at the end all the same. Dave was jazzed and appeared to be enjoying it all as did Mrs. Vanian, smiling and dancing about all night. The ever frenetic Monty looked as though he might spontaneously combust at one point-I'd say he had a good time. Other than the ice incident when Pinch wanted to kick someone's ass, he played a tight thundering set. I'm hoping for more albums and more shows-hopefully the early show next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-----Skip Oyler

 


 

 

 

 

Dresden from Detroit, and Hiwatt33 with friends

A big thanks to Dresden for these photos!!