Fangbase - Reviews

Great American Music Hall, San Fransisco, CA

26th September 2001

Ok so I saw The Damned.. and they were amazing.

Let me start by saying that the whole band had great stage presence! Dave was in top form.. very very theatrical. Patricia was soooo adorable.. she had on glow in the dark green devil horns, and a really sexy black dress / corset thingy. The Captain was wearing a Leopard skin jacket, and had his hair bleached out. They were all very fun loving, and carefree through the whole show.

They started off the night with "Democracy" and the crowd went nuts.. a pit started forming halfway through the song. Those who weren't pitting were pogoing. I was right on the edge of the pit, but since I'm getting over a nasty cold/flu I tried to stay out of it (not to mention the floor was covered in beer, from the opening band.. and most of the people that were in that pit were idiots, who didn't know how to pit correctly). Next was "Song.com" and it sounded great live.

Then the first of many classic Damned tracks... "New Rose" This was amazing!! They played it just like the origional, and the pit just got insane at that point.

After that they played a bunch of material off of the new album, which all sounded incredible.. especially "Absinthe" because they bathed the stage in Green Light. Some other classic tracks they played were "13th Floor Vendetta", "Wait for the Blackout" (which was done really well), "Love Song" (which also sounded exactly like the origional version. They ended the night with "Neat Neat Neat" and "Smash it Up Parts 1 & 2".

The highlight for me however was "Eloise"!!!!! It's one of my favorite (if not my favorite) tracks by them... and they did it so beautifully... It was extended as well. With a nice long break in the middle, Dave had such incredible emotion and power during that song! I can't express how great it was of them to pick that track from the many, many others they have in their back catalouge.

When they came out for the Encore the Captain had changed into a Pink Tutu, Pink bob wig, converse, and a Spiked dog collar. He gave the audience a farewell mooning when he was done molesting his guitar after Smash it Up.

The only thing that bothered me was some of the crowd kept calling Dave a fag, and telling them to play "Punk Rock". They also kept trying to climb over everyone to get on the stage. Most of the time I was spending protecting my girlfreind from the assholes in the crowd. We could tell that Dave and the Captain were getting pretty annoyed by some of the audience. Oh well I hope that doesn't discourage them from coming back here again?

Other than that it was an awesome night, and to put it simply.. The Damned are back, and they're back with a vengence!!

DJ Rick A. Mortis
(House of Voodoo)

Another...

Well, what can I say? Last time i saw the Damned was on their "Farewell" tour in 1989 where they wheeled out all the old geezers "for one final time". We all know how farewell tours are rarely final.

Well first off, it was great to see Captain back in fine form. Not as many insults as the past though.

The set was o.k. - I do like the new album, but us old fuckers want to hear the old songs, and as I drove from Reno, NV, I definately deserve it. Id love to hear some stuff from "Strawberries" which is a way underrated LP or more stuff from "Machine Gun Etiquette". After all, with the keyboard player you could do "Melody Lee" or "Plan 9". Still, Dave looks and sounds great and the band is very tight. Liked it but still cant compare to the other 4 or 5 times I saw them.

Mike Ward