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Lee's Palace, Toronto, Canada
16th October 2001
The night that I'd been looking forward to for months had finally arrived so I made sure I got there in good time to secure a prime vantage point for the evening - essentially half-way between the bar and the stage. After pledging my allegiance by buying a t-shirt and a highly-coveted badge, I prepared for the night's events to unfold with Stephanie, my partner in crime that evening.
Openers the Swinging Utters put on a fine show I thought...and it was evident that there were plenty of folks already there specifically to see them. The pair of songs they performed with accordian during the set were my favourites. By the time they finished the place was starting to get a tad on the warm side and the club was mighty full, what with many of the Damned fans showing up just in the nick...
At 11:30 the band took the stage to cheers and whistles and they all looked marvellous (I thought Patricia's little horns were the bee's knees). By then I'd had a few beverages and I was ready for the works...thus I was happy as a proverbial clam when they started off by kicking into "Democracy", one of my favourites on the new disc... followed immediately by "New Rose". At this point I grabbed my camera and waded into the crowd in front of the stage and before I knew what was happening, Captain had his guitar off and had disappeared into the "dressing room" offstage...some unsavoury business down front of the stage involving a broken beer bottle, I believe, had upset him enough to stop the show three songs in.
After a bit of a clean-up job out front and some coaxing backstage from the esteemed Mr. Vanian, Captain reappeared much to the delight of the crowd and things quickly got back on the good foot. I think our favourite guitarist was just concerned for the crowds within close proximity of so many glass bottles everywhere. Good on him, I say...a man of the people, Captain is.
As
for the rest of the set that followed, it was a healthy and rollicking mixture
of tracks from Grave Disorder and older nuggets from the band's vast
collection of great songs. Personal favourites of the night included "Thrill
Kill" and "Absinthe", with its glorious musical
build up and Dave's bold vocal delivery. As for older tracks, "13th
Floor Vendetta" was a standout for me along with the night's closer,
"Smash It Up", with Pinch doing just that with his drumkit...eventually
holding the floor tom over his head as if to toss it into the crowd, I half-expected
him to do it!...and Pinch wasn't the only one to abuse his equipment that
night. At some point during a song (can't remember exactly when, I'm afraid
- the beer was taking hold by then) Captain backed into his trusty Marshall
speakers and over it went. With a little "whoops" of acknowledgement
from Mr. Vanian, Captain valiantly contined playing as a member of the crew
(Tim?) struggled to reassemble the speakers - just in time for the guitar
solo, if I'm not mistaken. Good one, Cap!
Were there songs I'd wished they'd played? Certainly, as I'm sure most people would agree, but ya can't have everything. "Curtain Call" would've made my night perfect, but I'm not complaining. It was a sublime evening for me...the band all looked great and played even better (although I thought Monty's keys were somewhat lost in the mix). The only complaint I heard from my cohorts that evening was that maybe the set was a tad too short. But that's the beauty of a Damned show...they'll always leave you wanting more!
- Seanny Boy Ryan
