Project Description
The Damned
+ Würst Nürse
The Triffid
23/08/19
(Live Review)
Reviewer: Colin Reid
Photos: Colin Reid
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It is 2019 and The Damned have returned for another visit to Australia albeit just a whirlwind three night back to back race through the Capital cities of the Eastern States tacked on to the back of performances at the Summer Sonic festivals in Japan.
Like several familiar faces that I saw in the crowd, I decided that an interstate trip was needed in order to catch a band that I hadn’t see playing live since the early 1990s. I wasn’t disappointed, it was 100% worth the trip!
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Following on from a sell out in Sydney the night before another full house welcomed the band to Brisbane’s The Triffid. “Hello Brisbane, the good news is were not dead” a smiling Captain Sensible, wearing his trademark red beret, called out to the crowd! The real good news was that the band still has that magical ‘it’ factor. They fire on all cylinders, they remain the real deal. They were the first UK punk band to release a single and now more than 40 years later they still know to put on a great show full of energy, passion, commitment, good humour and good times. Although into an incredible 5th decade of their career they still know how to pack a punch!
The line up has seen many changes over the years but still has at it’s nucleus Dave Vanian on vocals and Captain Sensible on lead guitar however since 2017 it has been strengthened by the re-joining of Paul Gray who had played on both The Black Album and the Strawberries LPs during the early 1980s. As the Captain has been heard to remark ‘he is back after 37 in the doldrums’! Gray and Sensible have been making music together in a side project called The Sensible Gray Cells prior to Paul’s rejoining.
It is great to see that not only has the band maintained their live performance standards but they genuinely look like they still love playing live and love playing together, the camaraderie between the band is obvious for all to see. The Captain has lost none of his sense of humour. He made his usual comic quips throughout the night “we are playing Machine Gun Etiquette in full, it goes for about 33 minutes so I don’t know what we’ll do for the rest of the night…maybe have a sing-a-long of Happy Talk”. His jokes were supplemented by drummer Pinch, at a mere 53 the youngest member of the band and a relative new comer even though he has been beating the skins for 20 years, who joked when Monty Oxymoron’s keyboard started to go on the blink “take as long as you need to fix it because you are an integral part of the band” then 5 seconds later “right that’s long enough, what shall we play instead?”
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Love Song.
The first single from the
Machine Gun Etiquette album
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As Sensible promised, the set opened with a complete run through of the band’s third studio album Machine Gun Etiquette, 40 years young, which featured the singles “Love Song”, “Smash It Up” and “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today”. The Captain started the night off with his impression of Jack Howarth’s (Albert Tatlock from Coronation Street) introduction of “Ladies and Gentlemen, ‘Ow do?” and from that point until the end of the night it was on! The front three of Vanian, Sensible and Gray all defied their age, they are all in their 60s, as they convorted around every inch of the stage. Gray’s Rickenbacker bass was pointed to the ceiling as he played or strummed almost like a rhythm guitar, Sensible played effortless solos and hammed it up with his Gibson played behind his head on several occasions whilst Vanian delivered his trademark rich baritone vocals.
The MGE album over, the set moved on with a run through of the band’s singles including their latest “Standing on the Edge of tomorrow”. There was a slight break in the show when Monty’s organ failed during the intro for “Eloise” which despite being the band’s biggest hit, peaking at No 3 in the UK and No 8 in Australia, continues to be a divisive number with fans. It is either loved deeply, as evidenced by the wholehearted sing a long that a lot of the crowd joined in with, or despised in the same measure by fans who treat it as ‘the comfort break song’. It was a little bit of a surprise inclusion as the band hadn’t been playing live of late and it wasn’t on the Sydney setlist. Perhaps Monty’s organ was on the side of the song’s detractors when it decide to pick that moment to fail! Whilst it was receiving emergency repairs the crowd attempted a half hearted rendition of “Sensibles a wanker”, Pinch joked at Monty’s expense and the Captain launched into an impromptu version of his novelty solo hit “Happy Talk”. The Captain used to rebuff calls of “Sensibles a wanker” with the retort of “Sensibles a rich wanker” but since he admitted all the money from “Happy Talk” has been spent maybe he can’t do that anymore!
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The organ fixed, at least temporarily, the set moved on. There was a truly epic version of “Ignite” which really showcase Dave’s tremendous vocal range and control and it closed out with “New Rose” and “Neat, Neat, Neat”. The crowd roared their appreciation, the pogoing and moshing went up a level and drinks went flying!
The band returned for an encore with Sensible drinking a can of a QLD beer called Captain Sensible “If only I got a dollar for every one of these they sold” he joked. Seriously though it can’t have been modeled on him as it is only a mid-strength! Monty’s organ was declared fully cactus and “Curtain Call” was dropped from the setlist so they went straight into their cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” a song ‘definitely not about drugs’ according to Dave. Feed your head indeed! Sensible was thrown a flyer for a Damned after party which had a picture of an early line up of the band on it which prompted him to thank Brian James, the original guitarist and writer of “Neat, Neat, Neat” and “New Rose”, as he put ‘without Brian, none of this would have been possible’.
There was just time for the Captain to land a dig at his musical pet hate Paul Weller before he closed out the gig with a rendition of “Jet Boy, Jet Girl” after Dave coached the crowd on our role in the song which we belted out until our throats hurt as much as our ears rang. The band left the stage with the Captain aiming pantomime kicks at Monty and joking with the crowd that if the band were all still alive next year then they would try and come back for longer next time, let’s hope so!
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A special mention to the support band on the tour “Würst Nürse” from Melbourne, a five piece “Nurse-Punk” band featuring five actual nurses! They were great, so much fun playing a short set featuring shout outs to health professionals, especially nurses. they interspersed the songs with stories about bed pans, poo, marrying a rich Dr, preferably an orthopedic surgeon! Appropriately they finished with the rather brilliantly catchy track “Hot Doctor”. They were a band I’d love to see again and with a longer set, if only they can all get leave or be rostered off at the same time again!
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