"The Damned"- Elysee Montmartre Paris 17/11/18

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Greatkudu
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"The Damned"- Elysee Montmartre Paris 17/11/18

Post by Greatkudu »

Firstly apologies for late review (if anyone cares) I do these as like to share the experience etc? To start with I decided to see "The Damned" in Paris

as having been re- ignited by their music again after a bit of an absence,I have realized what I have been missing out on,and as The Stranglers didn't

do a euro tour,I thought why not? For fuck sake it's the Damned and its Paris,whats not to like.Well let me begin,The Montmartre area of paris is full

of sex shops and peep shows etc,of course after many kind offers of come inside,you can look for free etc? I politely declined,I must have been asked about 100 times,maybe I look Gullible or Sleazy? Great to walk past the famous "Moulin Rouge" on my way to do recce of venue earlier in the day.

Now lets cut to the chase,the venue The Elysee was a really attractive building and great venue,really classy unlike most of the horrid 02 venues in

England,looked quite old to me,and you walked up rather Grande stairs to get to auditorium,I arrive around 20.45 to a large venue,with a packed

crowd,but still room to move,it was massive.The Damned came on at 20.55 and first song was "Born to Kill" from the first album,form that first song

i knew this was going to be a fucking brilliant and memorable gig (sorry for the swearing) but you go to a lot of gigs and they are good or great,well

on this particular night it was just fucking mind blowing,a few reasons well the sound was spot on,Mr Vanian's vocals crystal clear showing off his

amazing baritone voice to the full,secondly the whole band were just firing on all cylinders,thirdly the venue and number four the set was different

again from the couple of times I have seen them this year (Stranglers take notes).But The Damned just seemed to have taken there live gigs to a new

level this year,maybe Paul Gray back on bass for the time being? has something to do with it.But they are just a joy to be hold at the moment,and

always have been,but what with a new album this year as well,they really are at the top of their game.Paul Gray is just such a fucking amazing bass

player,coming to the front enjoying his place in the group,The Captain is just the Captain,brilliant player and banter with the crowd,Monty the

barking mad keyboard player,just so eccentric but a really fine musician to,such fun watching him,at one point he came off his keyboards and did

some crazy dancing,just brilliant,then you have the brilliant drumming of Pinch,now the more I see of him,I have to say he has to be one of the best

drummers I have ever seen,he makes it loom so easy,he plays the old songs with respect but adds his own touches,he did sublime tom and Cymbal

work in Paris,as he always does.But he is just fucking amazing,last but not least Mr Vanian,now the man just has one truly amazing voices,his

Dracula baritone has got better with age,matured like a fine Brandy.In Paris he was at the top of his game,he was giving the mic to people in the

front to sing along,and he was more animated than the gigs I saw in England this year,he is a real showman,looking cool as fuck as usual,stalking

the stage with his Vampiric swirl,bathed in a fluorescent green light,just amazing.I wont mention all the setlist as you can find it online,but it was

great to hear a large amount from my fave Damned album "The Black Album" we had "Wait for the Blackout","Lively Arts","Silly Kids Games"

"Dr Jekyll","Curtain Call" as encore and my fav Damned song "History Of The World" that made my night as they didn't play it earlier in year when I

saw them,and it was a stonking version to.Other highlight were the songs form "Evil Spirits","Soteot","Devil","we're so Nice" and "I don't care",Mr

Vanian really showed off his voice on that one,one of my favs from "Evil Spirits" but was great to hear "we're so nice" to another fav from album.

They all sound better live.Of course we also had the usual "Love Song","New Rose" etc and very extended versions of "Neat Neat Neat" and the great

crowd sing a long "Ignite".Encore was "Curtain Call" and half of the Captains solo song "Wot" they played half and decided it was rubbish so played

"Jet Boy Jet Girl",final song was of course "Smash it Up",which was the end of the gig around 10.30.And what a mind blowing gig this was,live music

really doesn't get much better than this,and The Damned really make an effort with the audience.The Damned are truly one of the great bands IMHO

and are one of the best live bands around at the moment,I can't do any dates on British tour sadly,but doubt I could top Paris.Catch the The Damned

if you can,you wan't be disappointed.What a Fucking awesome gig (sorry for swearing) Lt Kudu on Ops in Paris and no Peep shows? Honest Guvnor,over and out.PS forgot to mention 3 people at various stages got on stage and no one bothered,one a Mohican danced and fell on his backside,very funny,band thought so to.
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Re: "The Damned"- Elysee Montmartre Paris 17/11/18

Post by gjinblack »

Sounds a great night. Good review, thanks.

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elvisintheclouds
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Re: "The Damned"- Elysee Montmartre Paris 17/11/18

Post by elvisintheclouds »

Cheers for the review, they were ace at SBE last night 8) 8) 8)
Thank you very much
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parasiteinblack
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Re: "The Damned"- Elysee Montmartre Paris 17/11/18

Post by parasiteinblack »

Phenomenal at Norwich in Tuesday too, great night out.
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Re: RE: Re: "The Damned"- Elysee Montmartre Paris 17/11/18

Post by Cells&Plasma »

parasiteinblack wrote:Phenomenal at Norwich in Tuesday too, great night out.
I saw them at SBE last night...good Performance but the Sound was awful.

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elvisintheclouds
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Post by elvisintheclouds »

Cells&Plasma wrote: 24 Nov 2018, 12:19
parasiteinblack wrote:Phenomenal at Norwich in Tuesday too, great night out.
I saw them at SBE last night...good Performance but the Sound was awful.

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Agree on performance but sound was good from where I stood, also seen some vids taken from other locations and sound ok...
Thank you very much
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Re: "The Damned"- Elysee Montmartre Paris 17/11/18

Post by Greatkudu »

elvisintheclouds wrote: 24 Nov 2018, 10:08 Cheers for the review, they were ace at SBE last night 8) 8) 8)
Thank's yes they are in top form at the moment.
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