"The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

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Greatkudu
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"The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by Greatkudu »

Firstly sorry for the late review,have had other stuff to do.Now this was the gig postponed from earlier in the year due to Dave having a cold,the Rock

Doc sorted it for the next night,but the man is a perfectionist. Ok to start support band were pretty good can't remember their name Freak zone? Or

something similar,very young but tight and full of energy,very fast Punk but really good band,one of the band wore a rather fetching dress,If you like

that sort of thing,but it was very amusing and he was a great player.

Now on to the main event "The Damned",at 21.06 the fantastic intro tune of "Mars" from Holst planet suite blasted out of the Pa system to a very good

size crowd,not sure if it was totally sold out,but must have been close.Now before I go on "The Damned" really are on a roll at the moment,great new

album earlier in the year and the mighty Paul Grey back on bass for the time being.After the intro fades out the band come on to the stage and start

with one of the great Damned epics "Plan 9 Channel 7" from "Machine Gun Etiquette",Dave Vanian then comes on to start the vocals,looking as cool as

Fuck in a leather Bikers Jacket (He loves his Bikes),second song was "Democracy" from "Grave Disorder",I won't mention all the set as it's on line to view

Things were going fine until the sound gremlins kicked in,think it was third or Fourth song that Daves mike started cutting out,the sound man tried to

sort it,but it wasn't playing ball,think he finally sorted it about fifth or Sixth song,you could see Dave was pissed of to say the least,the man has one

of the greatest voices in music and to not have things working properly is frustrating for him and the crowd.Moving on about 9 or 10 songs in,Monty's

keyboards conk out just before "I just can't Be Happy Today",The Frustration from Dave was obvious as he said "I can't wait any longer" so they played

"Born To Kill" from the First album,it took about four or Five songs to get some keyboards back,of course it's the same old story,the Keyboards are run through Midi so when that crashes your fucked (Think Roundhouse 2007? Who was that band? Joking) So poor old Monty was not a happy bunny.

They had an analogue back up luckily which enabled Monty to carry on playing,But the keyboard sound was shocking,and let's get the negatives out

of the way,Southampton Guildhall is still an echo chamber with crap sound,it has maybe improved a tiny bit but is still not fit for purpose,the sound was very poor on the night and Dave really wasn't happy,he barely spoke to the crowd,Of course Captain is the loudmouth,but they usually have a
bit of banter between them,not on that night.

Moving on what I loved about the gig was lots of course,but lets start with the setlist,they played 8 or 9 different songs to the tour in January this

year,really inventive to change it that much in less than a year (The Stranglers could learn from The Damned),and the whole band are fantastic musicians,Captain like a Punk Hendrix,Paul Grey owning the stage with his sublime bass playing,the ever eccentric Monty like a mad professor(but
let down by sound Gremlins that night,the incredible drumming of Pinch and of course to top it off the Uber Cool baritone of Dave Vanian,don't want to go on,but when the mike was working his voice is fucking mind blowing the power and tone of his mighty Dracula Baritone is something to behold.

We had just three songs from "Evil Spirits" (the new Album) "Soteot","Devil In Disguise" and "I don't care",would have loved more but you have to please everyone,and of course we had their biggest hit "Eloise" sounds much more rocking live.Even though the sound was crap the light were very
good and the stage backdrop was impressive with "The Damned" banner,some of my favs of the night were all the new songs,"Generals","Dozen Girls","Love Song","Plan 9" and maybe "Democracy.The encore was "Smash it Up","Curtain Call" and last song was "Looking at you",after "Curtain Call" the house lights came on and people started to leave,but then the lights dimmed again for the Last song "Looking at You".

To sum up,no the greatest Damned gig ever,due to the sound issues,but the band overcame these issues and still delivered a great performance with
the usual energy etc,but you could tell Dave wasn't happy.So when I wen't to the dressing room after the gig to chat with the band,I had to tread
carefully with Dave,he was in the corridor with his sunglasses still on,so I broke the ice by asking him about his Harley Flathead,it seemed to work,but in the dressing room he was very quiet,the captain was talking to Chris Packham the wildlife presenter and big Damned fan,I had brief chat
with him as well,seemed a top bloke.

So all in all a very enjoyable night slightly marred by the poor sound,but that's live music for you,even after my moaning about the sound try and catch "The Damned" they really are on of the best and most enjoyable bands around.Lt Kudu back on OPs in ? Over and Out.
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by zontar »

Shameful that they suffer these tribulations.
Arthur Streeb-Greebling
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by Arthur Streeb-Greebling »

Thanks for the revyoo mr kudu.
I really wanted to see The Damned but couldn’t be arsed to go to Holmfirth, wish they’d come back and play Leeds.
Chris Packham? I think it was on Springwatch a few years ago, he kept slipping Clash song titles into the script, very funny.
:grin:

I see they’re off to America, The Stranglers should go with em and give it another go or two cracking America, knowing The Stranglers though just as they crack America they would split up!
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by Greatkudu »

Arthur Streeb-Greebling wrote: 01 Sep 2018, 01:46 Thanks for the revyoo mr kudu.
I really wanted to see The Damned but couldn’t be arsed to go to Holmfirth, wish they’d come back and play Leeds.
Chris Packham? I think it was on Springwatch a few years ago, he kept slipping Clash song titles into the script, very funny.
:grin:

I see they’re off to America, The Stranglers should go with em and give it another go or two cracking America, knowing The Stranglers though just as they crack America they would split up!
Yes Mr Packham loves his Punk music,The Damned seem to love touring the states,they really are on a roll and live they are better then ever? When the
sound is good,Packham seemed like a nice bloke,he was talking to Captain in dressing room after gig,I am going to see them in Paris in November.
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by jetblacksdad »

Great review, thanks.
You're right about them being at the top of their game.
Could teach the Stranglers a bit at the moment!
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by MULLY »

By all accounts The Damned blew SLF off at the recent Custom House Square gig in Belfast. I cannot confirm as I was nowhere near the thing :twisted:
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by Greatkudu »

MULLY wrote: 03 Sep 2018, 12:30 By all accounts The Damned blew SLF off at the recent Custom House Square gig in Belfast. I cannot confirm as I was nowhere near the thing :twisted:
Well they would be a hard act to follow at the moment.
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by elvisintheclouds »

Cheers for the review 8)
A class act.
Chatted to a non fan last night who caught them on the Hollywood Vampires Tour and was very impressed...
Thank you very much
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by iain »

MULLY wrote: 03 Sep 2018, 12:30 By all accounts The Damned blew SLF off at the recent Custom House Square gig in Belfast. I cannot confirm as I was nowhere near the thing :twisted:

I went.
Damned were excellent. That's who I wanted to see. I was tempted to leave before big fat Jake came on stage, but I lasted 5 songs. Couldn't stick any more
rotten thoughts
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by Greatkudu »

iain wrote: 03 Sep 2018, 22:16
MULLY wrote: 03 Sep 2018, 12:30 By all accounts The Damned blew SLF off at the recent Custom House Square gig in Belfast. I cannot confirm as I was nowhere near the thing :twisted:

I went.
Damned were excellent. That's who I wanted to see. I was tempted to leave before big fat Jake came on stage, but I lasted 5 songs. Couldn't stick any more
Jake has put on some weight,but still a fine band,but "The Damned" just are amazing at the moment,and they change the set quite a bit,Dave Vanian
just one of the best voices around and a cool fucker to (sorry for swearing).
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by SmallPaul »

Thanks for the review Lt Kudu. I personally think it's a really poor effort that they're only doing 3 songs off the new album. I would suggest that they drop Neat Neat Neat, New Rose, Love Song and Smash It Up - all of which they've played to death - and play four more new songs instead.

I guess I'm likely to be in the minority here, but I think their new album is excellent and the set list should reflect that.

Paul
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Re: "The Damned" at Southampton Guildhall 22/08/18.

Post by Greatkudu »

SmallPaul wrote: 05 Sep 2018, 13:32 Thanks for the review Lt Kudu. I personally think it's a really poor effort that they're only doing 3 songs off the new album. I would suggest that they drop Neat Neat Neat, New Rose, Love Song and Smash It Up - all of which they've played to death - and play four more new songs instead.

I guess I'm likely to be in the minority here, but I think their new album is excellent and the set list should reflect that.

Paul
Yes I agree but they do change the set alot,they have to play the songs you mentioned,bit like The Stranglers with "Heroes" etc.
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