I am a big fan of The Damned, going back to the early 1980’s.  I saw them for the first time on June 16, 1983, at the Ontario Theater in D.C.  It was the tour in support of The Black Album, and it was outstanding.

Fast forward to October 25, 2023, and I once again went to see The Damned, this time at the Fillmore in Silver Spring, MD.  It was the very first show of a short run of U.S. shows on the east coast to promote the new Darkadelic LP, which was released earlier this year.  I love the new record, so I bought tickets immediately to the show nearest to me, scoring one of just a few reserved seats, front row on the railing in the balcony.  I made sure to be stage right so I could be on the side where Captain Sensible plays guitar.  The touring band at this time includes Sensible on guitar, Dave Vanian on vocals, Paul Gray on bass and Oxy Moron on keyboards.  I honestly don’t know with certainty who is drumming, but sadly it isn’t Rat Scabies, who is long gone.  I am almost certain it is Will Taylor, who played on the new record.  Other than Taylor, the band currently includes all of its most iconic members.  So, let’s get to the show…..

After a short 25-minute delay opening the club doors, my wife and I found our seats and we were very happy with how close we were.  I figured the delay would also delay the start of the show, but it did not.  Baby Shakes hit the stage at 8:00, or a few minutes after.  I knew nothing about them.  It was three decidedly pretty women with a male drummer.  The band is from NYC.  They play a crunching guitar/punk/pop that seems to me is very akin to The Ramones.  Honestly, they were pretty great.  Well worth checking out if you get a chance.  Next up was the aptly named F*cked Up.  JFC, these guys were just awful.  I know music is subjective and I try not to judge too harshly, but the vocalist guy just yelled over songs with no melody, and everything sounded the same.  They were even harder to look at, especially after Baby Shakes.  Sometimes aesthetics do matter in rock n roll, for me at least.  I got up and went downstairs to the merch tables just to get away from the array of speakers hanging from the ceiling to our left and to try to survive the onslaught.  Okay, enough about that.  Just not my cup of tea, to put it mildly.

The Damned came on at about 10:00 p.m.  Captain Sensible took his place stage right and he looked ready to go.  Oxy Moron and his keyboard/synthesizer set up were stage left, and slightly more to the center, but still stage left, Paul Gray took his place.  After some opening chords, Dave Vanian came out, dressed in a black suit with a long jacket and sunglasses, and he looked fantastic.  He grabbed the vintage microphone, which looked like the type Chuck Berry and Elvis had, and they were off to the races.  They opened with “Street of Dreams” from the Phantasmoagoria record, and I was feeling a lot of excitement for a great night ahead. 

Side Note:  From our vantage point, I could see the standard sheet of paper laying on the stage, one next to Vanian and one by Gray, which were most certainly setlists.  Captain Sensible on the other hand, had a sheet of paper taped down to the floor beside him that I swear was almost three feet long, and it was indeed a setlist that had such large font, I could read it from the balcony.  It was kind of great. The best thing about it was knowing that there were over twenty songs on it.  That’s a good long set in my book.

After that opening song, they played ten songs off of the new Darkadelic record, in order, with only a couple of older tunes mixed in.  And those older ones were great; “Wait For the Blackout” and “Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde,” both from The Black Album.  As the opening chords and intro portion of “Dr. Jeckyl” played, Vanian looked quizzically at his hands, opened his coat and looked down at himself as if to check and see if everything looked normal, and then he sang the opening lines “I’m normal outside, he’s evil inside, I’m Dr. Jeckyl and he’s Mr. Hyde.”  He’s a pretty theatrical performer.  That was the first 13 songs.  At that point, the Captain stepped forward and thanked the crowd for indulging them in playing the new material.  Then he said, “So you like the old shite, don’t ya?  Well, this one is downright decrepit.”  And then the opening chords of one of my favorite songs, “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today,” kicked in.  It was awesome.  Five more songs from their back catalog followed that, including “Neat Neat Neat” and “Love Song,” both of which I really love. 

I didn’t mention any of the songs by name from Darkadelic, but “Invisible Man” and “Beware of the Clown” are killer tracks, and they sounded great.  Captain Sensible wore a clown nose for the latter tune.  The songs were played beautifully, but with a lot of energy, and the crowd was loving it.  After a thank you and the obligatory pause, they came back for a two-song encore.  They began with “Eloise,” which is fan favorite, but not too high on my list.  They wrapped it up with “New Rose” which I doubt they have left out of any set since about 1979.  It was f*cking great.  In all, that’s 21 songs, and I may have left one or two out.  They played from 10:10 until about 11:55.  Based upon my experience at club shows, an hour and 45 minutes is a hell of a set.

My vantage point, r to l; Captain Sensible, Will Taylor, Dave Vanian, Paul Gray, Oxy Moron

I don’t know if this tour will be expanded, I assume it will.  For now, they’ve only played in Europe and as of this writing have about six shows in the U.S. scheduled, since the release of Darkadelic.  If they ever make it to your town, don’t miss out.  Captain Sensible is on his game and Dave Vanian sounds as good as ever.

JCE, or John to his friends, was born in the Nation’s Capital and grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C.  He just turned 60 years old, he has a wife of 32 years, and a grown daughter.  He leads a bit of a double life, working by day as the chief administrative officer of a VA county, and spending as many nights as possible listening to live rock n roll with his wife at any club that has a decent band within 100 miles or so of their house (and sometimes further).