I came to punk late as I was only 12 in 1976 when the whole scene kicked off. So it wasn’t until the 1980s that I really got into the big three of British punk namely the Sex Pistols, The Damned and The Clash. In fact one of the first Damned-related songs I really remember hearing was ‘Happy Talk’ by Captain Sensible.
My first Damned gig was in June 1985 after they had released the Gothic masterpiece that was Phantasmagoria. Things must’ve been looking up for them as their Edinburgh gig was at the 3,000-seat theatre The Playhouse. Support came from The Fuzztones who were new to me, but I enjoyed their set. They had just released their debut album titled Lysergic Emanations though the only album of theirs I bought was Braindrops released a few years later. Their lead singer went by the name of Rudi Protrudi and they seemed to favour Vox guitars with their teardrop-shaped bodies.
I think the new album was the only Damned record I had at that time. Hard to remember the order I bought their back catalogue in but in the mid-80s I was mostly buying LPs and was mainly into HR/HM. The previous year I’d been deafened by the likes of Motorhead and Iron Maiden at The Playhouse though in 1985, along with various rock bands, I saw The Smiths, Gil Scott Heron, BB King and, er, Shakin Stevens. Variety is the spice and all that.
In the autumn of 1986 I moved to Aberdeen for a two-year college course and The Damned came to town on their Anything tour. I was in the circle for that gig so had a good view of Rat Scabies bashing merry hell out of his drum kit. One of the highlights of that gig was a fine cover of The Doors’ song ‘L.A. Woman’. Can’t remember who the support act was.
Not having a record player in my student flat I bought music on cassette and still have tapes of Machine Gun Etiquette, Strawberries and Anything which I purchased at either the Virgin Records or HMV shops on Union Street. There must’ve been at least a couple of small independent record shops in town as well and I recall picking up a copy of the Dead Kennedy’s Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables at one of them. As with UK punk I only got into American punk at that time and bought the Kennedys’ compilation album which was released after the band split up.
My next Damned gig was in London at the Brixton Academy in 1989 which was similar to the reunion gig recorded at the Town and Country Club the previous year. So I finally got to see the original line-up playing songs from Damned Damned Damned followed by the Black Album line-up playing songs from that record and Machine Gun Etiquette. I had it in my head that Bryn Merrick had played bass that night, but other sources online tell me that it was Paul Gray. Our memories do like playing tricks on us. It was a bit of an all-dayer as we got three support acts, namely The Milk Monitors, Horse and Claytown Troup. Can’t say I remember much about any of them. Oh, and I got a bloody nose during the Damned's set when I collided with a bloke pogoing in front of me. The Pleasure and the Pain tells me I'm at a Damned gig again...
After that the band disbanded with Vanian forming The Phantom Chords with Roman Jugg and, I think, Bryn though he didn’t play on the one album they recorded. I saw them at the T&C2 in Islington though as they were mainly playing new as yet unreleased material it wasn’t the most memorable of gigs but fun to see them in a small venue.
Fast forward to December 1993 and I found myself in Manchester on a week-long training course from work but to my delight I discovered that both The Stranglers and The Damned were playing at the Academy. This was the short-lived line-up with Kris Dollimore and Moose along with Vanian and Scabies and again it suffered from them playing a lot of new material which I hadn’t heard. Maybe it was because I’d seen The Stranglers two nights previously, but I wasn’t really in the mood and left before the end. I do remember Rat not appreciating a chorus of “Scabies is a wanker (la la la la)”. He came down from behind his kit, taking the mic off Vanian and trying to get us to change it to another band member but the crowd was having none of it.
Gig number 5 was in Dundee in December 1997. Yes I’ve moved around a bit but lived in Fife for the best part of 15 years and Dundee was the nearest city for gigs. The Grave Disorder line-up played at a venue called Fat Sams, but all was not well as at one point the Captain pleaded with us to buy merchandise as they’d had some of their gear nicked. I’ve had a look on setlist.fm but there are no entries for that tour so can only guess at what they played.
I did buy a ticket for another Damned gig in Dundee but it was a strange and rather unhappy experience. The venue was in a converted church and I don’t know what was going on but I didn’t actually get to see the band. Let me explain. I arrived, had my ticket checked and went in. There were steps going up to the main part of the venue but they were rammed. There was literally no way of getting up those stairs to be able to see the stage. The support band was on, so I could hear them but couldn’t see anything. There was a balcony but punters weren’t allowed up there. I suppose I could’ve waited until The Damned came on stage but it was all so weird and I was driving so wasn’t bothered about getting a drink. So I cut my losses and left. Needless to say I never bought a ticket for another gig at that venue. Very strange.
And that, dear reader, is my little catalogue of Damned gigs. I saw The Stranglers one more time after that but in recent years my gig going has been for more acoustic music mainly due to tinnitus. I may make it back to the Manchester Academy to see Vanian, Sensible, Gray and Scabies along with Monty on the keys at the end of 2024 for what could be one last Final Damnation.
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For more concert memories check out the book I self-published in 2012.
Drum Solos, Bottles and Bands - Memories of a Concert-goer 1981-1999
