The Damned

15/09/06 - The Damned/C.J. Ramone - The Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA

This was a weird ticket purchase.

According to the venue, C.J. Ramone was headlining. Why a replacement bassist for a defunct U.S. group was headlining for a seminal U.K. punk band with a string of hits was perplexing. I was fine with it, thinking if C.J. sucked we could leave early.

No such luck.

C.J. was the opener and did a fine job of attempting to imitate The Ramones, Social Distortion and establishing themselves as a great All-American power-punk band. What they don't get is that the power-punk era is over. Just play Ramones songs and collect your check.

They couldn't get the sold-out crowd to dance, mosh or show any enthusiasm. They played a few Ramones songs (mostly obscure ones) and left the stage before the applause stopped.

The Damned were a different story.

This show went straight back to their pre-Phantasmagoria punk roots. They did 'I just Can't be Happy Today', 'Love Song', 'New Rose', 'Neat, Neat, Neat', 'History of the World - Part I','Wait for the Blackout', 'Silly Kids Games' and a host of other 'early' numbers.

My complaint - They did "Alone Again Or" (a cover) instead of "Anything" or "In Dulce Decorum" from the same album.

The crowd in front of the stage moshed and moved even though these were songs from almost 40 years ago!

And me...

I was lost in nostalgia for the Great American Music Hall at which I used to work.

Jazz art prints on the walls, chandeliers on the ceiling, drinks served in glasses, and a manual spotlight operated from the balcony.

Good times.

Since the 70's The Damned have been putting on loud, exciting, rocking shows. To this day they have intimate concerts where they chat with, insult, and joke around with the audience. The audiences are loud, rowdy, and there to have a rocking good time.

The Damned are one of those bands that never seem to age. Their agelessness adds an element of spook and horror to their gothic music, a genre they were a forerunner of. The percussion is loud and heavy, the guitars screeching. You will not find any love songs here, just pure, unadulterated gothic rock and roll.

When they do put on a big show, such as at Rebellion Amsterdam in 2014, they go all out. The lights flash in time with the music, they scream from the stage. The spooky voice of Dave Vanian croons into the crowd. He gives it his all for the audience. The music rises above his vocals but he still manages to be the stand out performance of the night. You can imagine his voice spookily underscoring a chase scene in a horror film as the piano rises and the crowd falls silent until BAM he hits you with it again. It is a truly unique experience.

I've seen the Damned many time through the years. They were my fave from about 1980 onward and I cannot remember being disappointed by a live performance (except once at Preston (UK) they walked off cos of the spitting). Now they have matured into a tight 5 piece that have a back catalog to die for. Vanian sounds like a reborn vocalist and the sound at the Gramercy was just fabulous. By far the best mixing I have heard at a Damned gig. They are enjoying the renewed interest in the band obviously, and I look forward to seeing them again next year. Most folks will concentrate on Vanian/Sensible, but the other member shouldn't be overlooked by any stretch. Bass/Drums/Keys - all brilliant and all members add valuable backing vocals to the live experience (Nasty in particular has a fabulous backing vocal section). Monty on keys is a nutter but quite obviously, he loves being up there. He didn't even mind when during the keys solo on 'Just Can't be Happy', Sensible was in his face trying to put him off. Great entertainment.

All 4 bands that played last night were fantastic. 4 to 5 hours of straight up punk rock and good tunes.
Cro-Mags, The Damned, The Distillers, and The Misfits didn't have one dull moment. They all made my night.

The only thing that sucked was having a guy thrown over me and knocking me in my head. The security guard who saw it came up to me after the show to check on me, which was cool. I especially appreciated being "guarded" by some awesome people while in the mosh pit, especially after I got knocked in my noggin. Thank you to those people who helped me out (If you're reading this), thank you to the staff, and thank you to all of the bands that played. It was worth every penny and every second of time. When you come around again, I'll be there. =^)

This will remain one of the most memorable concerts ever. The Damned have always been my favourite band and I've listened to their work since 1981.

I was wondering if the years would take a toll on their enthusiasm, but boy! Was I mistaken! These guys played at SO36 like it was 1977 all over again. The set was simply amazing - all the greatest tracks from their repertoire from the Black Album, Music for Pleasure, Machine Gun Etiquette, Strawberries, etc. etc. It was all there. Captain was funny as ever and Monty the crazy nut job you'd hope them to be. Dave Vanian was intense and delivered the songs impeccably.

SO36 is the perfect venue for The Damned. All I can say is "Thanks for the Night"

The Bellrays were fantastic. I can't praise their performance enough and will be checking out some recordings of theirs very soon. Great choice for support band.
I'm the biggest Damned fan ever, but I thought they looked a bit tired last night. Sensible had to sit because of his broken rib and so the performance lost a bit of stage energy. They still played really well though. Vanians voice could have been a touch louder. And they need to boot Eloise and Alone Again Or from the set-list. They have of their own material to play, they really don't need to perform covers. Anti Pope was brilliant. I wanted Thanks of the Night and Curtain Call and anything from Grave Disorder.
Still love 'em though.

The Damned were in excellent form as usual.a capacity 650 crowd were kept thoroughly entertained by Dave Vanians non stop energetic exuberant performance.His vocals are just as good as 40 years ago indeed with time and maturity you could say even better.Captain sensible always has good banter with any abuse hurled in his direction and gives as good as he gets.Oxy Moron on keyboards is a wizard of musical electronics in his own innibital way. Basically if you want to see a live performance with a tight knit band of musicians enjoying very much what they are doing and a value for money guaranteed show?!!!!Go and see the Damned

It was absolutely fantastic!
The band puts on great show, even thought the audio engineer was having a little bit of technical difficulties, they still sounded great! They put a lot of energy into their performance, especially the keyboardist. I forgot his name. his on stage antics was quite entertaining. After the show almost ended, they did a four song on core. or Maybe it was three. Anyways. The last song they played was Smash It Up which is not only my favorite track but my anticipated song I was hoping to hear them preform.And it was a surprise they did!

It was the best 35.00 I've ever spent on my birthday!

Johnny Moped are still PUNK as FUCK !! The Damned never let you down always play well always change the set list to use some more obscure songs along with the fan favourites ! Glad Paul Grey is back on bass he’s without doubt a class act !! We’ve seen them sooooo many times this year and the only complaint about this gig was the lack of parking near the venue and not in the best part of town which made life a bit awkward is the polite way of putting it when the gig kicked out !

The Damned continued to stun me, even more when they were on a stage in front of me! The band sounded great, the sound was clear, and the interaction with the fellow punk rockers was something to remember. Being only fourteen this is one show that's never going to get out of my head! I recorded most of the show in my pocket.. the sound is a bit muddy but I may upload it to YT with the date so any fan could remember the day. Thank you Damned and everyone.