The Damned, The Hard-Ons @ Hindley Street Music Hall, Adelaide 24/3/2024
“The Damned Hard-Ons!” was what Dave Vanian can be quoted as saying in a recent interview with Hi Fi Way leading up to this tour. This show was elite and quite possibly we want see the classic line up of The Damned featuring Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies and Paul Gray again. The Damned are one of those much revered bands and for the very first and final time in thirty five years they have reassembled the absolute classic line up of the band making it a must see show. With that said it was a bit disappointing to see upstairs curtained off but those were there would have been more than satisfied and got their fill.
It has been a while since The Hard-Ons played in Adelaide (Enigma Bar 2022) and they were loud and raucous, it was great! No doubt with Tim Rogers fronting this iteration of the band they march so much taller. Rogers said that “you’re in for the most amazing night of your life”. The band looked up and about having a great week touring with The Damned with Adelaide being their last show of the tour for them. After single Hold Tight off came their shirts taking on a bit of a man-bod theme. Makes Me Sick was great as was Frequencies. Rogers brought plenty of swagger and moves to the stage looking like he is having the time of his life. The chandelier in Hindley Street Music Hall is definitely a feature piece drawing a question from Blackie “are you feeling comfortable with that thing above you?” also asking anyone who recorded any of these songs to tag him unless “I blocked you”.
The Damned! Yes, The Damned. Still can’t believe I had the chance to see this classic line up having seen the iteration of The Damned that released and toured Darkedelic last year. With the walk on music being the Doctor Who Theme cranked up loud, Captain Sensible emerged from the haze saying “thanks for having us back before we kick the bucket”. For the next two hours it was The Damned who are the undisputed, unmatched and unassailable living gods of Punk Rock playing all the great songs from a highly esteemed career.
Ploughing through and bowling over Ignite, Wait For The Blackout and The History of the World (Part 1) this show had all the signs of being something quite incredible. Gun Fury (of Riot Forces), Melody Lee and Generals continued with similar intensity. Captain Sensible says it is an oxymoron “whether there is room for keyboards in punk” revving up keyboardist Monty Oxymoron. It is great to watch this band dynamic on stage with each member letting their personality to shine. So many great songs to mention but Life Goes On was one that stood out with Vanian saying “I wrote this when I was quite depressed and cheered me up no end”. The red noses came out and were worn Beware Of The Clown.
Jokingly, Captain described cover Eloise as a song they wrote on the way to the show! There was still plenty of gold to pull out of the kit bag with likes of The Invisible Man (off Darkadelic) followed by fan favourites Love Song, Neat Neat Neat and set closer Smash It Up. As the band left the stage Captain concluded by saying “WE ARE THE DAMNED!” Returning for the first of two encores and kicking off with a shortened version of Curtain Call and the song we all had been waiting to hear in New Rose. It was a spirited second encore covering MC5’s Looking at You bringing this show to a close and serving as a reminder of how great The Damned are. Absolute masterstroke by the promoter bringing out the classic line up of The Damned.
Live Review By Rob Lyon