Welcome to the ramblings of a man who really should have grown out of listening to "that sort of music" a long, long time ago...A place to share thoughts and photographs on music and related paraphernalia.
I was thrilled to witness The Pandoras make a rare U.K. appearance at the legendary Hope & Anchor in Islington, a place that has over the years hosted acts such as The Jam, Elvis Costello, The Specials, The Saints and The Clash. It’s hard to believe now, but Joy Division and U2 made their London debuts here and The Damned filmed the seminal promo video for “New Rose” in the tiny basement venue. In the mid to late Seventies, it was a vital outlet for Pub Rock and early Punk Rock acts and was the birthplace of Stiff Records, even The Stranglers recorded a live album here in 1977. It’s also one of the very few legendary London venues to have survived gentrification and redevelopment and it’s great that it is still thriving and going strong to this day. It’s probably hard to believe for first timers to grasp that this tiny, cramped basement has hosted so many well-known names over the years and now it’s The Pandoras turn.
The Pandoras were one of the early front-runners of the Californian Sixties revival of the early to mid-80’s and they straddled the sounds of the Paisley Underground, Power Pop and Nuggets style Garage Rock perfectly. Most acts go through various trials and tribulations over the years, such as changes to their line-up and/or musical differences and The Pandoras certainly had their share of these, but they were also hit by two unforeseeable tragedies. First of all, let’s look at some of the key line-up changes – just after the release of their debut album “It’s About Time” in 1984, there was a falling out and lead vocalist and guitarist Paula Pierce decided to recruit new members including Melanie Vammen on keyboards and Karen Blankfeld (now Basset) on drums and they managed to keep hold of the Pandoras name. Then in 1985 they got in a new bassist, Kim Shattuck and this classic line-up of the band would go on to release their second album, the superb “Stop Pretending”. Then we come to a change of direction which would ultimately lead to another shift in the band’s line-up. This was Paula’s decision to move the band into Heavy Rock territory with the quite literally titled “Rock Hard” mini album. Prior to recording the album, Karen had left the band and Sheri Kaplan (Weinstein) took over on the drums. Paula wanted to push on with this heavier direction and decided that she no longer wanted keyboards so Melanie was ousted, Kim left in support of her bandmate, and both would go on to form The Muffs.
Then the first serious tragedy in The Pandoras history hit with the sudden death of Paula due to an aneurysm in 1991. This was to mark the end of the band from the public eye until 2015 when Melanie, Kim, Sheri and Karen got back for a live reunion show. Kim had moved from bass to lead vocals and guitar; Karen took on bass duties so that Sheri could join on drums and Melanie was in her familiar role on the keyboards. Then, the second tragedy occurred with Kim Shattuck’s sad and untimely passing in 2019 of ALS, a form of motor neuron disease. Kim had a popular stint playing bass with Pixies (although probably too popular for some of her bandmates) and shortly before her death had recorded a fantastic album with The Muffs. She was also part of a great side-project called The Coolies along with Melanie and Palmyra Delran, so Kim’s passing was made even sadder as she was in such fine creative form. Anyway, I digress, let’s get back to tonight’s gig…the crowd is full of familiar faces, many of whom are in bands themselves as I see members of The Parkinsons, King Salami & The Cumberland 3, The Phobics, Baby Seals, The Tuppenny Bunters and The Cannibals/Raw Fun. There’s a charged, expectant atmosphere buzzing round the packed out steaming hot venue as The Pandoras take the stage and hit us with their cinematic Garage Surf instrumental “Haunted Beach Party”.
The current line-up features Melanie on keyboards and guitar, Sheri on drums, the most recent recruit Natalie Grace Sweet on bass and Karen is now up front on lead vocals and guitar. As Sheri mentions during the band introductions, “Karen has played every role in The Pandoras except keyboards!” and she does a fantastic job, you’d never think she had started on drums and moved to bass before finally fronting the band, she’s a natural. Most of the set understandably features tracks taken from their 1986 album “Stop Pretending” but they also throw in some singles such as the brilliant “Hot Generation”, deep cuts like “You Lie” and a cover of We The People’s “You Burn Me Up and Down”. However, debut album “It’s About Time” is also represented as is the band’s foray into Heavy Rock with “Craving” taken from the “Rock Hard” mini-album and as previously mentioned, the first to feature Sheri on the drums. There’s a great cheerful chemistry across the band that seeps into the crowd, and I reflect that after Love with Johnny Echols stunning show at the Shepherds Bush Empire last Saturday (review here), it’s the second time in less than a week that a California based band has made my spirit soar.
The great songs keep coming, "That’s The Way It’s Going To Be” with its stabbing keyboard riff and the catchy backing vocal harmonies on “I’m Your Girl” are just two of my personal highlights. Melanie abandons her keyboards halfway through the show to strap on a guitar, and at one point she leaps down among the crowd during a brilliant blast through “It Felt Alright”. They dedicate the gig to the memory of both Paula and Kim, which is a nice touch, before finishing with “Melvin”, their take on the Van Morrison and Them/Patti Smith classic “Gloria” and it’s a perfectly chaotic singalong to end what was a thoroughly entertaining set. I was so pleased to finally get to see The Pandoras, a great band and great people and I sincerely hope it’s not too long until their return to our shores. Oh yes, there was also the added bonus of Melanie having been in one of my (many…) favourite bands The Muffs, and she gladly signed copies of my Muffs 7” singles that I’d taken along, so I made my way home with a big and very contented smile on my face.
You can check out more videos from the gig at our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here, it's free to subscribe. In Retrosonic Podcast Episode 49 we played a great track from The Coolies, the band originally formed by Melanie Vammen, Kim Shattuck and Palmyra Delran. We picked the fantastic single "King of Confusion" a Go-Go's cover which featured special guests Clem Burke and Kathy Valentine, you can check that out here.
Love with Johnny Echols are back at the Shepherds Bush Empire again, the scene of 2024’s triumphant “Forever Changes” show where they played 1967’s classic album in its entirety, backed by brass, keyboards and the excellent Parallax string quartet. This time round they are touring to promote their excellent new Record Store Day release “Love And Let Live” a white vinyl live album recorded at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland last year, the first recording featuring the current line-up. A line-up which apparently is now the longest lasting in the band’s history and one that has been taken to the hearts of Love fans of all generations. As the band’s original guitarist Johnny Echols recently wrote on one of my Facebook posts, “the group is called LOVE, they are revisiting the music of Arthur Lee, and a group of individuals collectively known as Love!” Johnny is now 79 years old and apart from him occasionally having a sit down on a stool while playing, you wouldn’t believe it, especially not from his quite stunning, virtuoso guitar playing. I would say he has been somewhat underrated as a guitarist in the music media over the years, he certainly deserves to be mentioned more frequently alongside his 1960’s peers such as Robbie Krieger of The Doors and Jimi Hendrix, who were after all, both influenced by Love in some way back in their early days. I’m not sure why this would be but he certainly brought those idiosyncratic and often complicated songs of Love’s charismatic frontman Arthur Lee to life. Of course, he was ably assisted by guitar partner-in-arms Bryan MacLean and his bandmates, but the sheer scope of Love’s sound meant that they had to cover a huge palette of musical sounds and colours. From Psychedelia, Folk-Rock and all out Garage Punk attack to intricate orchestral arrangements, beautiful acoustic numbers and even Jazz. These songs were also often tinged with Flamenco, Mariachi and Baroque overtones.
This is where Johnny’s current bandmates excel, in vividly bringing all of the many and varied aspects of Arthur Lee and Love’s musical palette to life. I think similarly to when The Wondermints backed Brian Wilson on his solo tours, taking their remarkable recreation of the Beach Boys intricate melodies to a new generation, then so did Baby Lemonade when Arthur Lee asked them to be his backing band back in 1993. This line-up, prior to Johnny re-joining, was brilliantly captured on “The Forever Changes Concert” live album and DVD recorded at the Royal Festival Hall in London in 2003. Johnny was invited back into the fold and did briefly join the line-up but unfortunately, this intriguing incarnation of the band did not last long as Arthur sadly passed away in 2006. However, it was decided to continue and the Baby Lemonade trio of David "Rusty Squeezebox" Ramsey on lead vocals and guitar, Mike Randle on guitar and drummer David "Daddy-O" Green were joined by the youthful James Nolte, son of David Nolte from the excellent L.A. Garage Power Pop Surf band The Last, on bass. Tonight, at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, this now familiar line-up is once again augmented by Nick Frater on keyboards. However, this time Nick is on his own, yet he somehow magically covers all the intricate brass, strings, harpsichord, flute and organ sounds all by himself, it’s a mightily impressive display. By the way, for fans of Baby Lemonade, classic melodic song-writing and Power Pop, I can thoroughly recommend Nick's latest album "Oh Contraire!", it’s a belter!
Opening with the snappily titled "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark And Hilldale" from "Forever Changes", the band continue to run through a perfectly paced and plotted one hour and thirty minute setlist. Rusty mentions that it was 60 years ago since Love released both their debut self-titled album and it's follow up "Da Capo". It's difficult to fathom that two records of such quality could be released within the same calendar year of 1966, and even harder to believe that the classic, ground-breaking and hugely influential "Forever Changes" was to be released just one year later. Of course, tonight they concentrate on the Johnny Echols era of those wonderful first three albums and I guess, once that line-up had disbanded and Arthur gathered new recruits for the next album "Four Sail", Love never quite recaptured those glories of 1966-67. Only the beautiful "Always See Your Face" from the post-Echols era makes it into the set and admittedly it is a wonderful song that sounds superb. It’s almost impossible to pick out highlights as I could just say “the whole bloody set was a highlight” but that wouldn’t be very insightful, so I’ll mention the tambourine and bass intro to Bacharach & David's "My Little Red Book" which always sends a shiver down my spine. The triple hit of “Alone Again Or”, “And More” and then “Andmoreagain” is astonishing, you’re going to find it hard to find a better trio of songs in any band’s back catalogue.
Then there’s “The Red Telephone” with its unsettling coda “they're locking them up today and throwing away the key, I wonder who it will be tomorrow, you or me?” which could well soundtrack any news bulletin today. It’s not just the band’s music that is timeless, but I think their political outlook still hits home, for example, “ask your leaders why?” Rusty sings plaintively in the stunning “Live and Let Live” and that one simple question should reverberate across the world. Also, the current line-up is racially diverse, as was Love when they first formed and that is another positive message that highlights music really does transcend all cultures, regardless. I’m sure Love must have broken down some cultural barriers in their day just as multi-racial 2-Tone bands like The Specials, The Selecter and The Beat did in my youth. Along with acts like The Clash and The Ruts turning us kids onto Reggae, it can only be a positive force for good, especially when I think of all the many and varied people I’ve met, friends that I have made and places that I have visited all thanks to music. I’ve written before on the influence that Love had on some of my other favourite bands, particularly those from Liverpool such as the Head brother’s Pale Fountains and Shack (who also backed Arthur Lee for a few shows) and later Mick Head’s Red Elastic Band. Swedish Psych Rockers The Soundtrack of Our Lives were also big fans as you can hear in tracks such as “Where’s The Rock?” and “Lone Summer Dream” and of course, bands such as Ramones and The Damned who actually released Love cover versions. Love seemed to be a band that were and still are, just as revered by other musicians as much as the fans.
As for the current line-up, I think it’s the evident joy that emanates from the band being able to play these remarkable songs that really endears them to the crowd, they seem to be having as much fun as we are, there are smiles everywhere. Rusty is a wonderful singer with a sublime voice but it must have been daunting to take on the mantle of frontman, following in the musical and vocal footsteps of the iconic Arthur Lee. But, as anyone who has seen the band play live will know, he does a fantastic job. Mike's guitarwork is something else too and it's a thrill to watch him play as he's obviously so engrossed in the music. James effortlessly spins out those inventive basslines and I love the pulsing riff to an excellent version of "You Set The Scene". Johnny takes on lead vocals for the highly emotional “Signed D.C.” although he ends with the line “Signed J.E.” which is a nice touch. They close the night with a raucous charge through the Garage Rock classic “Seven And Seven Is”, which I first heard on the reissue of Lenny Kaye’s “Nuggets” compilation back in the 80’s and it still sounds as vicious and charged as any Punk Rock band that I’ve enjoyed over the years. David Green's tremendous drumming really propels the song along at breakneck speed. The love and affection pouring from the crowd as the guys take a bow at the end of the show is tangible, there’s just something very special about this band that grabs your heartstrings. Bear with me here, but in the (highly unlikely) event that I had to pick just one band to see play live, my ‘desert island’ gig so to speak, I'd have to choose Love with Johnny Echols every time. They just encapsulate everything that is good about music to me, life-affirming, emotional and timeless songs that sound as fresh and vital now as they must have done back in the day. And I can vouch for that, as I was chatting to my friend David Arnoff (the legendary Rock photographer) afterwards and the gig got his seal of approval. After all he saw Love back in 1966 at the Hollywood Bowl, and if it’s good enough for him…!
You can see another video from the show at our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here, where you can also find more videos from previous Love gigs at The Garage and Shepherds Bush Empire in London and The Stables in Milton Keynes. It's free to subscribe. There is also a feature on the 2024 "Forever Changes" gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire in the Retro Man Blog archive here.
It was great to see my Swedish pal Tommy with his Stockholm based Garage R'n'B band Stupidity back on U.K. soil again after a long absence, in fact it was the first time I'd had chance to see the 'new' line-up as original members Tommy on drums and vocalist Erniz have now been joined by guitarist Janne and bassist Ulrika. This line-up was responsible for last year's excellent album "AI (Alternative Intelligence)" where they were joined by Keith Streng from The Fleshtones, who records and plays live with the band when his busy schedule allows. Kicking off with the double hit of "King Midas" and the brilliant "A Monkey In A Suit (Is Still A Monkey)", the band didn't take their feet off the gas for a minute. Their tight and catchy Garage R'n'B, driven by Tommy's insistent drumming was out of this world with the superb "Cheap Thrills" being a perfect example. They play their latest single, a cracking version of Jesse Hector & The Gatecrashers "Carolina" which also features on their forthcoming album "Beyond Stupidity" out soon on Little Steven's Wicked Cool Records. It really highlighted Erniz's raw vocals, he's a great frontman flanked by the impressive riffing of Janne and the ice-cool Ulrika on the bass.
For tonight's gig they called upon the services of another legendary guitarist and friend Chris Spedding, who they backed during his recent Swedish tour. They played Spedding's "Get Outa My Pagoda" and the classic "Motorbikin'" and he stayed on stage to finish the main set which included one of my favourites, the soulful blast of "Save Me". They encored with a spirited version of "BBC", the raucous Psych Punk song from Mike Myers spoof band Ming Tea that featured in the first "Austin Powers" movie. This was an apt and amusing choice considering we are in this English seaside town famed for it's saucy seaside postcards and kiss me quick hats, and it rounded off a thoroughly entertaining show perfectly. I can't wait for the new album!
I really enjoyed the headline act The Cynz, who have also played with Stupidity in New York and Sweden and they extended the invitation for the Swedes to join them for their gigs in London on the Saturday and in Brighton which was a nice touch. The Cynz are fronted by the charismatic vocalist Cyndi Dawson, and although they're actually from New Jersey, they have the raw and dirty sound of a classic downtown NYC/CBGB's Punk Rock 'n' Roll band. Songwriting partner and guitarist Henry Seiz not only adds some mean riffs but his backing vocals lift the songs to another level. My personal highlights were "Weight Of The World" from their "Five Mortal Cynz" E.P. and a trio of tracks from their latest LP "Confess" which is out now on JEM Records, the blistering "My Father's Gun" and "Woman Child" and the melodic almost Go-Go's sounding "Love's So Lovely". They also threw in a great cover of 13th Floor Elevators '60's Nuggets classic "You're Gonna Miss Me" for good measure. I'm enjoying checking out The Cynz new album and discovering their back catalogue and hope to see them play live again one day.
For more videos from the gig please check out our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here.
Alan Blizzard, Marty Love, Jim Jones, Joe De Lorenzo, Guy Griffin and Alan Clayton
Back in 2023, Patti Smith Group guitarist Lenny Kaye played
some successful and well-received shows in the States to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the release of his iconic and hugely influential “Nuggets”
compilation. Lenny was backed by a stellar line-up consisiting of some of his many musician
friends, playing cover versions of some of those classic tracks that he had included on
the album. The U.K. based Damned aficionado Kevin Shepherd, then suggested to
his friend Joe De Lorenzo, the promoter and tour manager for The Damned, that
Lenny should consider bringing the Nuggets show to London. Somehow, using his extensive
contacts, Joe made it happen and he assembled an impressive Transatlantic cast
for a two-night stand at the 100 Club back in April 2024. The core
band backing Lenny featured bassist Dave Treganna of Sham 69 and Lords of The
New Church, Jim Jones of Thee Hypnotics and Jim Jones All Stars on guitars and
vocals, drumming duties were shared between Rat Scabies of The Damned and Marty
Love of Wingmen and the Johnny Moped Band. The other ever presents were Derek
Cruz from the Jesse Malin band on Guitars, Harmonica and Percussion and Greg
Rice on the keyboards, who both did a superb job considering they were in for
the long haul.
Joe with Richard England, Marty Love and Jim Jones
Jim Jones on stage at the Nuggets 100 Club show from Alan Blizzard's movie
We were also treated to various special guest vocalists
including Clive 'The Doctor' Jackson of Dr & The Medics, Jon King from
Gang of Four, Alan Clayton of The Dirty Strangers, Peter Coyne of The
Godfathers, Anita Chellamah from Cherry Bombz and they were joined by New
Yorkers, Roxanne Fontana and Amanda Cross. Then we had the guest guitarists,
Cheetah Chrome from CBGB's legends Dead Boys, Japanese guitarist Tsuyoshi
Kitagawa, otherwise known as Go Ohgami, Billy Shinbone from The Sinclairs and
Guy Griffin of The Quireboys. Most memorably of all, it also featured Brian
James of The Damned with what was to be his last ever live performance before
he sadly passed away. If that wasn't enough, former Clash compatriot DJ Barry
'Scratchy' Myers warmed up the crowd perfectly and Go-Go dancers Moana Santana
and Helene de Joie provided some suitably 60's style atmosphere.
Nuggets promoter Joe De Lorenzo
Brian James filmed at rehearsals by Alan Blizzard for his "Nuggets: The Movie"
Then recently it was announced that Johnny Depp’s record
label IN-2, in conjunction with the U.K. based Cadiz Music, were going to
release a “Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets Live at The BBC” E.P. consisting of a Marc
Riley session that they had recorded while they were in London for the 100 Club
shows in 2024. It was a special Record Store Day release, so on Saturday, we
went along to the Spice of Life in London’s Soho for the E.P. listening and launch party organised by Joe De Lorenzo and Cadiz Music. The afternoon event
also included an exclusive preview of the forthcoming LP “Riot On Oxford
Street: Live at the 100 Club” and a screening of Alan Blizzard’s excellent
behind-the-scenes documentary "The Nuggets Movie” filmed during the 2024
London trip. There was also the added bonus of a Q&A session with Jim
Jones, Marty Love and Joe, hosted by Richard England of Cadiz, and there were
appearances from ‘Nuggeteers’ Alan Clayton, Greg Rice and Guy Griffin who were
happy to chat to members of the audience and sign copies of the E.P.
Lenny Kaye at the 100 Club Nuggets show on April 4th 2024
It was a
thoroughly entertaining afternoon and there was some good news too, there are
plans underway for some gigs later in the year to promote the release of the
live LP, so please keep an eye out for more information on that. Can’t wait! You
can read all about one of the 100 Club gigs in our Retro Man Blog feature here,
which also includes lots of photos and videos from a truly remarkable night. More videos from the gig can be found by visiting our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here, it's totally free to subscribe. Here's an example of one of our videos, Lenny Kaye with "I Wanna Be Your Dog" featuring Brian James it what was sadly to be his last ever live performance, Cheetah Chrome of The Dead Boys, Rat Scabies of The Damned and Dave Treganna of Lords of The New Church...
My first introduction to The Damned was watching them play "Love Song" on Top of The Pops as a kid back in 1979 and the first thing that hit me was that immense blast of a bass riff by Algy Ward. I got the album from where it came, “Machine Gun Etiquette”, and it still stands out as one of the very best Punk Rock LPs of all-time, certainly one of my favourites too. However, what came next was a big departure, not just with the line-up as Paul Gray from Eddie & The Hot Rods replaced Algy on the bass, but in the sheer scope of the songs on their next release, an ambitious double album entitled “The Black Album” which included the 17 minute Gothic masterpiece “Curtain Call”. I finally got to see them play live in 1981 at the Lyceum in London on the tour promoting the album, and I was totally blown away. I still think of that fantastic line-up of Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies and Paul Gray as 'my' Damned and "The Black Album", "Strawberries" and "The Friday 13th E.P." from that era are absolute classics. So, it was quite emotional to see that very same line-up on stage at the Wembley Arena to celebrate the band's 50th Anniversary with a setlist that featured many of the songs they played back at my first ever Damned gig! When the gig was announced I must admit to being disappointed to see they had chosen such an awful venue, I am not a big fan of such large soulless places, and I was in two minds whether to go or not. However, I didn’t want to regret missing out on such a special occasion and when I saw the superb support acts lined up, I snapped up a ticket. I must admit I was very pleased and relieved that I did, in the end it was a triumphant and hugely successful show despite my initial misgivings about the venue. At least I wasn’t the only one to dislike the place, even Captain Sensible held the same view, “I prefer the Hope & Anchor” he announced, “Wembley Arena is a big concrete shithole, but at least tonight it’s our big concrete shithole!”
Dwarfed by a huge backdrop and screens showing some fantastic spooky graphics, the band opened with “Street of Dreams” from the “Phantasmagoria” album, (which ironically didn’t feature the Captain or Paul Gray) and then treated us to a first set that was an absolute treat for us “Black Album”/”Strawberries” generation of fans. The brilliant “Wait For The Blackout” was one of the highlights of the night for me and this was followed by the epic “History of The World (Part 1)” and an atmospheric “Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde” complete with old horror movie back projections. It’s a song that highlights Paul Gray’s immense bass playing, and the sound is spot on tonight so you can really appreciate his talents and wonder why he is such an underrated bassist. Maybe it’s because his playing didn’t define The Damned in the way that maybe JJ Burnel, Peter Hook (more on him later) and Jah Wobble did on their respective bands. Captain Sensible in his trademark beret, black and red stripey jumper (with the addition of an oversized ‘50’ badge) and Gibson SG guitar, looks as good as he sounds, defying the years, it’s hard to believe the band are celebrating their 50th year as he’s barely changed since that first time I saw him. We then get two tracks from “Strawberries”, the brilliant, soulful “Stranger On The Town” is an absolute delight that gets the crowd moving and the Psychedelic Pop strains of “Under The Floor Again” is an unexpected gem. Dave moans about Su Pollard keeping “Eloise” off the top of the charts, I’m not a big fan of the song but I guess it has to be included as it was their biggest hit, and I guess an entry point for a lot of new fans at the time.
The band remind us that it’s not all about nostalgia and that they are still releasing new material with “Wake The Dead” from the 2023 “Darkedelic” album. Personally, I think the band were rejuvenated when Paul Gray re-joined and they released the brilliant “Rockfield Files” E.P. and it got me interested in their new material again. It was a similar situation when Baz Warne took on lead vocals with The Stranglers and the quality of their music and live performances shot up to another level and seemed to re-energize the band, and their fans. Captain takes over on lead vocals for the whimsical “Life Goes On” underpinned by another superb Paul Gray bassline that I’m sure Nirvana pilfered for “Come As You Are” and the pure pop of “Is It A Dream?” are pointers that The Damned weren’t always just about Anarchy, Chaos and Destruction, we’ll save those traits for the second set. My love of “Machine Gun Etiquette” is rewarded by “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today” which highlights the skills of keyboard player Monty Oxymoron who has now become an integral part of the band, “Hurry up Beethoven”, Dave jokes with him at one point. The first set draws to a close with the classic “Smash It Up Parts 1 & 2” after which the band retire for a short interval, and we are kept entertained while we wait by the Pearl and Dean music and loads of old nostalgic TV adverts.
The band return for a second set and take no prisoners with a far Punkier selection of songs, the back projection shows a clip of the band’s appearance on the classic comedy show The Young Ones and we get the rush of “Nasty”, which is a fantastic and unexpected surprise. That awesome bass intro of “Love Song” is like a rush of adrenaline and that’s followed by the blistering “Machine Gun Etiquette/Second Time Around” which almost careers off the rails. Despite missing his cue on occasion and some dodgy Elvis style hip swings, Dave Vanian is in fine form, starting off in trilby, black mask and long black coat, there must be a Dorian Gray style portrait hanging up in his loft, as he is defying the years like his bandmates. Rat Scabies proves that he is one of the best drummers to have come out of the Punk explosion and it’s so great that he is back in the line-up where he belongs. Dave pays tribute to Brian James and also to Algy Ward and Bryn Merrick which is a nice touch, and they slam into “Fan Club” from the debut album.
I’m over the moon as next up they play what could well be my all-time favourite Damned track, “Disco Man” from what must be the best ever 4-song E.P. of all time “The Friday 13th E.P.” and I can feel a lump in my throat and a tear in my eye. It’s impossible for a band to satisfy everyone, especially one that’s been going for 50 years with such an immense back catalogue, but I think they got the setlist just about right. After all, if every fan submitted their ideal setlist, I’m sure every single one would be different! Also, we already had the special treat of the original line-up reunion with Brian James at the Hammersmith Apollo, so they could be forgiven for missing a lot of the early material. Personally, as it was their 50th anniversary, I would have liked to have heard “Problem Child” or “Stretcher Case”, but I was happy that I got a fair few of my favourite songs. Talking of favourite songs, “Ignite”, the opening track from “Strawberries” was incendiary, if you pardon the pun, and it turned into an immense call and response singalong with the crowd. The classic “Neat, Neat, Neat” sparked off some mosh pit action but then the mood changed for the epic, cinematic classic “Curtain Call”, a duo of songs that couldn’t highlight the scope of The Damned’s musically ambitious eclecticism any better. Of course, the set closes with “New Rose”, that very first Punk single released in 1976, fifty years ago. I’ll say that again, fifty bloody years ago, hard to believe it when the band you are watching are looking and sounding as fresh, energetic and vital as ever. Let’s hope for a few more birthday celebrations to come.
I mentioned earlier that one of the reasons I decided to go was the great line-up that didn’t just consist of the usual Punk bands that I was expecting. The Loveless is Marc Almond’s fun Rock ‘n’ Roll side project and they played a great set mainly consisting of covers with a couple of originals thrown in. They had that down and dirty sound down to a tee and some highlights included takes on 13th Floor Elevators “You’re Gonna Miss Me” and a rousing, Glamtastic “Hell Raiser” by The Sweet. Guitarist Neal X was in top form and the version of his old band Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s “Love Missile F1-11” really worked. As did, Soft Cell’s classic cover “Tainted Love” which was out of this world played in the Rock ‘n’ Roll format. Marc Almond’s voice was fantastic, and he really seemed to enjoy fronting this excellent band.
Peter Hook & The Light also delighted the crowd with their set of Joy Division numbers that all sounded immense. The band were formed out of the ashes of Hook’s own Monaco with the addition of his son Jack on second bass, in fact Jack seemed to carry most of the burden, playing more than his Dad, who concentrates on singing, legs wide in familiar pose. Hooky, who’s wearing an Oasis T-Shirt featuring one of my Retro Man Blog colleague Paul Slattery’s photos, has such charisma that he seems to shrink the size of Wembley Arena, and Joy Division’s icy songs flourished in the environment. Talking of T-Shirts, guitarist David Potts is wearing one featuring the cover of The Damned’s “Friday The 13th EP” and he said he was chuffed to bits to be on the same bill as one of his favourite bands, it was a nice touch. We get a superb selection of songs such as “Transmission”, “Disorder”, “Shadowplay” and “Ceremony”, which was the Joy Division song that crossed over to New Order and inevitably, the set closed with “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and the crowd sang their hearts out.
Opening up the night were one of our Blog favourites, the Brazilian/Danish duo The Courettes, and I must admit I was a little worried about how they would fare in the cavernous Arena. But I needn’t have been concerned, and I was so pleased for Martin and Flavia that they went down so well despite the extremely early start. In the end they owned the huge stage of the Arena, it was certainly a far cry from the first time I saw them at the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden, but Flavia’s electric presence and Martin’s dynamic drumming style, more than compensated for the huge empty space around them. Of course, having such memorable and timeless songs helps and their trademark wall of sound, bubble-gum harmonies and fuzzed up riffs really endeared them to the thankfully, quite large crowd that were there early enough to see them play. “Boom! Dynamite!” was a real highlight with Flavia machine-gunning the crowd with her vintage guitar and “Hop The Twig” with its Cramps style intro went down a storm and I’m sure they gained a whole bunch of new fans. So, overall it was a superb night and I must admit that the sound and
lighting at the venue were excellent, it was loud and powerful even from
where I was sitting at the side of the stage, but I don’t think I will
attend many more Arena sized shows, as just like the Captain, my heart
is at The Hope & Anchor.
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