The Damned 50th Anniversary Show at Wembley Arena with The Loveless, Peter Hook & The Light and The Courettes

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.

 

You can see more videos from the show at our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here. Also, don't forget our thoroughly entertaining Retrosonic Podcast with Flavia and Martin from The Courettes, which can be found at our Soundcloud archive here.

Retrosonic Podcast · Presenting the fabulous Courettes

Brian James - R.I.P. The Damned and Lords of The New Church Guitarist 18th February 1955-6th March 2025

Brian at the Retro Bar (with TexasTerri & Rat Scabies)

Such sad news about the passing of Brian James, I was too young to have seen him when he was first in The Damned, I was from the "Machine Gun Etiquette" and "Black Album" era but of course loved the first two LPs, particularly the raw power of the debut "Damned Damned Damned" and classic singles "New Rose" and "Neat Neat Neat". His visceral guitar sound was like nothing else, instantly recognisable and unique. Like many young bands starting out, we had a bash at a cover version of "New Rose" at our first ever gig back in 1981 and I still have the TDK D-90 cassette recording of the show to this day - however, it's better to be looked at and reminisced about rather than listened too! Lords of The New Church were more of my time and their debut album is a classic, they were a great live band too, Brian happily blasting away at the guitar while frontman Stiv Bators took the limelight. I also saw Brian play at various small gigs over the years, such as the Lenny Kaye Nuggets show at the 100 Club last year, the Retro Bar with Rat and TexasTerri (one of the loudest shows I've ever been too) in 2012 and the fantastic night at the Troubadour to celebrate the launch of his official biography by John Wombat, in 2019, which you can read about in our feature here. I was also chuffed to have caught him at the Hammersmith Apollo for The Damned's reunion in 2022, he did a sterling job despite not being in the best of health and it was a joy to hear all those early songs with Brian's trademark guitar sound. R.I.P. Brian James. Here are a few photographic and video memories...

At the Troubadour biography launch party

Our first gig 1981 with "New Rose" attempt (note Jeff's Damned T-shirt)

Some of my old Lords of The New Church gig tickets

With Rat and TexasTerri at the Retro Bar

The Damned original line-up reunion Hammersmith Apollo

Brian with TexasTerri and Rat at the Retro Bar

The Troubadour

Retro Man Blog & Retrosonic Podcast's Favourite Gigs of 2024 with Photos & Videos

All photos copyright Retro Man Blog

Welcome to this selection of some of our favourite gigs of 2024. There were some super shows this year, from intimate solo performances in churches to full-on orchestral shows and of course the usual raucous Rock 'n' Roll gigs in classic venues. Please click on the highlighted band name for links to access our videos from the relevant shows and I've added links to various corresponding reviews in our archive too.

1. Love Revisited with Johnny Echols - Shepherds Bush Empire

 For review with photos and videos check out our Retro Man Blog feature here

2. The Soundtrack of Our Lives - Camden Electric Ballroom

3. The Prisoners - The Roundhouse, Camden

For review with more photos from the show, check out the feature here

4. Bill Ryder-Jones - "Iechyd Da" Live at The Barbican

5. Lenny Kaye & Friends Play Nuggets - 100 Club, London

Check out the feature here for review and more photos and videos

6. The Woggles, The Len Price 3 & The Galileo 7 - 100 Club, London

See more photos and videos from the show at our Retro Man Blog feature here

7. The Blue Aeroplanes - Lafayette, London

For review with photos and videos from the show check out the Retro Man Blog feature here

8. Michael Head - St. Pancras Old Church, London

9. Love Revisited with Johnny Echols - The Stables, Milton Keynes

10. Indochine - Rough Trade East, London

See more photos and videos from the show at our Retro Man Blog feature here

11. Altin Gun - The Troxy, London

12. Elephant Stone & Karma Sheen - The Lexington, London

Check the feature here for review with photos and videos

13. The WitchDoktors, The Phobics & Damage - The Half Moon Putney

14. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band - EartH Hackney

For review with photos and videos from the show, check out the feature here

15. The Damned - Waterside Theatre Aylesbury

16. Lalalar - The Garage, Islington

See photos and more videos from the show at the Retro Man Blog feature here

17. Michael Head - Rough Trade East, London

18. Ruts DC - ElectrAcoustic at 100 Club, London

For feature on ElectrAcoustic Vol. 3 check out the the Blog archive here

19. Bill Ryder-Jones - Islington Assembly Hall

20. Robyn Hitchcock - Foyles, London

For original videos from most of the shows above, please check out our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel, you can subscribe for free here. All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog.

Lenny Kaye & Friends play Nuggets at The 100 Club London, Thursday April 4th 2024

Lenny Kaye with Marty Love on drums

Lenny Kaye, the New York based musical historian, journalist, author and of course, guitarist with the Patti Smith Group for an impressive 50 years, has another equally impressive entry on his CV, and that’s as the compiler of what must be one of the most influential albums of all time. "Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968" released on Elektra Records in 1972, was Lenny’s painstaking labour of love, a compilation of obscure 60's American Garage Rock and Psych bands. Often these teen trash bands were one local hit wonders that might have only just made it out from their garage rehearsal to a nearby recording studio or High School gig before disappearing from view for good. However, some of the featured bands would end up clicking with lovers of raw power Rock ‘n Roll for generations to follow. The Seeds, The Sonics and The Music Machine to name but three, inspired countless Garage Punk bands all over the world. The influence of the California based Love in particular, would resonant hugely with the city of Liverpool, not just back in the 80’s with Liverpudlian Post Punk bands such as Echo & The Bunnymen and The Teardrop Explodes but on into the 90’s when songwriting genius Mick Head’s Shack ended up as Arthur Lee’s backing band on his UK tour and then later still with local bands such as The Coral. Well over half the bands I've featured on Retro Man Blog and Retrosonic Podcast owe a huge debt to Nuggets in some way or other - just check out some of our favourite contemporary acts from all over the globe such as Las Aspiradoras from Spain, The Satelliters from Germany, The Hangees from Sardinia, Vic & The Sect from Mexico, Frowning Clouds from Australia, Stompin’ Riff Raffs from Japan and The In-Fuzzed from France are just some great examples.

 

Lenny Kaye with Jim Jones

Lenny Kaye with Jon King from Gang of Four

Lenny with Moana Santana & Helene de Joie

Lenny decided to play some shows in America to celebrate the belated 50^th anniversary of the release of “Nuggets”, gathering together a stellar cast of musicians such as Peter Buck from R.E.M., Peter Zaremba from The Fleshtones, Kathy Valentine from The Go-Go's along with surviving members of some of the original bands like The Seeds, The Electric Prunes, The Leaves, The Chocolate Watchband and Johnny Echols of Love. Then came the announcement of a London show and Lenny, together with promoter Joe De Lorenzo, assembled an equally impressive Transatlantic cast for a night at the legendary 100 Club on Thursday April 4^th. Due to the huge demand, a second date on Friday 5^th was quickly added and that too sold out in lightning time, so we were grateful for the quick action in securing tickets for the Thursday, it was something I just could not have missed as the line-up looked amazing. Lenny took centre stage on guitar and vocals and it struck me that it looks like he's barely changed over the years, he’s relaxed and cheerful and looks genuinely chuffed to bits to be able to share his passion for good time Rock & Roll with us. There’s a core band backing Lenny, featuring 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. 

Lenny Kaye with Cheetah Chrome of The Dead Boys

Rat Scabies of The Damned

Lenny with Clive Jackson from Dr & The Medics

 

 

Various special guest vocalists joined in the fun - 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 and Anita Chellamah from Cherry Bombz. They were joined buy the UK based New Yorker Roxanne Fontana and the New York based Amanda Cross who both have new records of their own out now. Then we had the guest guitarists, Cheetah Chrome from CBGB's legends Dead Boys, Japanese guitarist Tsuyoshi Kitagawa otherwise known as Go Ohgami, Brian James of The Damned, Billy Shinbone from The Sinclairs and Guy Griffin of The Quireboys. 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. We certainly got our ticket money's worth. The only disappointment was that Dave Vanian, Paul Gray and Captain Sensible of The Damned had to pull out as did Deb O'Nair, the original organ player with The Fuzztones. It was a big shame as both bands were pivotal in introducing me to Nuggets and The Fuzztones classic "Lysergic Emanations" is still one of my all-time favourites albums. I was hoping that we would see half of Naz Nomad reunited along with that classic Black Album/Strawberries (and praise be, also the current…) line-up of The Damned.

Cheetah Chrome of The Dead Boys

Rat Scabies, Jim Jones, Helene de Joie & Derek Cruz

Lenny with Alan Clayton of Dirty Strangers

Personally, I first got drawn to 60’s Nuggets mainly thanks to The Damned’s alter-ego Naz Nomad & The Nightmares and their soundtrack to an imaginary Swinging 60’s teen exploitation movie “Give Daddy the Knife Cindy”, which featured covers of prime Nuggets material. The 60's Garage Psych influence on the Damned’s superb "Strawberries" album was apparent and in the mid-80’s I could see The Fuzztones and Dr & The Medics thanks to The Damned inviting them on tour as support bands. Around that time, I also saw Australia's Scientists and Hoodoo Gurus and lapped up the Trash scene of the Klub Foot at The Clarendon in Hammersmith where The Prisoners with their Hammond organ (pretty rare at the time) conjured up not only Small Faces but Question Mark & The Mysterians iconic "96 Tears". The Tall Boys, Milkshakes, and my favourites The Playn Jayn, all mined the 60's Garage Rock and Psych sound and 1984-86 was an absolute blast of groovy sounds, yeah baby! In fact, I interviewed Dr & The Medics for my fanzine Out of Step just before they themselves became one-hit wonders and topped the charts with the now ubiquitous "Spirit in the Sky". However, before this brush with the mainstream, they were a pretty cool band, a superb live act and were responsible for running the Alice in Wonderland nightclub in London. Check out their early releases and demos, they are well worth a listen. But the disappointment of Dave, Paul, the Captain, and Deb not being able to make it was soon put to one side when you consider the quality of the assembled special guests who did appear.

Dave Treganna of Sham 69, The Doctor & Moana Santana

Peter Coyne of The Godfathers, Rat Scabies, Jim Jones & Derek Cruz

Lenny with Rat Scabies

 

 

In an immense set that stretched to well over two hours, the packed out 100 Club crowd were treated to an astonishing 33 songs including such Nuggets classics as “Dirty Water”, “Little Red Book”, “Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White”, “Pushing Too Hard”, “The Witch” and “Strychnine” , “Action Woman”, “Nobody But Me”, “You’re Gonna Miss Me”, “Wooly Bully” and of course “Louie Louie”. Lenny also made the decision to include some non-Nuggets crowd favourites to suit the guests and keep it varied and there were so many highlights, it’s hard and probably a bit unfair to pick out specific moments. But if pushed I must mention Peter Coyne’s visceral attack on The Creation’s “How Does It Feel To Feel” which took me back to the blistering early days of The Godfathers. Billy Shinbone’s extraordinary guitar wig-out on Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” even had Lenny staring open-mouthed in awe. Roxanne Fontana in a fetching mask and outfit took on Velvet Underground’s “Venus In Furs” and Alan Clayton’s Bluesy swagger on the Small Faces “Whatcha Gonna Do About It” was ace. Amanda Cross put in a stunning performance of Bo Diddley’s “Roadrunner” and Jim Jones in bug-eyed shades was the epitome of Rock ‘n’ Roll cool personified and his version of “99^th Floor” by The Moving Sidewalks was superb.

Dave Treganna, Roxanne Fontana, Marty Love & Lenny Kaye

Anita Chellamah & Helen de Joie

Lenny Kaye with Clive Jackson of Dr & The Medics

 

The Doctor took to the stage to croon through Love’s “My Little Red Book” and The Sonics “Strychnine”, which saw the crowd going crazy. Then there was Lenny Kaye’s own obscure Nugget, a great Garage Country Rock track “Crazy Like A Fox” from his pre-Patti Smith days in Link Cromwell & The Zoo. Everyone played their part – credit to Dave Treganna on bass as he had to play on all the songs throughout the evening and he kept everything ticking over perfectly. Behind the drums, Rat Scabies was immense as was Martin ‘Marty Love’ Parrott from Wingmen, another one of our favourite surprise collaborations. Things got wild towards the end of the set with the introduction of Cheetah Chrome from The Dead Boys and Brian James of The Damned – and they powered their way through MC5’s “Looking At You” and “Kick Out The Jams” before Lenny took off his shirt and announced “I’m gonna do this Iggy style” and I unconsciously sucked my stomach in as he was so fit and lean, putting me to shame, he looks amazing for 77! The familiar guitar riff to “I Wanna Be Your Dog” started off, and in true Iggy style, Lenny dives headlong off the stage for some crowd-surfing action, it’s a great moment. For the last song, all the special guests take to the stage for a massive singalong of “Gloria” and it’s over. What an amazing night, this will live long in the memory for sure. Massive congratulations to Joe De Lorenzo and whoever else helped to make this happen – a truly special Rock ‘n’ Roll happening that sums up the wonderful power of unabashed joyful music played by people who were having as much of a good time  on the stage as we were in the crowd.

Lenny takes a break to read a passage from his excellent book "Lightning Striking" before chanelling his inner-Iggy!

Check out our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel for more videos from the show. Also, please do take the time to click on the highlighted links throughout the feature to discover what else the wonderful special guests are up to! All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog.

 

 

Here's some pages from Issue 4 of my old fanzine Out of Step published in September 1985...