Wednesday, May 5, 2010

1989 - The Damned - Celebrity Theatre


Set List:
See Her Tonite, Fish, Born To Kill, Fan Club, Help, Neat Neat Neat, I Fall, New Rose, I Feel Alright, I Just Can't Be Happy Today, Hey Jo, Wait For The Blackout, Noise Noise Noise, Melody Lee, Love Song, Smash It Up, Daytripper, Looking At You, The Last Time.

A review from the L.A. Times:
The Damned Ends as It Began: Naked and Ablaze
Pop Music Reviews
July 22, 1989
CRAIG LEE
The Damned may not have been the best or most innovative of the English punk groups, but in 1977 this messy goon squad was the first British punk outfit to issue a single and an album, and, most influentially, it was the first to play Los Angeles, serving as the catalyst for a revolutionary style of music and fashion whose ramifications still roar through L.A.'s rock scene.
It's fitting that the group ended the L.A. show of what's billed as its farewell tour on Thursday at the Hollywood Palladium in the same rowdy manner as its debut at the Starwood: with drummer Rat Scabies igniting and demolishing his drums while bassist/guitarist Captain Sensible (definitely not a contender for any health spa endorsements) ran around nude.
Like the title of one of its most ferocious rave-ups, the Damned are still pretty "Neat Neat Neat." Running through a career retrospective, the quartet concentrated on the dark fury of its first and best album before adding a fifth player for later "hits," while a sold-out throng of kids took songs like "Smash It Up" to heart (and body) in the slam pit.
This show also confirmed that underneath the obnoxious behavior and often sloppy, haphazard playing is a band of faithful believers in the liberating spirit of outrageous rock 'n' roll.
Paying tribute to that spirit with crash-and-burn versions of Beatles, Stones, Iggy Pop and MC5 classics mixed in with its own tunes, the Damned proved it deserves a place alongside the musical company it kept. The group plays Anaheim's Celebrity Theatre on Wednesday.

I went to this show with Christine.  It is a little theatre in the round that I had never heard of before this show.
All the seats were good.  I remember I had taken my binoculars not knowing how big or small this place was.  Well, no seat was more than 20 feet or so from the stage.  It was memorable because it was supposed to be the last tour of the original line-up and it was a great show.  Captain Sensible taking his clothes off and well, leaving an impression!  
I do have to say that I have become a huge Rat Scabies fan since then.  I love researching and reading about the Holy Grail and all of the conspiracy and intrigue surrounding it.  Who knew that Rat Scabies is a Grail expert.  His father is one of the most noted researchers on Grail and Rennes-le-Chateau lore and because of his fathers expertise he has become one himself.  A book came out in 2005 called, Rat Scabies and The Holy Grail it is a fantastic journey not only to find the Grail but, about friendship.  By Christopher Dawes.  Read it if you can!   

1 comment:

  1. I didn't think I went to this one. What was up with that? Huh?

    ReplyDelete