The Damned @ The Metro Sydney

So there I was doing my daily skim through Facebook to see if anyone has posted anything interesting, when a dear old friend who I haven't see for more than 10 years offers me a spot on the guest list to see The Damned! being a diehard fan of The Damned since I was still in High School how could I possibly refuse such an offer. The show was on a Saturday night, I am a socially retarded individual so to prepare for the show I drank 3 1/4 of a bottle of Mishka before I even left the house. I rocked up to the Metro in Sydney slightly tanked and a little bit sizzled from the fucken big joint I decided to blow before I went in, needless to say it made for an ultra funky atmosphere.

I grabbed a Coopers which is the cheapest beer they had at $7.50 (WTF!?!?!?!) and made my way into the theater to check out the opening act, I'm fucked if I can remember the name of this band but I know it was a ridiculously cliche name like Kill Crazy Junkies or something like that. I found these guys to be a bit boring and I couldn't understand how such a band managed to score the support slot for legends like the Damned, their sound was like a really watered down version of The International Noise Conspiracy without the attitude or intensity. I wouldn't recommend going to see this band as you may very well walk away disappointed, although their songs may appeal to some people, I personally couldn't find anything about this band to be appealing.

Ah well nevertheless I wasn't there to see the support act, The Damned is who I was eagerly anticipating. After the opening band finished their set The Metro was pretty well packed to it's capacity, I myself was quite thoroughly pissed at this stage and all lubed up for a fucking killer show. When the Damned took the stage they were greeted by loud bellowing cheers from the audience, The Captain was in his trademark red beret and white sunnies and Dave Vanian was in all his wonderful gothic splendor. I'm fucked if I know who the other guys in the band were, would of loved to of seen them with Rat Scabies on the drums but without Rat Scabies the Damned still put on a fucking amazing show.

They played all their classics, highlights of course were Video nasty, I Just Can't Be Happy Today, New Rose and also seeing these two very well equipped babes come out for a dance during one of the songs was absolutely brilliant. All in all The Damned was just what I expected, sheer punk rock brilliance! even after 35 years these guys have still got the spark and know how to rock the fucking casbah. They closed the show with one of their biggest songs Smash It Up, and it was indeed a magical moment........the crowd was mostly made up of old school boot boys but any younger people out there who think they know what real punk rock is about! you haven't seen shit until you've seen The Damned!