By Luigi Sibona
They’re back! Forty years since their inception The Damned are back on the streets of London. The 26th November at the O2 Brixton Academy will see the stage set for a full rendition of their monumental punk blueprint, ‘Damned Damned Damned’, as well as a retrospective set of their genre-defining career.
Pioneers of the Brit punk scene, beating contemporaries the Sex Pistols and The Clash to the first punk single (and album to boot) in the UK, The Damned have been famed for their euphoric, rock-star live shows and here at Clunk we’re uniformly pumped.
On account of that first record alone, The Damned would forever be held in the highest echelons of the punk elite but, more so than any of their British counterparts, they continuously evolved over their eclectic and progressive career. Their second album, ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’, still stands as one of the utmost pinnacles of the genre and the musical and thematic progression of ‘The Black Album’ and ‘Strawberries’ – a personal favourite – shows a sense of wit and effortless dynamism practically unheard of.
It’s going to be a hell of a show and we should all be grateful to have the opportunity to see such punk royalty up on the stage with all the punch and snotty energy they ever had.
Tour Dates:Â
November
22 Cambridge, Junction
23 Norwich, Waterfront
24 Brighton, Dome
25 Gillingham, Britannia Theatre
26 London, 02 Brixton Academy
27 Cardiff, Tramshed
29 Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
30 Bristol, Motion
December
1 Portsmouth, Pyramids Centre
2 Weymouth, Pavilions
3 Plymouth, University (Main Hall)
4 Exeter, Phoenix Centre
9 Margate, Winter Gardens