REVIEW: The Damned at O2 Southampton Guildhall

Legendary Punk band The Damned, rocked up to rock out The Guildhall for a rescheduled show from this years UK tour to promote the new album ' Evil Spirits' which famously gave them their first top ten record for a generation.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Aug 2018, 13:09 BST
Updated 3rd Sep 2018, 12:15 BST
Punk legends The Damned at O2 Guildhall, Southampton, on August 22, 2018. Picture by Paul WindsorPunk legends The Damned at O2 Guildhall, Southampton, on August 22, 2018. Picture by Paul Windsor
Punk legends The Damned at O2 Guildhall, Southampton, on August 22, 2018. Picture by Paul Windsor

Uber cool lead singer Dave Vanian, dressed in black leather jacket and black shades looked in fine shape and his rich baritone voice seems to improve with age.

 Star of the show though was bassist Paul Gray who has returned to the band after a long abscence and given the band a new lease of life.From the opening 'Plan 9 Channel 7' to Love Song the band have never sounded better.

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Then the ' Curse of the Damned' struck, first broken strings, then broken keyboards which took 2 songs to fix,  with 'New Rose' bumped up the setlist whilst Monty Oxymoron looked on bewildered.

 Things were starting to look shaky until a fine ' Eloise' restored some order.Thankfully  the band have enough songs in the locker to save the day, an extended  version of 'Neat, Neat, Neat' was followed by and encore of the ubiquitous 'Smash it Up' and the MC5's 'Looking at You'.