The Damned
House of Blues
May 20, 2025
One of punk’s most enduring and respected acts came back to Houston last night. It was their first show here since 2017 (also at House of Blues). Before that, you have to go all the way back to their 2001 show at the Engine Room. As a fan, I’m gratified I’ve had two chances now to see my favorite Brit punk ensemble in my town. I just wish more people felt the same.
Maybe that’s unfair, but when lead singer Dave Vanian has to exhort you to show a little enthusiasm (during one of my favorites, their cover of Love’s “Alone Again Or,” no less), it’s the opposite of neat (neat neat).
The Damned will officially be 50 years old in two years — going by the 1977 release date of their first album, not when they first played live (a year earlier, opening for the Sex Pistols). Their bona fides are beyond question, in other words. And who knows, maybe age played a part in the occasionally subdued audience response. It’s the first punk show I’ve been to with an ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) section.
It probably won’t be the last.
A lot’s changed in the last eight years; we experienced a global pandemic, Russia invaded Ukraine (again), and Americans decided they loved the incompetence and vapid cruelty of one Trump administration so much that they went back for seconds.
The Damned have changed as well, though this personnel swap is more of a reset than a full overhaul. The core of Vanian on vocals and guitarist Captain Sensible remain from their previous visit, and also the hyperactive Monty Oxymoron on keyboards.
Gone from last time, however, is bassist Stu West, replaced by Paul Gray, who was with the band in the ’80s and ’90s. Pinch — he of the “Shitzgerald’s” comment in 2017 — has also stepped aside in favor of original drummer Rat Scabies, which is tied with “Chuck Biscuits” for my favorite nom de punk. Last night brought the classic 1980s Damned lineup to town for the first time since, well, the 1980s.
It was a spartan set up, as usual: a banner reading “The Damned” and the band’s name in the same font on Scabies’ bass drum. “Love Song” from Machine Gun Etiquette started us off, going right into that album’s title track. Vanian was dapper as always, in a fully black ensemble of hat, trench coat, Western shirt, and gloves. Sensible looked … sensible in what I’m assuming was a Crystal Palace shirt and the most recognizable red beret outside of the Guardian Angels.
Everyone but Scabies was also in sunglasses. Maybe his condition makes it too painful to wear them.
The band’s released two albums since their last swing through here; Evil Spirits in 2019 (which is more fun than it has any right to be), and 2023’s Darkadelic. Of the two, the latter is the only new one that saw any exposure last night (including “Beware of the Clown” — sage advice), both played during the aforementioned “sedate” middle section.
Sensible was a sardonic delight, as usual, telling us he “cut me hand” during “Is It a Dream” and then yelling, “Let’s have some sympathy!”
The audience gained energy during “The Invisible Man,” another new cut, and “Fan Club” before getting appreciably enthused when the band played “Ignite” and “Neat Neat Neat.” “New Rose” made an appearance during the first encore, with “Smash It Up” closing things out. But not before, as Vanian himself noted, a decent chunk of the crowd had already left.
As I said the last time they blew through Houston:
The Damned have persisted, in large part, because of their relationship with their fans. While their contemporaries screamed, Vanian crooned, with Sensible’s jaunty beret and golf pants standing in self-deprecating contrast to punk’s “acceptable” wardrobe (conformist in its own way).
“Punk” casts a wide enough net that it can include melodic groups like the Damned as well as, say, Discharge and the Exploited. Vanian may be the best singer in the genre, and if Sensible isn’t the best guitarist, he’s in the conversation.
But Vanian is 68 now, Sensible is 71, Scabies is 69, and Gray is the whippersnapper at a mere 66. Having gotten used to seeing my venerable punk favorites occasionally laid up (Sensible played seated due to a broken rib in 2017, while X’s Billy Zoom has done so for several years now), it’s nice to see that 40+ years of smashing it up haven’t waylaid the boys.
That … let’s call it “seniority,” manifested itself in ways not there in 2017. Last night’s set was a good 20 minutes shorter, leaving off some of their bigger hits (“Nasty,” “Street of Dreams,” “Jet Boy, Jet Girl”). But the band moved well and with an enthusiasm mostly belying their age (Scabies got a little comically winded during his solo). Older crowd? It comes with the territory when a band endures for the better part of five decades. In the end, on a school/work night, maybe Vanian shouldn’t have been quite so surprised.
And if Scabies could only single out one “c*nt” in the crowd who “didn’t sing and didn’t dance” when all was said and done, that’s kind of impressive, right?
Honestly felt kind of sorry for that guy, though.
Personal Bias: My sheltered ass first experienced the Damned when they played “Nasty” on MTV’s The Young Ones and they’ve been a favorite ever since.
The Crowd: Passing the torch from the oldies in the seated area to the handful of little kids I saw dancing with their parents on the periphery.
Overheard In The Crowd (at the merch table): “I like the shirt with the classic logo, but it’s long-sleeve!”
Random Notebook Dump: “How did I forget the Offspring (poorly) covered ‘Smash It Up’ for the Batman Forever soundtrack? … Did I see Batman Forever?”
SET LIST
Love Song
Machine Gun Etiquette
Wait for the Blackout
Lively Arts
The History of the World (Part 1)
Is It a Dream
Stranger on the Town
I Just Can’t Be Happy Today
Limit Club
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Beware of the Clown
Eloise (Barry Ryan cover)
Alone Again Or (Love cover)
The Invisible Man
Fan Club
Ignite
Neat Neat Neat
ENCORE 1
Curtain Call
New Rose
ENCORE 2
Born to Kill(?)
Smash It Up
