THE DAMNED – Brisbane, Australia 20th March 2024
Honoured to be hosting the first leg of the final Australian tour of The Damned, Brisbane’s packed Tivoli crowd were presented with the performances of an accumulative 87 years of living punk rock legends.
Hailing from Sydney’s Western suburbs, the evening kicked off with The Hard Ons, who, as mere longevity pups in comparison to The Damned, releasing their first single ‘Surfin on my face’ in 1985. This debut single went straight to the top of the Australian alternative charts and was followed by a remarkable run of 17 consecutive Number one hits.
The Hard Ons captivated the Tivoli punters with their self-styled energetic fusion of punk, rock and bubble-gum pop, a description on their music which is accurately and best described by bass player Ray Ahn, “We’re a bit of everything, what we have is musical freedom, which I just love about our band”. With Peter “Blackie” on guitar and vocals, Murray Ruse on drums and fronted by the energetic, passionate and dramatic Tim Rogers the band melodically smashed through their repertoire including tracks from their latest Ripper 23 album such as ‘Apartment for Two’, ‘Goin’ it alone’, Makes Me Sick’ and Chopping Block, all of which delighted and got the sweaty, pulsating Tivoli crowd pumped for the main event of the evening.
As the Hard Ons performance reached its climax, they departed and left the now wilting crowd who waited patiently, with a mixture of excitement and despair for the evening’s final thrust (see what I lowered myself to there?)! The despair being due to this being listed as The Damned’s final Australian tour. It was refreshing to see the mixture of ages throughout the crowd, some ‘oldies’ (me included), who had the privilege of remembering the band’s early years, others who judging by their looks, would be lucky to get served at the bar, such is the attraction and pull of this iconic band.
One additional buzz for this tour includes the return of the Rat. Rat Scabies the original drummer of The Damned has returned to the fold and will be touring with them throughout 2024, ‘the band (1980 version) is back together’! Now of course with the addition of Monty Oxymoron the ubiquitous, fascinating and integral keyboardist who joined in 1996, we have Captain Sensible on guitar, Paul Gray on bass and with the ever immaculately adorned Dave Vanian as lead vocals and front man.
At seven minutes past nine the band exploded
on to the stage, Rat of course getting a raucous and individual special welcome
back from the crowd. They immediately kicked off with their appropriately
lyrical 1982 release of ‘Ignite’ – “Twilight comes and the mood’s complete,
Gonna hit the street, grab some of that
night-time beat,
My heart is beat, beat, beating like a drum
The night is in my veins, we’re gonna have some
fun tonight!”
With continuous banter amongst each other and the crowd throughout the evening, the masters of punk mesmerised and entertained the crowd with their musical and lyrical prowess. Those present having the privilege to witness timeless punk rock mastery. We were provided with a historical timeline of pumping, rocking classics for just short of two hours.
After two encores, all too soon, the evening was over. Is this really it, is this the last time we will ever be privileged enough to witness The Damned on our shores? Surely not, we’re not ready for this. Vanian’s older than me and looks about ten years younger, I’m sure there’s a few more years in the old dog yet!
Regardless of the outcome, I’m sure that I speak for many, on behalf of Brisbane, and particularly those present last night, thank you for providing us with the last chance to witness such greatness, it was certainly our pleasure.
Review & Photo’s: Terry O’Hagan
