'On October 28th, 2019, The Damned Took The Stage At London’s Prestigious Palladium Theater For A Very Special Immersive Musical And Theatrical Experience. “A Night Of A Thousand Vampires” Teams The Band With The Hammer House Of Horror And The Cast Of The Circus Of Horrors For An Evening Of Shock, Awe, And A Fierce Live Rampage Through Their 40-Year Rich Catalog. A Night To Remember For Those Of Us Amongst The Living… And The Undead!
Following Their Formation In 1976, The Damned Became The First UK Punk Band To Officially Release A Single, “New Rose”, And An Album “Damned Damned Damned”. With 10 Studio Albums And Several UK Charts Singles, The Band Are Pioneers Who Emerged From The London Punk Scene, Earning An Ever-Expanding Fan Base Fueled By Legendary Live Shows.
TRACKLIST
1. Beauty Of The Beast
2. Wait For The Blackout
3. Plan 9 Channel 7
4. Standing On The Edge Of Tomorrow
5. Grimly Fiendish
6. Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde
7. Absinthe
8. Under The Floor Again
9. I Just Can't Be Happy Today
10. 13th Floor Vendetta
11. Eloise
12. People Are Strange
13. Curtain Call
14. Tightrope Walk
15. The Dog
16. Neat Neat Neat - Bela Lugosi's Dead
17. Black Is The Night
Just out in time for Halloween is this live show from The Damned, recorded in 2019. The live album is accompanied by a feature-length video with some lovely production. More than just a video of a run-of-the-mill gig, The Damned really pulled out the stops for the performance itself as well as this DVD release.
The intro is great, wrapped up like a classic Universal Horror film with grainy black and white footage and piano music. It focuses as much on the crowd outside the venue as it does on the impressive parade put on to entertain them. Impressive showmanship leading up to a 90-minute live show which reminds me a bit of Bruce Dickinson’s “last” gig in Maiden before Blaze took over.
The stage show itself is atmospheric and littered with little Halloween touches. The band themselves are dressed for the occasion (vampires and so on) with some a backdrop showing off classic horror performers. In addition to the music, there are little offshoot performances. Suitably creepy ventriloquist dolls, dancers, acrobats, shock horror and all of it wrapped around the songs themselves.
There really isn’t a dull moment as the band plough through their back catalogue. They themselves aren’t exactly fast-paced (not a dig, I’m almost 50 myself), but this works with the atmosphere. The spectacular elements are brought courtesy of the numerous extras who add so much to the show.
As someone who’s not familiar with The Damned’s musical output, this is a show I would have paid to see when it was on and left feeling that I’d been thoroughly entertained for the evening. It’s not a gig, it’s a spectacle and it’s been captured very well indeed for this release.
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