THE
Sunday October 31st
Paradise Theater
Boston MA
Halloween with The Damned was every bit as fun as we had anticipated,
and even THEN SOME. Boston's own Uppercrust opened with their usual
loud set of high society ditties, "Let Them Eat Rock", "Tell Mother
I'm Home", "I've Got My Ascot in My Dickie", performed by the band in
powdered wigs, ruffled shirts and waistcoats nonetheless.
Being Halloween, you can imagine the hyperkinetically frenzied
atmosphere as the audience awaited The Damned's entrance before the
footlights. Monty stepped out to begin his introduction and then
Patricia came out dressed as a witch wearing a hat that was easily
three feet tall. Captain and Pinch were dressed in what I assume is
their usual stage attire, and Dave sauntered out, dressed as a London
dandy, looking quite gentlemanly (but ladies, would you trust him?) in
his top hat and waistcoat.
The room was close to full but not excessively difficult to move
around in, so I was able to enjoy the set from several different
vantage points. This last night of the American tour held no
surprises for those of us who had snuck a peek at the set lists of
previous performances:
Intro
Wait For The Blackout
Disco Man
Dozen Girls
Plan 9 Channel 7
I Just Can't Be Happy Today
Shadow Of Love
Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde
Neat Neat Neat
Democracy
Curtain Call
Looking At You
New Rose
Eloise
Love Song
It's A Real Time Thing
Smash It Up
I Feel Alright
Highlights of the set were when an audience member in a gorilla suit
stage-dived into the crowd (how often do you get to see THAT??); Dave
carried a fetching young lady attired in a bloodied nurse's uniform
onto the stage with him (girls, you missed it!); select members of
The Damned (you can *guess* who) invited a pair of the gorilla suited
audience members up onstage and ambushed them with bananas, thrust
into every available opening of their costumes. And once again, the
Captain provided the front row with special delectable victuals
involving the leftover bananas and his bare bum, of course! A can of
shaving cream was produced and somehow covered almost everyone on
stage.
I said 'Hi' to a breathless and bare-chested Monty (control
yourselves, gals) and Dave backstage after the show as they were
winding down and preparing to leave for the tour bus. Monty was kind
enough to let us drink a few of the remaining Sam Adams ales before we
found the Captain out in front of the club. Buck Cherry, of Boston's
now-defunct Visigoths, engaged him in some guitar chatter and I bade
Captain farewell, quipping that I was "one of Henrik's (publisher of
NeatDamnedNoise) spies", prompting him to bolt off screaming, "They're
EVERYWHERE!".
Boston has been a hotbed of musical activity recently; I was able to
catch The Buzzcocks, Motorhead, The Damned and Iggy Pop in a period of
ten days. Y'think I can I get some sleep now?
Cheers from Beantown,
Greg Jamiol