First
date of the Twisted Cabaret tour started aptly enough in Pinch's and
Stu's hometown of Peterborough, The Cresset theatre itself exists
in a small metropolis inside the bigger metropolis that is Peterborough,
more a mini-mall-ette than a venue.
I thought I was a hard nut to crack in so far as advertising was concerned
, but I must admit the current poster design that accompanies the
tour is one of the best ive seen for years and certainly did its job
on me on wanting to go to see the tour so 10/10 for accomplishing
its purpose ....and hats off to whoever designed it.
We got into the venue after the local support had been on but just
in time to catch the start of the exotic burlesque girls that tried
to set the tone of the gig, unfortunately it didn't really work, both
myself and my mate agreed that we could applaud the Damned's effort
in trying to present us with something different (it was certainly
that!) but in reality they struggled to make a connection with the
audience, and listening to the comments in toilets afterwards others
felt the same way too .....maybe its a cultural thing?, maybe a half-full
room of ageing Peterborough heathens were the wrong ones to test it
out on? everything felt kinda awkward for the performers and audience
.....shame.
The Damned duly took their place in on the spacious stage aided and
abetted by another projection lightshow playing behind them that worked
extremely well to compliment the show, a mixture of psychedelic imagery,
mixed in with old live footage / still photos and live-as-it's-happening
footage that was suitably "bent" by the wizardry of computer
gadgetry .....this really did work well as a backdrop to the show
that was unfolding.
Performance wise they were maybe not quite at the tip-top , but were
far better than some other more recent times I've seen them when I've
thought they could be a little lack-luster.
Captain was full of love towards Brian James, as was Dave towards
Paul Gray , as both threw out genuine nods to their past parts in
the Damned history which was nice.
The
newly mustached Vanian and The Captain seemed to have read a good
comic together as they were joking to each other though most of the
gig, even when Vanian (inevitably) forgot a few lyric lines. .....The
audience were like a row of goldfish in front of him, all mouthing
the words to him that had temerarily left him ..... greatness
Monty, as ever, was solid behind his keyboard but now with a Spanish-styled
hat to match his specs, Pinch was strangely silent seeing as it was
his hometown, not a dicky-bird from him all night, but a great performance
none the less.
Visual star-of-the-show for me tonight was Stu, all dressed up as
the Fat-Controller, even down to his hat and fob-watch chain .....you
could see he was itching to blow his acme thunderer-whistle and announce
the late arrival of the Manchester to Shrewsbury Express ......all
aboarrrrrrd.
Only downer of the night was the absence of any new "new"
matirial, which is now long overdue
SET LIST. (in order)
Street of Dreams
Nasty
Disco Man
Absinthe
History of the World
Neat , Neat , Neat
Dr. Jeckyl & Mr Hyde
I Fall
Shadow of Love
Generals
Sanity Clause
Blackout
Eloise
.................
Smash it up
13 Floor vendetta
Little Miss Disaster
Ignite
Dai
Fact
is that from the opening few bars last night, you knew that The Damned
were back on stage and could once again see what you were missing
when they are not performing. What better way to spend a night than
out with:
some
Psycho Bombs
scantilly dressed women
Pinch
Captain (Shellsuit) Sensible
Dave (Catarpillar) Vanian
Stu (Stationmaster) West
Monty (Dave-Hill) Oxy Moron
Same
old set?? Well comparing an August setlist, 9 songs played at an August
gig WEREN'T in last nights set. Yes we know that it would be nice
to see lots of new stuff, but in reality until it happens the rejigging
of the old always means that there is more chance of other old faves
being revisited.
Street
of Dreams to start... well that hasn't been a regular or an opener
for ages;
Nasty 2nd - one that many on the mb keep asking for to be reintroduced;
Disco Man; Absinthe back for the 1st time in over 30 performances;
History of The World sounded fresh;
Neat Neat Neat with some great drumming by Pinch;
Dr Jeckyl & Mr Hyde;
This
was the point where Captain found out that some kind soul had provided
him with Sainsbury's value bitter - and he made it known!
I
Fall (Dedicated to Brian James by Captain);
"My Old Man's A Dustman" started... Shadow of
Love making one of its rare appearances;
Generals (Dedicated to Paul Gray by Dave Vanian);
A line of "And so this is Christmas" from Lennon's
(War Is Over), a bit of chatter, then Sanity Clause
(nowhere near perfect but hopefully they will keep it in and perfect
it).
Dave going "na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na...
"recognise that?" ... and ... Blackout - NOT
a favourite of mine but superb following Sanity Clause;
Eloise - Totally different feel to it nowadays since Monty
changes his keyboard.
Encore:
Some
chatter regarding The Sex Pistols including some backchat from the
crowd.
Smash
It Up;
13th Floor Vendetta (didn't work for me as an encore number
so will be interested to see what others think if it remains there);
Little Miss Disaster - ummmmm... predicatable errors?
Ignite
Main
set worked well but lack of audience participation obvious. Encore
didn't quite hit the spot for me but others that I was with enjoyed
it.
Definite potential in this revamped set but we will have to see what
develops. A couple more new oldies thrown in would be good.
Various
band members mixing before and after the gig and a very chatty Mr
Sensible in the foyer rounded off a very enjoyable evening.
WR