The Damned
Albert Hall, Manchester
Wednesday 28th January 2026
Punk legends The Damned blitzed through a one-off set of cover versions in memory of their late guitarist Brian James.
There are many ways musicians can pay tribute to one of the fallen mates, and The Damned typically did it their own way by going to LA to record an album’s worth of songs that had influenced their late, great guitarist Brian James.
This gig was a one off rendition of those songs on the new record, Not Like Everybody Else, that had been given to The Damned by Brian’s wife, and after a warm-up DJ set by Louder Than War Editor in Chief John Robb, they strolled onto a mighty roar from the band’s faithful followers.
They may now all be using bus passes, but The Damned proved to still be an incredibly tight outfit as they smashed their way into Northern Soul classic, There’s A Ghost In My House that opens the album. Dave Vanian, in his trademark black flock coat, stalked the stage clutching his iconic fifties style mic, before Captain Sensible weighed in with the first of a series of solos as his own six-string tribute to his old mate.
A spirited version of The Lovin’ Spoonful’s Summer In the City had a few spiky haired punk veterans joining the Goths for a quiet bop, and Gimme Danger perhaps offered a clue to how Iggy had influenced Vanian’s distinctive vocal stylings. It was great to see Rat Scabies back in the fold as he reminded us what a powerful drummer he continues to be in concert with the equally inventive Paul Gray on bass. The Captain told the audience that See Emily Play was the biggest surprise in Brian’s posthumous setlist, but they did it justice with some great keys from long time member Monty Oxymoron, and quite glorious harmonies from Sensible and Vanian.
Not surprisingly, Sensible, in his trademark daft shades, was doing most of the talking, introducing the Kinks’ I’m Not Like Everybody Else as the darkest song in the set before they romped through The Yardbirds’ Heart Full of Soul. Gray’s bass intro led the band into The Animals’ When I Was Young before they ended with a wonderfully ironic version of The Last Time, which on the album features Brian James playing it with his old muckers recorded on one of their last dates together.
This was no wake, but a moving celebration of a gifted guitarist who wrote New Rose, and every one of the songs in this set was part of his journey to creating a song that essentially invented punk in this country. The whole thing lasted 45 minutes, which seemed apt as that was probably as long as most of their early gigs lasted.
After a brief pause, the band ambled back on to do another set of covers from across their long career. They had promised not to play any of their classics, but The Damned had never followed the rules, so they threw in 1 of the 2, and Feel The Pain, penned by James from their first mighty album, Dammed Damned Damned, which set the benchmark for every British punk band that followed them.
Of the second set of covers, a raucous take on I Had Too Much Too Dream (Last Night) was a nod to the band’s later psychedelic pop phase. Before a lovely White Rabbit, there was a public service announcement as The Captain advised the audience not to take drugs before wryly observing, ‘a bit late now’.
Their barque version of Barry Ryan’s Eloise was the highlight of the second set with Vanian energetically working the stage with his still rich baritone swirling round Oxymoron’s keys as Scabies really rattled the drum kit. They said farewell with another Stooges cover, 1970, much to the delight of a man with a full head of spiked grey hair who was transported back to the very day he heard it.
Grief takes people in different ways, but musicians have a unique way of exercising those ghosts through song, and it seemed really appropriate they marked their mate’s passing with their loyal fans sharing a special show in this former Methodist Chapel and its splendid acoustics, The remaining three original members of The The Damned paid homage to their fallen collaborator in exactly the sort of intelligent and touching fashion you would expect from this bunch of unlikely trailblazers who have always been true to what they believe in.
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Words by Paul Clarke – more of his reviews here:
Photos by Elliot Davie
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