We
arrived about 7pm and as we walked between the stalls and chip vans,
the sound of a familiar band doing a sound check, drew us to the larger
of two huge marquees....
There was only a hand full of people around and we weren't sure if
we were really supposed to be there (but no-one stopped us) so in
we went. We were lucky enough to catch the last 15 minutes or so of
The Damned doing their sound check, including a new song! (What we
heard sounded very good - can't wait to hear it properly in the future.)
The sound check finished and The Damned left the stage.
The
evening's line-up started later than scheduled. First was 'The
Distraction' (?) a covers band who covered everything from The
Sex Pistols to the Kaiser Chiefs. They were really good
and we would go and see them again if they ever played in our neck
of the woods. Next was a band called 'FM'. They have a front-man
who was the double of Bill Nighy of the film 'Still Crazy'. He was
mad (in a good way) and we thoroughly enjoyed their set and will definitely
go and see them again if we can. After them came 'Maiden England',
an Iron Maiden tribute band which the bikers and metallers
in the audience really loved! It's not really our sort of thing, but
credit to them - they do what they do really well, and went down really
well. Then eventually (and slightly later than planned) came The Damned…..
By
the time they came on stage a whole bunch of us Damned disciples had
gathered at the front. I can't remember the set-list in order of play,
but I remember that it seemed to be shorter than usual for a Damned
gig, however there was and excellent selection of what seemed to be
their more faster tracks, including: Street Of Dreams; Ignite;
Disco Man; I Just Can't Be Happy Today; Neverland;
Jet Boy Jet Girl; New Rose; Neat Neat Neat; Alone
Again Or; History Of The World; Eloise; finishing
of course with Smash It Up (dedicated to Marc Bolan)
and Looking At You for their final encore.
Monty
was hidden for most of the night and we were beginning to miss him,
until, at one point, he suddenly burst out onto the front of the stage
and began…. jumping, manically, to the great delight of one of
the blokes who was standing behind us, who had been proudly telling
his mate (prior to The Damned coming on stage) how brilliantly crazy
Monty is.
The
crowd, including the bikers and metallers, seemed to really enjoy
their set. I know there was plenty of moshing going on around us (we
were at the barrier at the front), and one or two crowd surfers. Overall
there was a good atmosphere and everyone seemed to enjoy it.
Comments
of the night:
Captain
- Who would want to be a poodle [Blair] to a bloke with no brain [Bush]?
Pinch
- commented that the people left to struggle after the hurricane in
New Orleans were black and therefore of little consequence 'cos they're
not Bush voters.
Captain
- The festival was a charva free zone! (Yeah!)
If
I had one criticism of the gig, it was that the sound was awful, which
was odd because the sound check seemed to be fine. At times we couldn't
even hear Dave as the volume of the guitar was drowning him out. Also,
during 'I Just Can't Be Happy Today', we couldn't hear Monty's organ
(no comments please!). I think the sound man must have been three
sheets to the wind by this point of the night! But it wasn't enough
to spoil our enjoyment and we had an excellent time!
Moaner
Lisa and Ma.
~~~ Witton-le-Wear Gallery ~~~
