In October, 2020, over 40 years after the founding members parted ways, The Damned announced a series of reunion shows with the original line-up consisting of Dave Vanian (vocals), Brian James (guitar), Captain Sensible (bass), and Rat Scabies (drums).
Due to the pandemic, they were forced to postpone the shows until 2022. November 3rd, 2022, saw the band performing at the fully-packed O2 Apollo in Manchester, UK, delivering an energetic 21-song set taken from their first two albums, DAMNED DAMNED DAMNED and MUSIC FOR PLEASURE, the only albums to feature the four founding members.
This legendary reunion show will now be available for the first time worldwide on September 13th, via earMUSIC, distributed by BFD/The Orchard in North America. AD 2022 – LIVE IN MANCHESTER can be accessed digitally for download and streaming, on 180g Black Double Vinyl, packed in a premium-quality gatefold jacket, as well as on a limited double CD+DVD Deluxe Edition, featuring the video of the full Manchester show on DVD and the reunion show in Birmingham as exclusive audio bonus on CD 2. The first live track/video taken from the forthcoming release, The Damned classic “New Rose” is out now; click here to check it out.
Photo credit: The Damned
The Damned’s most recent studio album DARKADELIC (their twelfth, released last year), has received rave reviews from the media worldwide. In the United States, the iconic rockers currently grace the cover of a recent issue of The Big Takeover (issue #94). They were also featured on the June/July, 2023 issue of Goldmine, with the magazine declaring the album “damn near perfect”.
Glide avowed, “The Damned achieved something so many bands have attempted and fallen short of, they created an album with so much depth and impressive musicianship that it forces us to rethink when their “glory days” really occurred or if they ever ended.” They also received feature coverage in such major US outlets as Spin, Paste and Billboard.
Photo credit: The Damned
Ground-breaking rock band The Damned exploded on to the British music scene more than forty-five years ago. Following their formation in 1976, The Damned became the first UK band in the punk rock genre to release a single (“New Rose”) and then an album (DAMNED, DAMNED, DAMNED).
Initially associated with the British punk rock movement and then gothic rock, the band went on to release ten studio albums and several UK-charting singles which ran the gamut from punk rock to gothic to even the pop genre. They have legions of hardcore fans worldwide and have firmly established themselves as one of most powerful and theatrical live bands in the world.