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The Damned

May 06, 2025 By Matthew Berlyant Photography by Matthew Berlyant Web Exclusive

Less than a year after their triumphant shows at Hammerstein Ballroom and Norwalk’s District Music Hall (see my review HERE), The Damned returned to the NYC metro area with their ‘79-’83 line-up (finally including bassist Paul Gray and drummer Rat Scabies) fully intact, this time hitting Jersey City’s more intimate White Eagle Hall for a jam-packed, sold-out show that saw them play with the energy of many bands half of their age.

Much like last year’s shows, the setlist leaned heavily on material from those halcyon 79-’83 days with no less than six(!) songs from 1979’s landmark Machine Gun Etiquette and no less than five from The Black Album. While selections from those two albums comprised a little more than half of the twenty-songs setlist, we also got a smattering of selections ranging throughout their whole career from their earliest singles (the still blazing “New Rose” and “Neat Neat Neat”) up to two selections from 2023’s late-career highlight Darkadelic, showing that they haven’t missed a step in the almost fifty years of their existence.

While keyboardist and only newer member Monty Oxymoron was huddled in the corner, barely visible, his keyboard work ensured moodier pieces like “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today” and “Curtain Call” attained the eeriness of their studio counterparts. That said, if there was any notable difference between this one and last year’s District Music Hall show, it was that fewer selections from 1982’s poppier Strawberries were played in favour of slightly more material from The Black Album. As has been prevalent in their setlists for many years now, their mid-‘80s period was represented by two cover songs that became big hits for them, namely their 1985 take on Barry Ryan’s “Eloise” and 1986 take on Love’s immortal “Alone Again Or.” While it could be argued that these songs don’t belong in their setlist because neither studio version included long-time guitarist, original member, and main songwriter Captain Sensible, I always enjoy these versions and would argue that they may be arguably better than the Captain-less studio versions. Nevertheless, it did provide some punters with a well-earned bathroom break, for those who didn’t make the mistake of doing that during the quite good, new, less familiar material.

As the final chords of second encore finale “Smash It Up” rang out, one could sense a gaggle of satisfied audience members all enraptured, ears ringing into the cool Jersey evening.