DAVEY CURTIS: Publish and be damned!

The Dickies & The Damned O2 Academy Newcastle Upon Tyne 6th December.

Woo woo woo!

Two punk band legends from either side of the pond coming together to play in my neck end of the woods was an opportunity not to be missed!

It was a full house packed with Geordies up for a good time and in fine voice. First up came the The Dickies, and right from the start you could tell they were going for the jugular and were not going to let The Damned steal the all the limelight. After the first few numbers, the crowd in the mosh pit were giving Leonard Graves Phillips some light hearted stick to which he replied "I too was once like you, but now I have been sober for TEN LONGGGG YEARS!" and was soundly booed! "Buy that man a drink," some wit shouted. He then informed us that he had met Jimmy Saville whilst performing on Top Of The Pops but no acts of gross indecency had taken place, or sexual favours given,  to assure chart success for the single "The Banana Splits"! For this he received an "Hurrah!"

They were relentless and full of energy and belted out all the classics, no stone was left unturned as they say. Full of banter, they had an excellent rapport with the audience. Newcastle seems to have a soft spot for The Dickies and that does not happen very often.  They left the stage as a hard act to follow.

To the bar and a quick visit to the bog before the mighty "Damned".

This was a quick return for The Damned to Newcastle, as I had seen them earlier this year performing two of their albums in entirety.

With a huge back catalogue to choose from, covering various styles from out and out punk to Goth via the Himalayas, it's difficult to know what you are going to get with The Damned. One hour is not enough time to do them justice but the lights dimmed and the familiar sight of Captain Sensible's red beret was bobbing around in the darkness. And....we're off! Lights on, David Vanian stalks the stage like a man possessed, with Monty Oxy Moron banging hell out of his keyboards and dressed up like some insane Victorian fop. Bloody Marvellous! New Rose, Neat,neat,neat Love Song, Grimly Fiendish... you name it, they played it!! The crowd was lapping it up like Manna from Heaven. They even had time for Get Turkey Out Of The House! The hall was bouncing and everybody went home with a smile on their face. Job done!

For a sad old punk fan like me it was like Christmas came early coz it really does not get much better than this. Two  legendary bands firing on all cylinders! If you are a fan of either band, I strongly recommend you see this tour because it really is too good to miss.