The classic lineup of The Damned recently performed live in a sold-out show at 9:30 Club on their North America 2025 tour, and the concert was amazing!
When I say classic lineup: This is The Damned of the ’80s — Dave Vanian (vocals), Capitain Sensible (guitar), Paul Gray (bass), and Rat Scabies (drums)! And of course Monty Oxymoron on keyboards. The return of Rat to the fold clearly energized and elevated The Damned, and this was their first appearance in DC since he rejoined in 2023.
On May 2 at 9:30 Club, the show gracefully became full as the house sold out of tickets at the time of doors. And you could feel the anticipation in the room. People were listless through the opener The BellRays, who ensnared the audience with their soulful rock and roll. But anticipation ran high in the room as the headliner drew closer.
Look, for me personally, it’s The Damned if the dashing Dave Vanian shows and sings in that remarkable voice of his. He’s the original cool punk, the man with a plan, and he’s chill as fuck. The Damned already become truly unbeatable if you pair the spice of Dave Vanian with the sugar of Captain Sensible (Mr. Raymond Burns), a guitar player par excellence who always maintains his sense of humor. The Damned are absolutely crushing it when they weave in the mastery of bassist Paul Gray, who was pleased to showboat for the 9:30 Club on Friday.
But — everyone in the house was clearly over the moon for the return of Rat Scabies (birthname: Christopher Millar), who did not disappoint. Rat looked like a wise king perched on his drum set, and he absolutely shined during the set. Dave and The Captain both took laps up to the kit to beam in appreciation of their old bandmate; Paul locked in with him well and the two brought down the house together.
The Damned heaped a lot of love on the albums for which these four men are most famous: Machine Gun Etiquette (1979) and The Black Album (1980). And the audience went wild! The Damned gave us no filler numbers and jumped straight into “Love Song” and “Machine Gun Etiquette” from that album and then “Wait for the Blackout” from The Black Album.
Watch The Damned perform “Love Song” and “Machine Gun Etiquette” for Burger Boogaloo in 2018 via YouTube:
To say minds were blown would be an understatement, but The Damned dug deeper for some rarely played live tracks including “Lively Arts” and “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” from The Black Album. The crowd remained totally agog for what The Damned would do next as Vanian danced and crooned, The Captain mugged, Paul paraded, and Rat banged out the rhythms.
And let’s not forget Monty (Laurence Burrow), who lurked at the rear of the stage, but nonetheless added some new wave bounce with his diligence at the keyboards. He had his own cheering section, particularly on the upper level of 9:30 Club, where excited concertgoers shouted out his name for his key contributions on songs like “New Rose” (1976) — the very first single by The Damned, played in their first encore. Captain Sensible dedicated “New Rose” to the late Brian James, the original guitarist of The Damned, who passed away on March 6.
Read Parklife’s interview with Monty Oxymoron of The Damned from 2018.
The Damned mixed things up with three covers — of course they performed “Eloise” by Barry Ryan, a cover that helped put them on the map in the ’80s. It was perhaps the most anticipated song of the evening! But they surprised with a cover of “Alone Again Or” by psychedelic outfit Love (who oddly were playing across town at Songbyrd Music House this very night) and delighted greatly with an unexpected cover of “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane in their second encore.
As The Damned wound down their set, we got some more goods; highlights included “The Invisible Man” from the band’s most recent album, Darkadelic (2023), and “Neat Neat Neat” from debut album Damned Damned Damned.
The Damned gave the audience a lot but it wasn’t truly over until they performed “Smash It Up” as the final song of the night to cap a second encore. Captain Sensible and Paul Gray dazzled with the extended psychedelic intro to the number — and Rat gently opened the door for it to fully emerge, first tickling the cymbals but then drilling down when the beat dropped. The house sang along with Dave as a small mosh pit broke out in the tightly sold out space: “Oh oh smash it up, smash it up, smash it up!”
The Damned are truly fire, friends, and you owe it to yourself to see them in such fine form. This was hands down the best show of the year to date!
Here are some photos of The Damned performing live at 9:30 Club on May 2, 2025. All pictures by Mickey McCarter.
