THE DAMNED + THE LOVELESS + PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT + THE COURETTES – WEMBLEY ARENA, LONDON 11.4.26
It seems incredible to think that The Damned are celebrating their 50th anniversary tonight. At one point early in their career it seemed unlikely that they’d last 50 months. Yet here they are, at the head of a bill that seems more like a small festival.
Proceedings kick off with The Courettes. I was worried that the two of them would be lost on such a large stage, but not a bit of it. They are as explosive as ever, and when Flavia Couri isn’t singing she seems to cover every inch of the space available to her. Unfortunately due to the astonishing early start time of 6.10pm the crowd is a bit sparse, with many of them having just got to the bar, or indeed, still en route to the venue. Well, that’s their loss as The Courettes are one of the most storming rock ‘n’ roll duos that you’ll ever see. Drummer Martin Couri may look like Ringo Starr circa 1964, but he plays like Keith Moon. He is absolutely awesome.
They have a fairly short set tonight, but cram in as many bangers as possible. “Want! You Like A Cigarette” and “Boom! Dynamite” make the Arena feel like a small club. Whilst “Shake!” does precisely that to the building’s foundations. The Courettes don’t just sound cool, they look cool too, right down to Flavia’s vintage handbag sitting atop her amp. One song is dedicated to “all the misfits and freaks”. Well, there’s plenty of us here, and The Courettes have got us fired up ready for the rest of the evening.
The Courettes:
Flavia Couri – guitar and vocals
Martin Couri – drums and vocals
The Courettes setlist:
‘The Boy I Love’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘California’ (from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Want You! Like A Cigarette’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Boom! Dynamite’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Misfits & Freaks’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Hop The Twig’ (from 2023 ‘Boom! Dynamite – An introduction To The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Keep Dancing’ (from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
‘Shake!’ (from 2024 ‘The Soul Of… The Fabulous Courettes’ album)
There is a very tight schedule tonight, with only 15 minutes before the mighty Peter Hook & The Light take the stage. All credit to the crew, because the schedule is adhered to throughout the evening. The band walk on to “Trans-Europe Express” and Hooky dedicates tonight’s set to Ian Curtis “may God rest his soul”. This is particularly apt, because with the exception of New Order’s “Ceremony”, the entirety of tonight’s set is made up of Joy Division material, although “Ceremony” was technically written as a Joy Division tune, but only released under the New Order banner after Ian’s passing. As well as Hooky, the band have Jack Bates on bass. When Hooky is singing he doesn’t play that much as he’s concentrating on the vocals. However, he does as a rule tend to play the more interesting bits, whilst Jack does the ‘meat and potatoes’ stuff.
It’s difficult to pick out highlights of this set, as just about everything is a highlight. To say that the crowd are rapt doesn’t even begin to cover it. “She’s Lost Control” however, is absolutely masterful. Jack plays the riff which is unfortunate, as I would like to have heard Hooky play it, but you can’t have everything. “Shadowplay” has an ace guitar solo from David Potts, whilst “Transmission” is nigh on transcendental. Hooky plays the bass intro to “Ceremony”, and David Potts dedicates set closer “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (what else?) to The Damned’s late original guitarist Brian James. This set has really been something special. I’m left wondering how Marc Almond can possibly follow it.
Peter Hook & The Light:
Peter Hook – vocals, bass
Paul Kehoe – drums
David Potts – guitar, vocals
Jack Bates – bass
Martin Rebelski – keys, synth
Peter Hook & The Light setlist:
(Intro tape) ‘Trans-Europe Express’ (Kraftwerk song)
‘Dead Souls’ (from Joy Division’s 1980 ‘Licht Und Blindheit’ single)
‘Digital’ (from Factory Records 1978 ‘A Factory Sample’ Double 7” EP
‘Isolation’ (from Joy Division’s 1980 ‘Closer’ album)
‘Disorder’ (from Joy Division’s 1979 ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album)
‘She’s Lost Control’ (from Joy Division’s 1979 ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album)
‘Shadowplay’ (from Joy Division’s 1979 ‘Unknown Pleasures’ album)
‘Transmission’ (from Joy Division’s 1979 ‘Transmission’ single)
‘Ceremony’ (from New Order’s 1981 ‘Ceremony’ single)
‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ (from Joy Division’s 1980 ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ single)
What Marc Almond and The Loveless do is follow on with some rock ‘n’ roll! This is absolutely not what I was expecting. I was expecting torch songs. However, this is simply down to my ignorance. Marc and the band have already released one album: “Meet The Loveless”, which came out two years ago. Along with guitarist Neal X from Sigue Sigue Sputnik they also have the rhythm section from Iggy Pop’s band. Louder Than War have described them as “Britain’s best garage rock band”, and on tonight’s showing I have to agree. ‘Taken aback’ is nowhere near describing my reaction to this. ‘Gobsmacked’ is more like it!
Neal X’s playing is phenomenal from opener “Wild In The Streets” (a Garland Jeffreys song) onwards. The sax player Jamie Reibl is also pretty impressive. “Putty In Your Hands” is a Shirelles cover that was also recorded by The Yardbirds. Marc indulges in some suitably 1960s style dancing. “You’re Gonna Miss Me” was recorded by the Thirteenth Floor Elevators and this version more than does the song justice. I’m starting to think that we’re having a trip through Marc Almond’s record collection, but there are original songs too. “Teenage Wildlife” has an awesome wah-wah guitar solo, whilst “Dark Sign” is a ballad that really showcases Marc’s vocals. “Nothing At All” meanwhile has a cracking guitar solo. It’s succinct without a solitary note being wasted. However, if jaws were dropping, they absolutely hit the floor with the next song: a cover of Alice Cooper’s “Under My Wheels”! It includes a snippet of “Suffragette City” and is absolutely brilliant!!! Marc Almond covering Alice Cooper!!! Who’d have thought it?!!
Sputnik’s “Love Missile F1-11” is unsurprisingly sung by Neal X, and is followed by another surprise (although I don’t think anything else will surprise me tonight) with The Sweet’s “Hell Raiser”. It utterly rocks like hell. Naturally the set draws to a close with a rocked up version of “Tainted Love”, and then the only actual Soft Cell song of the evening, “Heat”. I have to say that this has been incredible. The Loveless have an album out entitled “Meet The Loveless”. I shall be buying it. If you have anything approaching a love for rock ‘n’ roll, so should you.
The Loveless:
Marc Almond – vocals
Neal X – guitar
Ben Ellis – bass
James Beaumont – keys
Tim Weller – drums
Jamie Reibl – saxophone
The Loveless setlist:
‘Wild In The Streets’ (from 2023 ‘Meet The Loveless’ album)
‘Putty In Your Hands’ (Shirelles cover) (from 2023 ‘Meet The Loveless’ album)
‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ (13th Floor Elevators cover) (from 2023 ‘Meet The Loveless’ album)
‘Hot Hard And Ready’ (Smokey cover) (from 2023 ‘Meet The Loveless’ album)
‘Teenage Wildlife’ (unreleased)
‘Dark Side’ (from 2023 ‘Meet The Loveless’ album)
‘Shadows Of Night’ (unreleased)
‘Nothing At All’ (from 2023 ‘Meet The Loveless’ album)
‘Under My Wheels’ (Alice Cooper cover) (from 2023 ‘Meet The Loveless’ album)
‘Love Missile F1-11’ (Sigue Sigue Sputnik cover)
‘Hell Raiser’ (Sweet cover)
‘Tainted Love’ (Gloria Jones cover)
‘Heat’ (Soft Cell cover)
There’s a half an hour wait for The Damned. The anticipation is almost palpable. There’s some debate regarding what they’ll open with. My partner reckons it will be “New Rose”. I think that’s more likely to be an encore. However, I’ve heard that the set is intended to represent every era of their career to date, so in all honesty it could be anything. The debate is brought to a crashing end as the band take the stage and with no ado whatsoever crash into “Street Of Dreams” from “Phantasmagoria”. The stage looks huge. I’ve never viewed The Damned as an arena band, but they look fairly comfortable on the very large stage. Dave Vanian in particular seems to pace every inch of it. Captain Sensible is his usual jovial self. His first utterance of the evening is “greetings pop pickers! Not ‘arf!!!” You’re showing your age Captain!
At the end of “Wait For The Blackout” Dave has broken his mic stand. They’re clearly not as sturdy as they were back in the day. It looks like there may be a slight delay while a replacement is found, but the Captain is having none of it, yelling at keyboard player Monty Oxymoron “Oi! Beethoven! Come on!!!” Thus, as the opening keyboard notes for “The History Of The World Pt 1” ring out, Dave is still without a mic stand. He seems to cope alright though. I’d forgotten just how intricate the guitar intro the “Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde” is. Captain Sensible is an extraordinarily good guitarist, as he amply demonstrates throughout tonight’s performance. I can’t help thinking that he’s probably much underrated. I also can’t help noticing that drummer Rat Scabies is starting to look disturbingly like Arthur Scargill. Maybe it’s my eyes. I keep getting letters from Specsavers reminding me that I need a sight test. Soon, I promise.
The Captain tells us that “it’s about this time of the evening when I like to indulge in a little cool jazz”. I start to become a little concerned worrying that this is going to be followed by ‘I hope you like our new direction’. Luckily he’s talking about the intro to “Stranger On The Town” from the “Strawberries” album. I’m sure that I’m not the only person in the audience who breathes a sigh of relief! The Damned have always had a way with covers, and their version of Paul & Barry Ryan’s “Eloise” is a fine example of this. It remains fairly faithful to the original whilst being far more muscular. There’s room for sensitivity too, with Dave Vanian sitting on the edge of the stage to sing during the quiet section. However, one of the band’s key strengths is their songwriting, as demonstrated by “Wake The Dead” from their most recent album of original material, “Darkedelic”, which came out in 2023. Their most recent album, “Not Like Everybody Else” is a collection of covers recorded in tribute to their late guitarist Brian James, who passed away in March last year.
They have their own cracking oldies too, including “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today” from their 1979 album “Machine Gun Etiquette”. I well remember them playing it on the BBC’s “The Old Grey Whistle Test” and smashing up their instruments (and possibly some of the studio fittings as well) to the horror of host Annie Nightingale. The OGWT and punk bands didn’t have the greatest of relations. The TV footage on the screen behind them may have been from Top Of The Pops. Possibly they didn’t want to dwell on the hooliganish exploits of their youth!
We all know that the Captain can sing. Who can forget his smash hit “Happy Talk”? Well we get to hear his dulcet tones once again on “Life Goes On” from the “Strawberries” album. In case there are any doubters regarding the quality of Captain Sensible’s singing, I can confirm that he can very effectively carry a tune in a bucket. He talks too. He tells us that he prefers the Hope and Anchor to Wembley Arena, and that Wembley Arena is a “concrete shithole”. Well, I can’t disagree with that. However, the Captain also tells us that “tonight, it’s OUR concrete shithole”. Indeed. Power to the people and all that.
The first part of the set finishes with “Smash It Up pts 1 & 2” and Dave tells us that there will be an intermission. Well, none of us are getting any younger, and I’m sure that many of the older people could do with a comfort break, including the people onstage, who also aren’t getting any younger! Although Dave Vanian seems to have barely changed over the years. Perhaps he has a portrait in his attic. The intermission itself needs a review in its own right, as there are many vintage TV ads from the 1970s and 1980s being shown on the big screen, framed by a vintage TV. The Cadbury’s Flake advert with the pretty girl starts things off, and the rest are equally hilarious. It’s astounding that anyone forty or fifty years ago could possibly have taken them seriously! Not only that, between them they feature just about every ‘ism’ you can possibly imagine.
The band return having changed their clothes. There are more TV clips on the screen, this time from the late 1980s. I’d forgotten just how gothic Dave Vanian looked at the time!!! This part of the set seems more dedicated to oldies the like of “Love Song”, which goes like a train. You’d never think that these guys are in their late sixties and early seventies. It gives one hope for the (not too distant!) future. Without a break they go straight into “Machine Gun Etiquette”, just as they do on the album of the same name. As most bands of fifty years standing will have done, The Damned have lost some members to the grim reaper along the way. Thus “Fan Club” is dedicated to the late Brian James, Bryn Merrick and Algy Ward.
This part of the set is definitely aimed at the fans, with one or two deep cuts being thrown in. One particular example being “Disco Man” from the “Friday 13th EP” which I’m pretty certain that I haven’t heard since the EP came out! For “Curtain Call” from “The Black Album” Dave takes his mic down into the photographer’s pit so that the crowd can sing along with the riff. “Neat Neat Neat”, including snippets of “Baby Please Don’t Go” and “Who Do You Love” looks like it’s going to close the show, but they haven’t played “New Rose” yet. The band do briefly leave the stage, but only long enough for the Captain to change into a very ‘1976 punk rock’ shaggy woolly jacket. Bloody hell that must be hot! They play a keyboard driven spooky instrumental (featuring the Captain on keyboards as well as Monty Oxymoron) before Rat plays a drum solo. Thankfully it’s not too long and the band finish with a version of “New Rose” that’s absolutely on fire. The crowd erupt and the band wave, while Dave Vanian sings Gracie Fields’ “Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye”. I don’t think that he’ll be embarking on a side project singing World War II standards somehow.
This has been a fantastic show with an astounding line-up, all four acts turning in amazing sets. The Damned however have been incandescent. They’ve taken us on a tour of their back catalogue over the last fifty years and it’s been awesome. I only wish that they could have played for even longer than they did. It’s been utterly magnificent.
The Damned:
Dave Vanian – vocals
Captain Sensible – guitar
Rat Scabies – drums
Paul Gray – bass
Monty Oxymoron – keyboards
The Damned setlist:
Set 1:
‘Street Of Dreams’ (from 1985 ‘Phantasmagoria’ album)
‘Wait For The Blackout’ (from 1980 ‘The Black Album’ album)
‘The History Of The World (Part 1)’ (from 1980 ‘The Black Album’ album)
‘Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde’ (from 1980 ‘The Black Album’ album)
‘Stranger On The Town’ (from 1982 ‘Strawberries’ album)
‘Under The Floor Again’ (from 1982 ‘Strawberries’ album)
‘Eloise’ (Barry Ryan cover) (from 1986 ‘Eloise’ single)
‘Wake The Dead’ (from 2023 ‘Darkadelic’ album)
‘I Just Can’t Be Happy Today’ (from 1979 ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ album)
‘Life Goes On’ (from 1982 ‘Strawberries’ album)
‘Is It A Dream’ (from 1985 ‘Phantasmagoria’ album)
‘Smash It Up (Part 1)’ (from 1979 ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ album)
‘Smash It Up (Part 2)’ (from 1979 ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ album)
Set 2:
‘Nasty’ (from 1984 ‘Thanks For The Night’ single)
‘Love Song’ (from 1979 ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ album)
‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ (aka ‘Second Time Around’) (from 1979 ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ album)
‘Fan Club’ (from 1977 ‘Damned Damned Damned’ album)
‘Disco Man’ (from 1981 ‘Friday 13th’ EP)
‘Ignite’ (from 1982 ‘Strawberries’ album)
‘Neat Neat Neat’ (from 1977 ‘Damned Damned Damned’ album)
‘Curtain Call’ (from 1980 ‘The Black Album’ album)
“Drum Solo” (Rat Scabies)
‘New Rose’ (from 1977 ‘Damned Damned Damned’ album)
‘Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye’ (Gracie Fields cover) (A cappella)
