The Damned at The Stone Pony — 8/11/22
OK, I’m running a little behind…..
At almost every concert I go, I see at least one or two The Damned t-shirts. I don’t know much about them, but when they announced a gig at The Stone Pony, I thought I should check them out. Listened to a couple of their songs, took a shine to their cover of “Alone Again Or” and “Smash it Up”, and off we went.
Turns out The Damned are a LEGENDARY goth/punk rock band that originally came together in London in the 1970’s. They’ve had many lineup changes over the years, but have left their mark big time on the UK punk scene. What a treat to see them in Asbury Park. And almost 50 years later, they crank it out big time. They ripped through many of their biggest hits, including Neat Neat Neat and New Rose, in a 20-song set that had The Pony quaking.
It sounded like flat-out punk to me, no goofy goth vampire stuff at all. But the crowd had plenty of goth die-hards and Geezer British Zombies in it anyway. The Damned sounded as fresh and as supercharged as any punk band I’ve seen of any age group. They really had it together.
My favorite tracks are in this playlist:
The band that opened for The Damned was Baby Shakes, a foursome from New York. They had a super tight set, and were upbeat and loud and fun. They sound a bit like the Ramones, and pack the same wallop. Their energy was infectious, and The Stone Pony crowd showed the love. I’d totally see them live again.
Here are some of their songs in this playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2zn98GUmQFsdYVnTCfzEt7?si=eK_gDagIQKOrPR5fSEp9qA
First up this night were the Night Birds, a rough-and-ready punk band from New Jersey. They were lewd, crude, and loud, but succeeded in getting the Stone Pony crowd hopping and fired up.
Here’s some of their material in this playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1eucwIIjnBdDan8XuwEfPt?si=VcGGJ3gyRJW3jhWgwpFCIg
Punch line: Banner night for punk rock at The Stone Pony.