The Damned kicked off the first night of their UK tour in Newcastle, and everyone was excited to see that 1980s line-up back together again with David Vanian, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies, Paul Gray and Monty Oxymoron all present and correct.

First up, though, were New York garage rockers, The Fleshtones, who opened the night with their adrenalin fuelled garage 'super-rock'. As punk rock credentials go they’re pretty much up there; debuting at the iconic CBGB’s in 1976 and sharing a rehearsal space with The Cramps. Tonight they high kicked and leapt around the stage, clearly enjoying themselves. Front man Peter Zaremba still sounded great and guitarist Keith Streng played with bags of attitude. They finished with a raucous ‘Remember The Ramones’, which was a fine testament to their past history/credentials.

They were followed by Dr and The Medics, the Doctor resplendent in trademark theatrical coat and makeup. Playing mainly new material, their lighter/cartoon punk vibes entertained the crowd as Melissa Weekes joined the Dr, her soaring vocals adding plenty of oomph to their sound. There was loads of between song chatter, with the Dr touchingly thanking his fellow band mates for looking out for him over the years. And as a bonus to us, they played an extended version of their hit ‘Spirit In The Sky’, which went down a storm.

Finally, the lights went down and The Damned walked on stage to huge cheers. One of the first punk rock bands, they played their first show in 1976, supporting the Sex Pistols, before they flitted into the dark shadows of goth rock for a spell. They opened their set with the driving ‘Love Song’ and ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’. Lead vocalist Dave Vanian, in dark shades and dressed in black (someone said he looked like a punk Roy Orbison), may have ditched the vampire vibes but he’s still a magnetic stage presence. Their cover of Barry Ryan’s ‘Eloise’ was fantastic and Vanian is still in fine voice. Sensible took over the vocals for ‘Life Goes On’ and quipped to someone in the crowd: “We first played this in 1979 - You weren't even born Madam!” We were then hit up with a magnificent ‘Noise, Noise, Noise’. They finished the set with the brilliant ‘Neat Neat Neat’, but there was no way that they weren’t going to be doing an encore. Needless to say, they soon returned to play ‘Curtain Call’ and ‘New Rose’. This was followed by a second encore that saw them rattling through ‘Smash It Up Part 1 and 2’. They finished with ‘There Ain’t No Sanity Clause’, Captain Sensible bawling, in true punk fashion: “Fuck off. Christmas is shite.”

Deb Snell