'It’s always been a great adventure for so many years’ Captain Sensible sings on Bad Weather Girl, two tracks into Darkadelic. The song is ostensibly about the unpredictable climate through which The Damned have traversed these isles over the past five decades, but it could also be taken as a measure of their sheer staying power. They’ve endured, and flourished, when most of their punk peers have long-since withered.
The original Damned line-up reunited for some shows at the end of 2022, playing together for the first time in 20-odd years. That’s where the nostalgia ends, though. The new-look Damned – original members Dave Vanian and the Captain, plus long-time ally Paul Gray on bass, keyboard player Monty Oxymoron and new drummer Will Glanville-Taylor – already had Darkadelic in the can by closing night, squaring up to the future just as they drew a line under the past.
