The tour is set to start towards the end of 2026, with the band playing seven shows in November and December. The band are still fresh from their 50th anniversary concert at London OVO Arena, Wembley. The legendary line-up of Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies, Paul Gray and Monty Oxymoron are set to bring their iconic rock sound to UK stages, with The Saints ’73-78′ as the very special guests for the all of the dates.

The Damned are renowned for their fuse of the British punk explosion, the band will be performing all of their biggest hits from the start to their current career. The band are considered the pioneers of British punk, as they were notably the first to release a single ‘New Rose’ in 1976, and the studio album ‘Damned Damned Damned’ in 1977, with a tour to the US too. Their sound made rock history with their sound breaking norms through chaotic merging of genres including punk with glam, cabaret and later gothic rock.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Damned (@thedamnedofficial)

Similarly, The Saints have a punk rock sound, formed in Brisbane in 1973 by Chris Bailey, Ed Kuepper and Ivor Hay. They are best known for their 1976 hit “(I’m) Stranded”, where they are also regarded as punk-rock pioneers alongside The Damned, but also the Sex pistols and The Ramones. Sadly, lead singer, Chris Bailey, passed away on April 9th 2022 at the age of 65. Since, the band reformed as The Saints ’73-78′, with Mark Arm taking over the vocal duties to focus on performing the band’s early material.

The tour comes at a great time for eager fans of The Damned, with the news following not only the Wembley performance, but the release of the covers album, ‘Not Like Everybody Else’. The album brought nostalgia to fans, with their presence as ’73-78′, allowing them to combine their “signature punk energy with the whimsical, kaleidoscopic spirit of the original[s]”.

If you’re eager to see The Damned and The Saints ’73-78′ at any of their UK stops, here is some further information:

The Damned ‘Final Damnation’ UK 2026 tour dates are:

NOVEMBER
25 – Brighton, Dome
27 –London, British Airways ARC
28 – Bristol, Beacon
30 – Manchester, Academy

DECEMBER
1 – Newcastle, O2 City Hall
2 – Derby, Vaillant Live
5 – Birmingham, O2 Academy

The official post gave a heartfelt overview of the guitarist’s musical legacy, branding James as one of the “true pioneers of music” and a “true gentleman”. Although, no cause of death has yet been released, it was noted that James passed away peacefully alongside his wife, son and daughter-in-law.

The punk icon co-founded The Damned in 1976 with Dave Vanian as vocalist, Raymond ‘Captain Sensible’ Burns as bassist and Christopher ‘Rat Scabies’ Millar as drummer. Despite only remaining in Damned’s lineup for two album cycles, James is credited for creating the UK’s first punk single, the group’s debut ‘New Rose’. Layered with punchy instrumentation and vibrant oration, it became renowned for exhibiting characteristics that would soon become quintessential to the UK punk scene. Prior to his exit from the band, the guitarist had a pivotal role in writing Damned’s debut album ‘Damned Damned Damned’ and sophomore album ‘Music For Pleasure’.

After joining Iggy Pop’s touring band in 1979, the punk-rock guitarist released two solo singles ‘Ain’t That A Shame’ and ‘Why, Why, Why?’, both of which feature The Police’s Stewart Copeland on drums.

In 1981, he would go on to form British-American punk supergroup The Lords of the New Church, with a line-up of four musicians from classic 1970s punk bands. With James performing alongside Stiv Bators (of the Dead Boys), Dave Tregunna (of Sham 69) and Nick Turner (of the Barracudas), the band would produce three albums before their disbandment in 1989, which would result in various line-up changes throughout the years.

Despite leaving Damned early on, James would continue to pay tribute to the group throughout his career. In 2013, he re-recorded nine of the group’s tracks for his third solo album ‘Damned If I Do’  and would later reunite with Vanian, Sensible and Scabies in October 2022 for a limited five-show UK Tour.

Since his death, tributes have poured in online from fans and those who personally knew Brian. Captain Sensible of Damned wrote a lengthy Facebook post reminiscing on the pair’s friendship and the beginning of Damned. Sensible wrote: “The riffmeister, Brian has gone – that final act that happens to us all, for most is a sad and miserable affair but while it’s truly awful our mate has been taken, I prefer to celebrate the life… and WHAT A LIFE Brian James had”.

While notifying fans of upcoming Damned shows, Sensible revealed they will “dedicate the set (and a few of his songs) to Brian James – without whom the Damned would not ever have happened”.

The tributes to James come when Damned are set to perform in Sao Paulo, Brazil tonight (7 March) before completing more South American shows of their tour.

The return of Rat Scabies, who replaces Will Taylor who left the band earlier this month, completes a line-up that has not performed together in a live setting since 1989, a full 35 years next December. The full line-up consists of lead singer Dave Vanian, who remains the only ever-present member of the group, guitarist Captain Sensible, bassist Paul Gray and, of course, drummer Rat Scabies.

The Damned UK Tour 2024
Performing for the first time in 35 years! With songs from The Black Album & Strawberries as well as all the classics and some surprises!
On sale this Friday at 10am
pic.twitter.com/plaih5r0wD

— The Damned (@thedamned) November 21, 2023

The tour, according to a post on X, will feature songs from The Black Album and Strawberries, along with “all the classics and some surprises!”. Fans of the cult punk and gothic rock outfit would be correct in being excited about what “surprises” might lay in store for next year’s tour, and may even expect brand new material given the tour will not kick off for another 13 months, possibly allowing the band time to creatively conjure up some new tracks.

Listen to “Neat Neat Neat“, a track from The Damned’s debut album, Damned Damned Damned, below:

The Damned, a London-based band formed in 1976, made a significant impact on the music scene with the release of their debut album, Damned Damned Damned, in 1977. They have gone on to cultivate a strong cult following as they transitioned from a raw punk style in the late 70s to a darker gothic approach in the 80s. The group have gone on to release a total of 12 albums, the latest of which, Darkadelic, was released earlier this year in April via earMUSIC.

Watch the music video for “Beware Of The Clown“, a song from The Damned’s latest release, Darkadelic, below:

See below for dates for next year’s tour:

04/12/2024 – NX – Newcastle
05/15 – Barrowlands – Glasgow
06/12 – Academy – Manchester
08/12 – O2 Academy – Leeds
09/12 – Rock City – Nottingham
10/12 – The Halls – Wolverhampton
12/12 – Beacon – Bristol
13/12 – O2 Guildhall – Southhampton
14/12 – Winter Garden – Eastbourne
16/12 – Corn Exchange – Cambridge
18/12 – Roundhouse – London

Tickets will go on general sale tomorrow (Friday 24th November) and will be available to purchase here.

You can purchase The Damned’s latest album, Darkadelic, here.

They’ll be headlining at the festival’s Field of Avalon, and they won’t be alone. McFly and famed poet John Cooper Clarke are also due to appear. You can see the full list in the tweet below, which was posted by the festival’s organisers earlier today.

For the first of our Glastonbury 2022 area / venue announcements, here’s the amazing @FieldofAvalon‘s line-up poster for this year’s Festival! pic.twitter.com/QFdCofVVHA

— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) April 12, 2022

Of course, what with it being Glastonbury, they’ve had quite a bit of luck over the past few months when it comes to getting big names. The headliners range from Billie Eilish to Kendrick Lamar and Paul McCartney, so plenty there to keep festival-goers happy.

Some of the other big names coming up include Noel Gallagher, Lorde, Sam Fender and plenty more. Little Simz will reportedly be headlining at the West Holts stage, returning after a mid-afternoon set back in 2016. And fans of classic sixties girl groups shouldn’t be too put off either, with Diana Ross being set to take centre stage at the festival’s Legends slot, more of which you can read about here.

The full line-up can be seen at this link, but suffice to say, anyone who’s anyone in the industry has a good chance of being there.

It’s been a long time coming, what with cancellations over the past two years due to Covid. Setting stage for the first time since 2019, the festival managed to save two of its three headlining acts that were due for 2020 (McCartney and Lamar), with Taylor Swift being the one that got away. If you want to read more about the festival, or the fact that one of the headliners recently admitted to still not having a clue what he had planned once on stage, then you can look here.

Sadly it’s a bit late to get tickets now, with over 200,000 waiting attendees having bagged the last lot. On the bright side, you can watch it live right now, what with the BBC putting in their webcam on the grounds, viewing preparations that are being made as you read this. Apparently, they’ve already put the cover on the Pyramid Stage, so things are well on their way for the summer festivities.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Emily Eavis (@emily_eavis)

The festival will happen from June 22^nd-26^th so if you’re lucky enough to have tickets, you can look forward to what should be a night to remember.

The band ensured that tickets for the scrapped dates would be eligible for the new tour dates, which will be held over next October and November. The supporting acts will remain the same as originally planned. The group’s punk connections seem to have served them well, being joined by many other groups that were there at the genre’s birth; with singer-songwriter TV Smith (of The Adverts – one of the first successful UK punk bands) and the group Penetration (who’s 1978 debut album Moving Targets was described by AllMusic as “among the very last true greats of the first wave of British punk offerings“) joining them on stage.

The group, which formed in 1976, have contributed some important milestones to punk rock, being around during its birth in the seventies. Not only was their debut album Damned Damned Damned the first-ever full album release by a UK punk outfit, their 1976 single  “New Rose“ is generally considered the first single by a UK punk band as well.

Throughout the years, the band have had numerous line-up changes, even briefly breaking up in the late seventies due to the negative reception of their second album, Music for Pleasure. The original lineup (and performers in the upcoming tour) was lead singer Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist Captain Sensible (Raymond Burns) and drummer Rat Scabies (Christopher Millar). James left after Music for Pleasure and Millar left after the release of their 1995 album Not of This Earth. The latest most consistent line-up was from 2004-2017, with Vanian and Burns, but it’s been a long time coming for all original members to be on stage together again.

The tour will see the band focussing on material from their first two albums, as well as the b-sides and covers that the original line-up played from this era. If you’re interested in finding more about tickets, you can look here. The tour dates for the event can be seen below.

Tour Dates:
28/10/2022 – Eventim Apollo – London
29/10 – Eventim Apollo – London
03/11 – O2 Apollo – Manchester
04/11 – O2 Academy – Glasgow
05/11 – O2 Academy – Birmingham

THE DAMNED original line-up will reunite for a UK tour in 2021. Founding members Dave Vanian, Rat Scabies, Captain Sensible and Brian James will play four shows next July, tickets are on sale this Friday 23 Oct from https://t.co/Mnk8EztgSU pic.twitter.com/SxqwVJ84g9

— The Damned (@thedamned) October 21, 2020

This will mark the first time all 4 of the original band members have been on stage together for over 25 years. Scabies (the drummer) and James (the guitarist) will join in on stage after the two-decade break. The lead singer Dave Vanian is the only original band member to remain a constant since the band’s inception all the back in 1976.

The Damned rose to fame very quickly, both at home in the UK and overseas in the USA. Vanian, Sensible, and Scabies originally were part of a band called ‘Masters of the Backside‘ with the future frontwoman of the Pretenders Chrissie Hynde. She would later go on to say in her book ‘Reckless’ that “Without me, they were probably the most musically accomplished punk outfit in town” (Hynde, 2015)

On October 22nd, 1976, The Damned were the First Punk band to release a single (New Rose). The next year on the 18th of February 1977 they became the first British Punk band to release a full-length punk album (Damned Damned Damned). Later that same year in the spring of 1977 they then became the first British Punk band to tour the US

Fans were obviously very excited by the news of the original 4 piece band reforming after so many years. The band obviously is known for a lot of firsts in the British Punk scene is also known for a lot of splitting ups, getting back together, or members leaving. Having a grand total of 19 members over the course of the bands run and splitting up a number of times. The Damned truly lived up to the lifestyle and music of “fast living and faster music“

With RSVPing starting for their tour now and the ability to be notified when tickets go on sale, The Damned seemed to be getting the fans very excited. At present, there are only 4 gigs being played in London, Birmingham, Glasgow, and Manchester. However, The Damned have added an option for fans to ask for the band to “Play in your city“.  Fans should be ready for tickets to be snapped up very fast much like The Damned’s fast pace style.

09/07/2021 – Eventim Apollo Hammersmith – London
16/07 – O2 Academy – Birmingham
17/07 – O2 Academy – Glasgow
18/07 – O2 Academy – Manchester

After festival organiser, Emily Eavis stated that the remaining bill would be announced “one stage at a time” in the run-up to the Worthy Farm spectacular, the popular Shangri-La area has now unveiled who is on their bill, for June.

Among the names announced were the Idles, who have been confirmed to be making an appearance on the Truth Stage, in a late-night slot. Joining the punk rock band is US rapper, Denzel Curry, who will also perform along with French heavy metal group, Gojira. Joining them on the already electric bill will be The Damned, Craig Charles, and Elvana.

The @ShangrilaGlasto #Glastonbury2019 line-up is here!!
More info -> https://t.co/YCoSmxjbbi pic.twitter.com/Zh8qpuf5H0

— Glastonbury Festival (@GlastoFest) May 1, 2019

The following names have also been revealed to be joining the already stellar line-up, which include the likes of IDLES and Denzel Curry, and also heading to Worthy Farm, this June is Black Futures, Earache DJs, Employed To Serve, Entombed AD, Gizz Butt (Ex-Prodigy) – Keith Flint Appreciation Hour, Haggard Cat, and Heavy Lungs.

Oo-er. pic.twitter.com/Iod4Ji79vM — The Glasto Thingy (@TheGlastoThingy) May 1, 2019

Gizz Butt, former live guitarist for The Prodigy, will perform a tribute DJ set titled ‘Keith Flint Appreciation Hour’, in a set that will honour the late singer, Keith Flint. Joining Butt will be Rob Da Bank and Charlie Sloth – who will be spinning tunes.

In an announcement, released on Wednesday the 1st of May 2019, Glastonbury revealed that the Shangri-La area will take on the theme of ‘JUNKSTAPOSITION: RE-USE – RE-CYCLE – RE-SIST’. The announcement stated: !Shangri-La strives to illuminate progressive culture with great urgency – in the field and beyond.

The Summer Sonic festival is a two or three day event held in two locations, Osaka and Chiba, similar to the UK’s Reading and Leeds festivals. The way it works is that  one line up of bands will play in one of the locations one day while another plays the other and vice versa on another day. As well as Japanese bands, it also features many international acts. It also operates the festival Sonicmania, which is more focused on dance music, since 2011. It is an independent  festival, owned by Creative Productions Ltd. They are famous for unleashing the “Purple Dog” that  is a mix of Chitzu  and Manamau.

The Summer Sonic festival was founded in 2000 with a focus on both national and international acts. Notable acts to have played the first ever edition included 311, Arrested Development, At the Drive-in, Ben Folds Five and notably Coldplay, who were a new and up coming band at the time.

The Electronic Dance section of the festival was split into Sonicmania in 2011 which is always held a day before  the event at Makuira Messe which according to “Timeout” “Held as a warm-up for Summer Sonic each year, the all-night Sonicmania party caters to dance kids who aren’t so well served by the main festival itself”

In 2012, Creative formed a joint venture with Live Nation Entertainment in 2012. In 2014, Live Nation bought full control of the venture. In 2017, the festival was expanded to Shanghai, China.

Kicking off on January 26, the ‘Evil Spirits’ will see the band tour all over the British Isles, and is widely expected to be in support of a new album. The date at the Koko was added due to phenomenal popular demand, and will see the band complete a double bill of London dates, as they play Kentish Town’s Forum the night after. Tickets are on sale now, and you can see the full list of dates below.

Joining the band for the tour will be ex-bassist Paul Gray, who is replacing Stu West in the band. Gray was with The Damned for two of their most popular albums in the 1980’s- The Black Album, and Strawberries. Gray’s return has been greeted with a lot of excitement from the band’s dedicated fanbase.

It’s been nearly a decade since the band’s last album, meaning anticipation is reaching a fever pitch, awaiting the follow-up to 2008’s So, Who’s Paranoid?. The project was recorded in New York, with famed producer Tony Visconti, who list the likes of David Bowie, U2, and T-Rex amongst an extensive list of collaborators.

“Our new Tony Visconti produced album, as with all previous Damned records, very much has its own sound,” said band leader Captain Sensible. “We’re looking forward to having an element of that mixed in with the old faves.”

26/01/2018- O2 Academy- Newcastle
27/01- Caird Hall- Dundee
28/01- O2 Academy- Glasgow
30/01- O2 Academy- Leeds
31/01-  O2 Academy- Birmingham
03/02- O2 Academy- Leicester
04/02-Rock City- Nottingham
06/02- Leas Cliff Hall- Folkestone
07/02- Cliffs Pavilion- Southend
09/02- Great Hall- Cardiff
10/02- O2 Academy- Bristol
11/02- O2 Academy- Bournemouth
13/02- O2 Guildhall- Southampton
14/02- De La Warr Pavilion-Bexhill
16/02- Koko- London
17/02- O2 Forum Kentish Town- London

The tour also marks and celebrates the 40th year since the band’s debut single ‘New Rose’. The song itself is widely considered to be the first punk single, with 1977’s Damned Damned Damned considered to be the first punk album. The classic debut album will be played in full during the tour, as well as the band playing many of their other career-spanning hits.

The band are also coming off the back of a triumphant set at this year’s Coachella festival, still proving themselves to be a force of a live band, and ranking amongst Rolling Stone’s  “20 Best Things We Saw At Coachella 2016.” The band are also carrying momentum from the critically-acclaimed documentary Don’t you Wish we were Dead, directed by Wes Orshoski (Lemmy). The coverage The Damned continue to receive has also prompted BMG music to release special anniversary CDs and Vinyl of Damned Damned Damned, coming with extensive new sleeve notes, and due for release in February 2017.

The tour will take place through November and December on the dates below. Tickets are on sale now at: http://www.officialdamned.com/ tour/.
November
12 Leamington Spa, The Assembly
13 Nottingham, Rock City
15 Guildford, G-Live
16 Wrexham, William Aston Hall
17 Leeds, 02 Academy
18 Manchester, Academy
19 Newcastle, 02 Academy
20 Glasgow, 02 ABC
22 Cambridge, Junction
23 Norwich, Waterfront
24 Brighton, Dome
25 Gillingham, Britannia Theatre
26 London, 02 Brixton Academy
27 Cardiff, Tramshed
29 Wolverhampton, Civic Hall
30 Bristol, Motion

December
1 Portsmouth, Pyramids Centre
2 Weymouth, Pavilions
3 Plymouth, University (Main Hall)
4 Exeter, Phoenix Centre
9 Margate, Winter Gardens