Concert Photos: The Damned Rocked the New Globe Iron in Cleveland

English punk pioneers The Damned played AEG’s beautiful new venue Globe Iron earlier this week to a very enthusiastic crowd.

Approaching their 50th anniversary, the quintet, led by frontman and founding member Dave Vanian, took the crowd through a greatest hits tour from the Thatcher years through today.

The inimitable Captain Sensible took up lead guitar duties while Rat Scabies sat behind the kit. Long time members Paul Gray plunked the bass while Monty Oxymoron played the keys. They’ve remained true to their Punk roots, even though the outfit has aged a bit since the late 1970s. But haven’t we all?

Running through a massive twenty-two song set, the band finished with two encores, leaving the crowd with a rousing rendition of their best-known tune “Smash It Up.”

California-based The Bellrays warmed the crowd up with a forty-five-minute set, taking the stage at 8:00 sharp.

Globe Iron, an 1870s-era foundry, was purchased by AEG and remodeled into a state-of-the-art venue, filling the gap between their 2500-person capacity Agora Theater and the 5,000 seat Jacobs Pavilion. Booking acts that appeal to a metal and harder rock crowd, there is no seating to speak of, other than a VIP area, elevated, in the back with seating, and an ADA-accessible area accessed via a ramp. This is a space for people to get up close to the bands and rock out.