NOTE: This show, as well as the tour, has been cancelled. It wasn't known at press time and this article ran as part of the cover story package in this week's issue.

The Damned were the first punk band to release a single ("New Rose"), an album ("Damned, Damned Damned") and to tour the U.S. Regrettably they're also the last to get any credit. Would things have gone differently if Sid Vicious had shown up for his audition to be the singer of the group? Yes, but it would have been a short-lived kick to the crotch of mainstream music and not the enduring genre-bending legacy that we were given. Sid was a lightning rod, not an overwhelming talent.

On the other hand, Dave Vanian, who was wise enough to show up for his audition, might have walked in as an unknown commodity but a trio of decades later remains one of the greatest performers that I've ever seen. With a fashion sense stolen from horror films, Vanian was a stark contrast to the more "traditional" punk fashion aesthetic. You can split hairs on whether it was Vanian or Bauhaus' frontman Peter Murphy that brought the vampire vogue to the gothic subculture (but, like most things concerning the band, The Damned did it first).

Then there's this fellow in a red beret called Captain Sensible, who for all intents and purposes was everything that Sid Vicious aspired to be (an outspoken guitarist who was equally talented as he was loud and occasionally offensive). He might have started out as The Damned's bassist, but following their second album, "Machine Gun Etiquette," original guitarist Brian James (later of The Lords of the New Church) left guitar duties to Sensible. It was with Sensible calling the shots that The Damned emerged as more than just another punk band.

The lineup would go through a number of changes throughout the '80s and early '90s, most notably Sensible's departure in 1984 for a lucrative solo career before rejoining the band in 1996. While Sensible was away The Damned had their greatest commercial success in the atmospheric album "Phantasmagoria" which was followed up by the (undeserving) flop "Anything."

It was during the '90s that I saw The Damned for the first time at The Forum in London with support from Zodiac Mindwarp. It was prior to Sensible's return and my memories of the evening are a bit dusty, but I do recall being in awe of Vanian as he filled the stage with his presence as he raced around only pausing every now and again to drop kick a plastic cup half-filled with beer that the jubilant punk crowd launched on the stage throughout the gig (a customary chaos I had become accustomed to). The set was dominated by the up-tempo punk numbers rather than the gothic-pop influenced tunes.

By the time I saw them again I was stateside. Captain Sensible was back at guitar and dressed as a nurse (sorry Joker, yet again The Damned beat you to it) with the lovely Patricia Morrison on bass. It was a much smaller venue, but the performance, minus the flying adult beverages, was easily as good even if Vanian only had 10 feet to work with.

The Damned haven't returned to Utah since July 31, 2003. I foolishly missed out on that gig, whatever my reasons, I've suffered for it since. So, when last year saw the band released the wonderful album "So, Who's Paranoid?", I waited and hoped that The Damned, who had only played a handful of dates in America in the past couple years, might do a full-fledged U.S. tour. My wicked little dreams have come true as The Damned play Club Vegas later this month with Canadian rockers Danko Jones and local goth rocksters Redemption.