When I was a teenager, I bought a vinyl LP called We Do 'Em Our Way, a collection of punk covers of popular songs. Some of them had already been released as singles so I was aware of such gems as The Flying Lizards version of 'Money' and The Sex Pistols take on 'Rock Around The Clock'. There was a song on the album that I was aware of; 'Eve Of Destruction'. Like most people, I was familiar with the version by Barry McGuire, but this collection introduced me to an exciting punk version by a band called The Dickies. Although I have always been into punk, the American end was a bit mysterious apart from the obvious Ramones, New York Dolls, and early bands who influenced the genre such as MC5 and The Stooges. Without the luxury of those Internets that we have nowadays, I couldn't find out more about The Dickies. The only thing to do was find more music. The only way to do this was to go into record shops (that's how long ago it was, we had record shops), and painstakingly hunt through the racks to try and find something. Eventually I found a copy of The Incredible Shrinking Dickies, and later a live cassette. Over the course of time, I have managed to see the band live about ten times. Some of these have been supports for other bands, but I have seen them headlining their own show a couple of times.

The Dickies supported The Damned tonight at Rock City, and stole the show, blowing The Damned right off the stage. I was very disappointed in The Damned, having been a fan for so long and having seen them so often, (tonight was my fifth time), what made it worse was having to write an honest review. The sad fact is that the band were going through the motions. Things started badly when one of those twats that throw beer around threw a drink onto the stage, prompting a rant about how it would be his fault if they had finished the show there and then.

I have only noticed beer throwing recently, perhaps as a substitute for crowd surfing. Rock City, like most venues, is what I call a plastic pot venue. This is in no way a criticism, plastic pots are a lot safer in these circumstances. Because of the plastic, I can't stomach the taste of beer or Guinness this way, so I drink lager. Anyway, a pint of Carlsberg, costs £3.20 a pint at Rock City, (I think). Now I know that £3.20 for a pint is actually rather cheap these days, but it is a lot of money if you're not going to drink it but instead throw it into the crowd. It has to be about the most anti-social activity to undertake at a gig, and the security should do something about it, like grab the little bastards by the collar and throw them out into the street.

The first time I saw The Damned was at The Fairfields Hall in Croydon. Eddie and the Hot Rods opened the show, (I was on their guest list), The Blockheads also appeared on the bill. The stand alone memory of this particular show though, is that the theatre was also staging Snow White starring Anita Dobson, for it was pantomime season. Both shows had the interval at the same time, and for a laugh I went to the panto merchandise stall and bought a Snow White on a stick, which lit up. I still have this souvenir somewhere in my archives. The gig was a homecoming show for the band, and much was made of the fact that Captain Sensible used to be a cleaner at that very same venue, and toilet brushes were thrown into the crowd. They were the first band I saw when my ex-wife and I moved to York, (I saw precious little of anything else exciting during the marriage), and I always try to catch them live when they are nearby.

I am now in two minds about whether I want to see them again though, maybe I have become jaded at seeing a band that I've seen four times previously because they can no longer offer anything new. That said, The Dickies were as brilliant as ever.