Ever the joker in a red beret, Captain Sensible resembled Dennis The Menace’s ‘strange uncle’ as he enjoyed poking fun at the audience between songs.
Crucially he blasted out thunderous riffs as he leapt around the stage as if starring in a macabre, musical pantomime.
Not to be outdone, Dave Vanian in his Victorian-era Dracula persona stalked the stage bellowing out a vintage Eloise as though he had new blood pumping through his veins.
As veterans who work instinctively off each other, the stark contrast between Sensible and Vanian’s stage appearance on Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde was only superseded by their stellar performance of the song.
But it was the recent return of bassist Paul Gray to the fold and his big, fluent Rickenbacker bass playing that ignited punk classics New Rose and Neat, Neat, Neat.
The floorboards shook as he nine-inch nailed the low-end sonic grooves.
But the devil was in the detail with three new songs played from their forthcoming album Evil Spirits.
An atmospheric, spacey thread of sound connect Standing On The Edge of Tomorrow, Devil in Disguise and title track Evil Spirits, which augurs well for a newer direction in the Damned canon.
A riotous first encore of Smash It Up kept the mosh pit dwellers fighting fit.
For the final encore, the audience selected Dave Vanian’s choice of Jet Boy, Jet Girl over Captain Sensible’s kitsch solo hit Happy Talk and a damned fine time was had by all.