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Thursday night I headed over to The Fillmore to see The Damned after snagging some tickets earlier this week through WFMU’s Twitter account. New York’s aging punk rock set was out in full force, having pulled their studded leather jackets out of the closet and lined up babysitters for the kids. Original members Captain Sensible and Dave Vanian led the show, with newer members Stu West, Pinch and Monty Oxy Moron rounding things out.

The Damned are a hard band to place. They were the first British punk band to put out a single and a full-length. They wanted (but couldn’t convince) Syd Barrett to produced their second album. They released a cover of Love’s “Alone Again Or” as a single in 1987. And they’ve also got a goth-y element. In their 30 odd years, they’ve picked up a lot of sonic tricks, and they pulled out many of them over the course of the night.

During the show they bounced from quick punk stomps and shout-a-longs to dramatic breakdowns and spacy stretches. Classics were mixed in with some tracks from 2008’s So, Who’s Paranoid. The Captain described his view of punk rock as “a place to experiment” before the band launched into a psychedelic Syd-dedicated jam. They credited keyboardist Monty for “getting them into Terry Riley, John Cage and Stockhausen.” At times they made me think of an edgier Echo & The Bunnymen or a less maudlin Morrissey. “Alone Again Or” was energetic, but not quite as good as the last time I saw it covered in NYC.

The night ended with “Smash It Up,” the band’s quintessential punk anthem. The song seems to give a hint at the motivation for the bands varied sonic explorations over the years. “We’ve been crying for much too long,” sang Vanian. “And now we’re gonna dance to a different song.”