They say that selfish lovers are terrible, and the same can be said for selfish musicians. 
The Damned Things performed a lackluster set Friday evening while opening for Buckcherry as part of the Jägermeister Music Tour at the Midland Theater in Kansas City, Missouri. This heavy metal “supergroup” was collectively distant to their audience and each other.
For the majority of their set they remained in their fixed positions, minus lead singer Keith Buckley (Every Time I Die), who wandered around the stage but stayed at least two feet away from the edge of the stage and barely let go of his mic stand. Perhaps he was afraid he would fall into the crowd of unenthused audience members. Rhythm guitarist player Joe Trohman (Fall Out Boy) seemed especially uninterested. During their set he rarely moved, but stayed close to bass player Josh Newton (Every Time I Die). They very well could have just turned their backs to the crowd for the entire set and it would have been about the same. The only members who seemed slightly interested in putting on a show for the audience were Scott Ian (Anthrax) and Rob Caggiano (Anthrax).
As their set continued on, Keith Buckley was off pitch and the group seemed as though they didn’t know how to move to their own sound. Both of these incredibly important components shouldn’t have been a problem for these veteran musicians.The stench of musical entitlement was in the air, as though their previous accomplishments in their respective bands should grant them some graces.
Maybe they will be able to get their act together and make a name for themselves and not fizzle out and become another has-been “supergroup,” but until that happens I wish I could erase them from my memory.
