The London setlist (click to enlarge) thanks to Wayne for sharing

Good sunny/Sunday morning to you, hope this finds you in fine fettle. Just a short update for now as I’ve got a mountain of things to get done today but wanted to share some more excellent reviews of Justice Tonight as the tour made its way up to Glasgow for the final night. I’m a bit worse for wear today as last night was our local Joe Strummer memorial and tribute gig in Phoenix with six bands paying tribute to Joe. A fine time was had and it was great to meet fellow Clash enthusiast Gil who I’ve got to know via the blog. More on that concert in the days ahead. However in the interest of trying to keep things sequential I wanted to publish a pair of first hand accounts of Glasgow from the final night of the tour that has everyone buzzing.

First up I wanted to thank Barry from Newcastle who even though he’d been down to the Manchester concert the week before took the drive up to Scotland for a second dose of the tour, I can’t say I blame him after all you never know then this is going to happen again. Please stick with me on the blog over the coming days as I’ve not had time to get everything related to the tour on the blog. I’ve also got a 2nd account of Glasgow to follow, the very best in photographs from the London concert and a piece that I’ve been working on about Hillsborough, The Clash and benefit concerts and why this tour made so much sense in overall terms of Clash history. While we’ve all been caught up in the excitement of seeing Mick take these songs on the road and attract a pretty bloody impressive list of guest stars I think it is really important to remember why the tour even took place and why Hillsborough is more than a tragedy but a lesson we can all learn from. Justice does still need to be seen to be done and we’ve already had to wait far too long. It’s not a local cause or a Liverpool cause but the right cause. Back to Barry then (sorry mate) he’s a mad keen Clash enthusiast and I know these concerts made his year – so let’s jump over to his account:

Well the Justice Tonight tour came to Glasgow for the final show of the tour..and boy they did not disappoint..once again. The. farm got the show off to a great start with Peter Hooton all over the stage, it has to be said that their sound was so much bigger than the Manchester gig I attended. Then on came Pete Wylie who obviously loves partying in Glasgow  “This is our second city” he kept saying and the Scots really love that. At one point someone threw a Liverpool FC hat onstage Wylie picks it up and holds it up shouting “yeah this is Scotland where you knit your condoms”..and that was the cue for the arrival of the legend known as Mick Jones

Punctuated by Mick’s big  smile all night they launched into Train in Vain, Mick seemed to be on top form running all over the stage and the crowd went mental…I get goosebumps just writing this and reliving it again. Throughout the gig  Mick was so happy and just after a really heavy Clampdown he made the night even more brill when he quietened down the crowd and said-

“..shhh shhhhhhhhhhh Joe is here,  Can you all see Joe next to me cos I can he’s here”

Unreal moment I tell you man and then he said something like ‘We are enjoying this tour that we’re going to do it again next year’ as you can imagine the crowd reacted with utter joy.Then they launched into London Calling with Mick doing all of the vocals, brilliantly I should add. Suddenly the end of the show was upon us and Mick decided not to do Rush the B.A.D. number which has featured during the tour but instead launched into a superb Janie Jones. It’s been amazing to see and quite an emotional tour, especially last night…can’t wait for 2012.

Cheers Barry, I can tell by your notes just what it meant to you. Sounds like it was an amazing night once again. I do appreciate you taking the time to write it up. Please join me in thanking Barry – these guest contributions on the tour really do mean a huge amount to us who haven’t been able to make it to a show.

I’ve got another Glasgow review to get compiled which I’ll have for you this evening or early tomorrow morning plus much more in the days ahead, thanks for stopping in. Tim

Well it’s been quite a day (Friday evening as I write this) and I’m sure those who saw the concert at The Scala in London last night are still pinching themselves over what they saw and heard. Indeed more than a dozen Clash songs were played and sung live by a variety of vocalists with Paul Simonon joining the Mick Jones/Pete Wylie led crew for the last few numbers. Unreal of course, overdue perhaps but momentous most certainly. I’ve started writing a bit more about the tour in general and Hillsborough specifically and found my thoughts running into overdrive so I’ll break that up over three posts most likely starting tomorrow. We’ve got hundreds of amazing photographs from Pete in London to work through in addition to a stack of videos to share but I’ll ask for your patience as we get those compiled because as they say the show must go on and tonight it made it’s way all the way up to Liverpool for another night that exceeded expectations. Martin, our intrepid reporter from last night in London managed to make the journey up to Liverpool today and see the gig. He’s also up there to see his beloved QPR take on Liverpool (come on you hoops) tomorrow afternoon. Like a dedicated war correspondent he managed to file a report from the front line in Liverpool which featured another round of guests including one of my favourite people ever Billy Bragg. Let’s hand it over to Martin then….but first a quick photo:

Like old times.... (image the kind courtesy of Peter Stevens)

Justice Tonight – Liverpool University – 9 Dec 2011

The home town Friday night gig for the bulk of the artistes on the Justice Tonight tour and the special guests were out in force again. This time it was Cast who opened the evening’s proceedings at 8.25 with a 4 song set that included ‘Timebomb’ and their new single ‘See that girl’.

At 9.10 Liverpool comedian John Bishop took the stage and he treated everyone to the first of two Monkees songs that we were to hear tonight – this time it was “Daydream Believer”. John would be the first to admit that he is no singer but he IS very funny and he then introduced the next group of hometown boys – The Farm. I thought they were stronger and more confident tonight with the same set as they performed in London – Groovy Train, Steppin’ Stone, Love See no Colour and All Together Now, for which they were joined onstage by Mick Jones and Pete Wylie. The band then went straight into the set of Wylie’s songs starting with Come Back, You better scream, The Day that Margaret Thatcher Dies (complete with a crowd chant at the end of ‘Maggie, Maggie, Maggie! Die! Die! Die!), The Story of the Blues, Heart as Big as Liverpool, Johnny Thunders’ You can’t put your arms around a memory and then closing with Sinful.

 And then at 10.20pm it was into the Clash songs, commencing again with Train in vain. The beam on Mick Jones’ face as he performs these songs is incredible – he’s clearly loving every single second! Stay Free was next, sung by Pete Wylie and then John Power joined for what was my highlight of the night – a tremendous version of Bankrobber.

 We were then treated to Clampdown with Wylie singing, White Man (in Hammersmith Palais) with Peter Hooton doing the honours on vocals.The band then took a short break to catch their breath with Mick saying “We’re 2 goals up at half time” as he left the stage.

Mick Jones and Billy Bragg, two of the most important people in my life. (image kind courtesy Martin P)

 The next special guest was the ‘One Man Clash’ himself – Hammers fan Billy Bragg to sing (very appropriately) Scousers never buy The Sun, dedicated to the late great John Peel. The band then returned to the stage with Pete Wylie grinning from ear to ear saying “I just met Jimmy Case!”. Billy Bragg sang Jail Guitar Doors and then we were treated to a great version of Armagideon Time. A young guy whose name I think was Jay from a new local band called the Ladykillers then came on stage to play guitar on Should I say or should I go. The set finished with London Calling and the evening closed out with a finale of All Together Now and thanks were made to the 3 backing singers, who included Pete Wylie’s daughter Mersey..

 All in all yet another tremendous night on what’s becoming the tour of the year, but it will be very tough to top the London gig!

Brilliant stuff Martin. Thank you so much for taking the time to share that with us, can I talk you into flying up to Glasgow after the final whistle at Anfield? Please join me in thanking him for more great coverage of the tour. The first photo tonight I just had to borrow from Pete was of course from 24 hours prior but needs to be shown! The second was taken by Martin in Liverpool. Too much to cover, please be patient with me.

I really need to say that without you – without Martin and Pete these last few nights and Charlotte in Cardiff, Barry in Manchester – the blog would just be my views from far across the ocean. It’s your efforts and participation that make us feel like we’re at the concerts and sharing in what’s been an amazing week. So please let me thank you again. It’s the best community around a band ever, I think we know that. Clash City Rockers keep on keeping on.

All the best, Tim.

Good evening and welcome back to The Clash Blog. It’s a pretty historic night (now 3am) in London as I write and one that I never really thought we’d see again. When I started writing this blog about two and a half years ago I assumed (logically at the time) that the bulk of what I’d be writing and compiling would be looking back to years long gone. Not that there was anything wrong with that idea in the first place, The Clash were important enough that I hoped there would be an audience of people who’d get together to celebrate the music and the purpose of the band. Having a purpose was always part of The Clash and as fans I think many of us found appeal in that and in turn it gave us a bit more purpose to be engaged in the world around us. You could have got very long odds a few years ago on Mick Jones taking a tour on the road playing a huge number of Clash songs to passionate audiences throughout the UK. It hadn’t happened up til then and didn’t seem likely until about eighteen months ago, around the same time a B.A.D. reunion was first rumoured, if Mick would do that then perhaps the right reason would see him playing Clash songs live again. Perhaps it was Mick realising he holds the keys to The Clash now, perhaps it was allowing enough time to pass since we lost Joe, perhaps it was the simple undeniable fact that the Hillsborough Justice Campaign is the right cause for Mick to align himself with. I think it’s probably a bit of all three but all three were needed to make it happen. I’ll write much more about Hillsborough in the next few days as I think that’s appropriate.

Tonight though the tour with so much more headed down to London, a sold out and very expectant audience at The Scala had already seen the tour bring out some remarkable guests. This was London though, might the stakes get even higher? Not a Clash reunion – don’t even use that phrase – but a return of others to the stage alongside with Mick Jones. Eight hours ago I had high hopes and had read and heard lots of rumours, here’s what happened courtesy of a special friend of the blog – Martin who promised and delivered a review of what happened tonight. Let’s hand it over to him….

The Savage Nomads, including Chris Salewicz’s son Cole, opened the night. Very quickly the venue filled up until it was rammed solid. Tickets had sold out in under 3 hours for this London gig - ironically there are still tickets on sale now for tomorrow nights Liverpool show! I did not catch the name of the next band up and after them was the Rotten Hill Gang with Hollie Cook and Lauren Jones on vocals – the daughters of Paul Cook and Mick Jones.Next up were The Farm and for the next 2 hours the Scala rocked, with more or less the whole of the Farm plus Pete Wylie onstage for the duration.Groovy Train | Steppin’ Stone | Love See no Colour and then All Together Now – which saw Mick Jones arrive onstage, not to leave until the end of the night.

Next up was Pete Wylie’s set:

Come Back |You better scream – dedicated to Kelvin MacKenzie, the editor of the Sun in 1989 at the time of Hillsborough | The Day that Margaret Thatcher Dies (ed’s note – soon as possible please) | The Story of the Blues | Heart as Big as Liverpool – dedicated to the 96, a song that Wylie said Sony had warned him not to release as a single as “it will only sell in Liverpool…..well it didn’t even sell in Liverpool!” | You can’t put your arms around a memory (Johnny Thunders song) | Sinful

And then, at 9.30pm, we moved onto the part of the set that everyone had been waiting for – The Clash songs!

Train in Vain
Stay Free
Bankrobber – with Hollie Cook on vocals who needed help from Peter Hooton and Pete Wylie with the words
Clampdown - with Richard Archer from Hard Fi on vocals – a Brentford fan. He did a good job
White Man (in Hammersmith Palais) – with Peter Hooton on vocals
Should I stay or should I go – should have been Rex from the Rotten Hill Gang on vocals but he forgot the words and again Wylie and Hooton had to come to the rescue!

There was then a short break and Bobby Gillespie plus 2 other members of Primal Scream join the band on stage PLUS PAUL SIMONON!

Rocks Off
Jail Guitar Doors
Brand New Cadillac
Guns of Brixton – sung by Paul
Armagideon Time – calls for Don Letts to join them onstage but he had vanished after being seen earlier
London Calling
Janie Jones – with John Robb, who spent most of the song crowd surfing!
All together now – a final rousing rendition of The Farm song and then it was good night…..or was it?
Rush – one last song, the Big Audio Dynamite song closed a fabulous, never to be forgotten night!

Roll on Liverpool!

Thanks so much Martin, I can’t even imagine how brilliant it would have been there and to see Mick and Paul sharing a stage.

Simply an amazing setlist , so many Clash songs and so many other great tunes. Photos from above are courtesy of our good friend Peter Stevens, I’ll be working on a gallery tomorrow for you. Added to that Paul Simonon and you’ve got a night that can’t be topped. Please join me in thanking Martin for taking the time to chronicle the details. Nice one.

I’m still reeling about this to be honest whilst simultaneously sickened that I wasn’t there. I know we’re going to have some excellent photos and perhaps passable video over the next 12-24 hours so please drop back in. If you’re going to the Liverpool gig you’re in for a treat on what I’m sure will be an emotional night. All the best – Justice For The 96 – Tim