Good evening everyone and how is your week panning out? I do hope well….here we’re still besieged by stupidly warm weather and I’ve been buried in work so I feel like I’m in work/sleep mode, something I must try and remedy at the weekend. You’ve picked a great night to visit the blog as we are lucky enough to have a guest post tonight from someone who is not only very handy with a camera but is showing some added flair on the keyboard too. It is of course a new contribution from our friend Pete in London and I really appreciate him taking the time and giving my fingers a rest. He’ll be taking over this blog at this rate which might be very good news for all of you! This is a long post but very enjoyable so I’m going to split it up into two parts, I guarantee you’ll be back for the sequel. The topic – Big Audio Dynamite in Bournemouth at The Old Fire Station last week which served as their warm up gig for Glastonbury, from what I’ve seen and heard the warm up show was the one to be at. Over to Pete:

“Aren’t there a lot of similar looking roundabouts in Bournemouth ? This was my first problem arriving down in Dorset for the B.A.D. Glastonbury warm-up gig at The Old Fire Station – yes, it really is an old fire station. The confusing geography meant a short trip to nearby Poole, very picturesque even in the rain, especially some of the beautiful Art-Deco buildings, but was little help in securing a photo pass for the gig. I’d texted The Don (Letts) before leaving London and received a quick reply saying “Cool, no problem” in reply to my request for said pass.

When we eventually found the venue, after at least fifty more roundabouts, it was deserted, even after investigating the rear entrance. Checking into the hotel seemed like the best option, which is what we did…Cider and a gin and tonic or two.

Two hours later, preparation complete, partially inebriated and armed with the necessary kit – my photographic ‘suicide bomber’ outfit, harness replete with four large lens pouches, camera bodies and flash gun we returned to the venue where the front doors and widows were still bolted and curtained. Ever resourceful, I decided to walk round to the back of the building again, whereupon we found the ‘stage door’ open – a fire exit actually, but stage door sounds so much more exciting !

The brilliant Rotten Hill Gang were in the process of soundchecking and I was surprised to see Cole Salewicz filling in on guitar for Andre Shapps ,who has recently become a father. His father Chris Salewicz is a writer of great renown and was a close friend and confidente of The Clash. After a quick exploration of the building during the soundcheck, I ascertained that there were no members of  B.A.D present. It was suggested that we tried the tour bus……What, just climb aboard ?

Mick Jones in Bournemouth, image courtesy Peter Stevens Photography

With nothing to lose I knocked on the door of the large coach/tour bus parked out back to be greeted by a driver who took us to the ‘main entrance’ at the other side. Armed with only four CD-ROMS containing my photos from the B.A.D. performance at The Shepherds Bush Empire on 2^nd April 2011, I climbed the up steps into the semi-darkness to be greeted by a smiling Leo ‘EezyKill’ Williams, relaxed and seated at a small table. After exchanging greetings, handing over a CD-ROM I walked down the centre aisle, whereupon I heard Don’s voice from one of the lower bunks. A hand appeared, the curtain was partially pulled back and there was Don Letts lying, very relaxed on his bunk bed. I was extremely apologetic, but he seemed completely unfazed by my presence and reassured me that my name was on the guest list and photography was ‘cool’. I gave him the remainder of the CD-ROMs – for him, Mick and Greg. Whether they will ever look at them I don’t know, but they’ve got them anyway. I thanked him again and left him to enjoy a little essential pre-gig relaxation.

I’ll now fast forward to the gig itself. Entry was no problem of course and the venue is of a really good size, not too big, but large enough to hold perhaps four or five hundred. Imagine The Garage on Highbury Corner and it’s that type of venue. The Rotten Hill Gang were just coming on stage as we arrived and they launched energetically into their half hour set. I was extremely relieved to see their ‘new’ guitarist Cole Salewicz had survived his quick evening meal, which he’d just minutes earlier had been sharing with us – an incredibly spicy hot ‘Vesuvius’ pizza from an establishment just down the road…..Thankfully he wasn’t required to sing !

The Rotten Hill Gang finished their set with ‘Gotta Pick A Pocket Or Two’ and were gone. Next up were B.A.D. and whilst awaiting their imminent arrival I occupied my time by chatting to a few of the familiar faces pressed up against the barrier at the front, many of whom were B.A.D. veterans – hope I’m not being unfair, but mainly gentleman of a particular vintage – MINE actually ! What did reveal itself to me at least before the gig, was Dan Donovan’s replacement – non other than long term friend and tech ‘Davo’ who I’d first encountered at the Carbon/Silicon Carbon Casino events three years ago. He is the man who has rescued many of the old samples to enable the recent shows to go ahead according to my sources.

Back to me now….that’s a sensational story so far Pete, just brilliant and thank you for spending so much time composing it, you must have scribbled notes when you got back to your hotel seeing as I can’t even remember last night without being prompted. It’s truly the next best thing to being there. I think I speak for many of us scattered around the world who can’t attend these gigs that first-hand accounts like this are really meaningful to us. I love Bournemouth as it happens, wonder if they still talk about me there….

Part two will follow soon, please please join me in the comments in thanking Pete for his writing, photography and facing those roundabouts with such commendable spirit.

Don and Mick in full song, Bournemouth. Image courtesy Peter Stevens

Hello again fine people and welcome back to the blog once more. It is hot here, not just hot but stupid hot. The thermometer out by the pool which although in the shade is in a sheltered spot and always tells the worst showed an air temperature of 121f this afternoon for a short while. It does tend to lie a little but is usually only 3 or 4 degrees away from being right. I’ve not seen it that hot in about four years. Needless to say we’re indoors. I have to walk the ClashBlog dog tonight, if this post never gets concluded you’ll know where to find me.

So what did everyone think of Glastonbury then? If you were in the UK or Europe you probably saw reasonable coverage of u2, Morrissey Pulp, Radiohead and such but no Big Audio Dynamite or Billy Bragg. If you were in the States or Canada the only television being shown from England at the weekend came from the tennis courts at Wimbledon (that’s with a ‘d’ – o – n, not Wimbleton as I hear so many call it…..why is this?). Glastonbury gets next to no coverage in the States which is both remarkable and unexplainable. With over 200 channels wouldn’t someone have figured out that there might be a few hundred thousand people who would love to see coverage of one the premier music festivals on the planet? I mean you could probably charge a reasonable amount for pay per view, say $10-15 or so and still get 100,000 people willing to pay for a weekend of access. Glastonbury is so diverse and so well documented by media that it could easily be broadcast around the world, with music being performed on more than 55 (yes fifty five!) stages and locations throughout the three days it stands to reason that there is something for everyone at almost any given time. Well over 1,200 bands and artists performed at this year’s festival so I’m sure some enterprising people can make this happen I’d pay to watch it. It’s 115f here, what else am I going to be doing?

It’s not as if broadcasting it globally it going to impact ticket sales. Glastonbury sold out this year, as always and the demand has exceeded the supply for the better part of fifteen years. All that music and still no sign of Big Audio Dynamite being captured beyond the video below. I just find it really quite frustrating, there were a lot of acts beyond B.A.D. that I’d liked to have seen coverage of. Which means I need you in the Clash community now more than ever, I really would like a first hand account for the blog as I know some of you were heading out west last weekend. If you’ve got time to put together a paragraph or two about B.A.D. or even the Don Letts’ spot as DJ the following night please get in contact with me at the blog. Good thing The Clash never played Glastonbury as we’d probably have no video of it and/or they might have turned into u2.

Here’s a clip of the band playing E=MC2 and I apologise for the very bass heavy audio. Hopefully more clips will surface in the days ahead. Festival season eh? More new and updates tonight, thanks as ever for dropping in. There were some rumbles that the venue and performance weren’t ideally suited to the band but then I’ve been saying that for months about outdoor performances haven’t I? Tim.

B.A.D. ‘E=MC2′ – Glastonbury 24/6/11

Just the shortest of updates this evening as I’m off to the cinema and dinner. A ‘night out’ I believe they call it. Hopefully will involve some curry and a good chat about what has been a rather long week coupled with the hottest weather of the year so far. I do have to set aside some time for the blog this weekend so I’m sorry about the brevity of this.

One quick thing to get to then, B.A.D. as you know played in Bournemouth last night and featured a new ‘member’ in the band which I’ll get to over the weekend in more depth. By all accounts it was another great gig and I’d even seen a few note that it was they’d seen since getting the old gang back together. Perhaps most interesting of all was the debut performance of an entirely new song (video beneath) which not only is very good despite the usual audio issues with liver recordings on a mobile voice but also is punchy enough to keep your interest. Not sure if that suggests a continuation of B.A.D. beyond these summer dates and some new material on the horizon or not, what is certain is that the odds are higher than they were a week ago.

There is also of course the added variable as to whether the ‘new’ member is permanent or just filling in for these shows, it would be good/wise for B.A.D. to make an official announcement as there are a lot of people wondering what happened to Dan. All it takes is a one line explanation via the facebook page,  especially for people who are paying some hefty prices for tickets. Come on B.A.D. social media team……you can even do a press quote this very blog if you like. (as if…Mick, call me!) Indeed, if the potential for new material being recorded does exist it would be great to tie that all together.

Let me know what you think of the song.

Big Audio Dynamite – ‘Rob Peter, pay Paul’   Bournemouth June 23, 2011

This must be the first time I’ve ever put Bournemouth in a blog post headline, probably the last time too. I’ll be back tomorrow with a fair old selection of things to keep you busy over the weekend plus Glastonbury tales where Don Letts has a DJ set in addition to the B.A.D. gig and also will be bringing the podcast and a new Clash Blog forum over the next week or two so stay tuned for that.

Have a brilliant Friday night. Tim