The Clash after a press conference announcing concerts in New York NYC 27/5/81

A big hello and thanks for coming back to the blog for a quick snack on a Saturday morning. I’m still a bit deaf from seeing The Wedding Present last night but it was a brilliant gig as usual by the remarkable band who keep going with no loss in quality. Seems another excellent gig took place last night in Dublin town as the Justice Tonight all star revue pulled into town. I’m hoping to get some first hand accounts of the festivities but from watching twitter last night before I headed out due to the 8 hour time difference I could see that the feedback was excellent with many not surprisingly thrilled to see Mick Jones running through a healthy number of Clash songs. I’ve yet to see the official setlist so if someone could put that in the comments that would be helpful. I think its marvelous that younger fans (of whom where are many) are getting a chance to hear and see Clash songs performed live. Of course nothing can match what went before but having Mick willing to chaperone them as I like to see it is as good a case as is possible. The songs are receiving the respect and energy they merit and the cause isn’t lining pockets but instead to aid the Hillsborough Justice Campaign. You can’t complain at that can you?

As I’ve expected for some time Justice Tonight as a concept also looks set to extend well into 2012 – much more on that later but for now here are some early videos coming in from last night’s gig in Dublin. Enjoy them.

‘Train in Vain’ Justice Tonight, Dublin 30/3/12

‘Bankrobber’ Justice Tonight, Dublin 30/3/12

‘Armagideon Time’ Justice Tonight, Dublin 30/3/12

Just a thought, they should film one of these gigs professionally and put it out on DVD for the Hillsborough Justice Campaign fund. Which then begs the following question:

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Hello again one and all and thanks for making your way back to the blog as we get ever nearer to that oasis we know as the weekend. A very short and completely true story concerns driving back home from having got a late dinner last night and I had The Clash playing in the car. A CD that is, not the actual band. If The Clash had been playing in my car last night don’t you think I would have updated the blog the minute I got home? Well the song that happened to be playing was ‘Listen’ and just a short way into it both kids asked what the song was called that filled the car. I replied Listen. They both yelled back ‘We are, but what is the song called?’. You couldn’t make this stuff up. I have noticed that Victoria in particular has a real passion for music and that The Clash seem to strike up a bit of fire which is good to see. She realises the lineage between our first generation stuff and Green Day (although she prefers the latter…?) I guess it could be worse.

I was just scanning the wires to see if the media were trying to rev up the Justice Tonight gigs coming up in Dublin and Belfast. Especially keen to see if there are any additional interviews especially after what Mick said the other day about more future dates (see the post with the BBC Radio interview earlier in the week). I’ll get into that more tomorrow but it would be something to see this grow and perhaps head over the pond or some more dates in Europe. So far I found this matter of fact piece about the Dublin concert from entertainment.ie – fairly short but positive. I would love to hear from anyone who ever saw The Clash back in the day in Ireland. I’ve always wondered if they were followed with gusto by your peers growing up in Ireland or if they took second fiddle to other punk/post punk bands. Although I’ve loads of Irish cousins myself I can’t recall what they were listening to back in the late 70′s/early 80′s although it was evidently something different to me. I need to do some research on early impact of punk in Ireland, Boomtown Rats, Undertones and Stiff Little Fingers all leap to mind but what perhaps got missed?

this must never happen again and justice must be sought - Hillsborough 15/4/89

This just in: The Justice Tonight review (better names still being sought) does have an official date booked beyond these two Irish nights. According to the NME the lineup will be full and complete whilst supporting The Stone Roses in what I’d call an upside down bill. No small gig is this one but the Roses giant event scheduled over three days at Heaton Park (June 29-July 1). Mick and company will be providing support on the third night along with Plan B, The Wailers and Dirty North. This is getting into the territory of a festival gig so I assume we’ll have Mick, Pete and The Farm all sharing the stage throughout with an emphasis on Clash songs. It certainly makes you assume more will follow or precede. The article linked above should be taken with a pinch of salt as former Smith Johnny Marr insists hopes should be high as the Stone Roses never let their fans down. I assume he didn’t see them the same 3 gigs as myself all those years ago, they were awful on two of the three occasions I’m sorry to say. I really do like the Stone Roses but as a live act they were really hit and miss. Still, it’s obviously a nice returned gesture after the famed appearance on the Justice Tonight bill in Manchester last December which is a nice touch.

Still not much else previewing the Ireland shows although I’m still looking. Incidentally for a good bit of gossip and some exclusive photos might I suggest that you follow The Farm on Twitter as they have shared a lot during the time working with Mick such as the photo above of rehearsals for the Dublin gig. I’m sure we’ll get some good coverage from blog readers of both concerts. Enjoy tonight in Dublin if you’re going and make some extra noise for us who are in distant lands. I’m actually going to see one of my favourite bands ever tonight for the umpteenth time The Wedding Present here in San Diego, if you’re not a fan I’d simply ask why not. Thanks for swinging in and remember you can keep current on Facebook, Twitter and sometimes The Clash Blog on Tumblr or get the RSS feed which will mean you don’t have to do more than read your email. What could be easier? Tim

Bloody good advice above in the post title above and it will make sense soon. Good Evening to you and how goes things? You’ll like this post as you can sit back and just listen rather than have to read too much. I have to say that amongst the things I miss most about the UK is strangely radio – the BBC in particular but radio just seemed to offer more. Thankfully the internet bridges that gap so it’s easy to bridge that gap for the most part. Years ago you had to have your timing right to listen to most online radio but now thank feck you can get archives of most things for at least a week if not longer. Also working on my computer essentially all the time I don’t have time for TV so I have music on or just tune into the BBC whilst I work, it’s perfect even if I don’t really care about traffic on the M6. Anyway my thanks this morning are owed to Joanne in Belfast for making me aware of a local broadcast on BBC Radio Foyle (BBC Radio Ulster).

You probably already guessed but it is a brief interview with Mick Jones to discuss his forthcoming gig in Belfast. Mick has a few minutes on the phone to talk about the dates in Ireland, Justice Tonight overall and some very exciting news about what might be next for the cause – especially on the concert front. Did Mick reveal who the guest stars in Ireland might be? You’ll just have to listen to find out. You’ll also need to listen to make sense of tonight’s post title.

It’s on the BBCiPlayer linked here, you have to forward to 31:55 and Mick has about seven minutes with host Stuart Bailie. I think you can access the link for one week from the date it aired, I regret I couldn’t embed the file. Thanks again Joanne for the heads up.

One small piece of housekeeping, I’ve added a new comments tool for you on the blog (below) which should make commenting a bit easier and can also load your profile based on your Facebook, Twitter or a website if you run one (or even a blog). Please please do give it a try and confirm for me that it works as it should. You’ve probably seen it around as it uses Disqus (pronounced Discuss…clever eh) software. I’ll be back soon.

Mick Jones in Cardiff in December 2011. Image kind courtesy of http://ampedwales.wordpress.com