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

Good evening, welcome back to the blog and I hope all is well in your corner of the world wherever that may be. I’ll start this post late tonight (Tuesday) and probably get it completed tomorrow by which point everyone in the UK will be halfway through the Justice Tonight tour with three nights still to come. Apparently it’s going to snow in England today so I hope that doesn’t impact anyone’s travel plans for the remaining three nights yet to come in London, Glasgow and Liverpool. More special guests are promised and I can now officially say I wish like mad that I was going to the Liverpool concert.

However I’ve been a bit busy so I need to backtrack a few nights and focus on events that took place on the second night in Manchester at The Ritz. From the early planning stages of the Justice Tonight tour it was clear that we were going to be in for something not only very special but also very different. Guest stars on tours seems like a very 1960′s thing which sadly (with the exception of many concerts in the obvious cities like London and New York) has for the most part stopped happening. Perhaps it’s due to a lack of camaraderie amongst musicians, or the lack of a ‘scene’ or it could just be because of money and politics. Whatever the reason it’s a pity it doesn’t happen more as it’s often a brilliant thing. This tour already had three elements that meant it would work, Mick Jones performing Clash songs, Pete Wylie and The Farm providing excellent ambassadorship for Merseyside and a cause that means something to the audience at the gigs and the musicians themselves. It’s those elements that have seen the list of special guest appearances swell and it looks to continue. So to Manchester….

ClashBlogger bias alert: When I look through my collection of music I’d argue that London and Manchester have been the two greatest cities for music over the 30+ years that I’ve been paying attention and buying music. A huge percentage of my favourite artists originate from one or the other or at worst the surrounding towns, it’s been that way for decades now and shows no sign of stopping. I’d give honourable mentions to Liverpool, Glasgow and Sheffield too but London and Manchester are top of that pile. London’s greatest band over that time of course has been The Clash whereas from Manchester you could make a good case for Joy Division/New Order, The Smiths, The Stone Roses or perhaps Oasis depending on your vintage. (I’d vote for James also but that’s for another post). When the lights went up at The Ritz rumours were already flying around that the gig would feature very special guest stars that were previously unannounced and so it was. I’d wager that few seriously expected to see Mick and Pete joined front and centre by another notable duo of guitarist and vocalist who wrote one of the best albums ever. As the lights rose there were Ian Brown and John Squire of The Stone Roses ready to launch into Bankrobber (after a snippet of their own work with Elizabeth My Dear).

Now’s not the time to launch into a history of The Stone Roses but I think many will agree that their debut album was one of the best things to happen since The Clash split up. Seeing those two share a stage with Mick Jones was like one of those gathering of heads of state photos except these are decent people. Ian Brown of course still can’t sing in tune but seeing him do this apeman shuffle along with John Squire adding to the guitar noise is one of those moments that will last forever in the memories of those lucky enough to attend. It also speaks volumes as to the importance of this tour, the cause itself and the relationships and respect commanded by Mick Jones and Pete Wylie. I’ve not found much in the way of interviews but I’ve a feeling many of these special guests have volunteered rather than being asked. Which tells you so much about The Hillsborough Justice Campaign.

Image courtesy John Johnson Photography - Three legends at The Ritz

Here’s a link to some great photographs of the pair of Stone Roses on stage taken by John Johnson, one of which I’ve borrowed above. I’m also overdue in pointing you in the direction of John Robb (I’m sure many of you have already been following it) and his excellent site and friend of the blog Louder Than War. John’s got my dream job, formerly a member of Membranes (you’ll need to be my vintage) and Goldblade John has gone on to become a successful writer and has authored a number of books before launching the frankly excellent Louder Than War site which focuses on music and the arts. If you don’t visit it often you should, it will remind you of the good old days of the UK music press when there was something to be said. John has been the MC of sorts on the Justice Tonight tour and has been maintaining a superb tour diary which you have to read. I wish he’d have told me I’d have been happy to tag along and proof read each article and help with the odd interview. Here’s where you can get current and I’m hoping to catch up with John for an interview after the tour is done.

I can’t not mention London and Manchester in a football context this morning either and I don’t need to explain our London superiority over our northern friends at City and United I’m sure. However this is really the time for football unity not division. (but losing at Basel…?)

Right then, I’ve got to run but will do my best to be back later today with the early news from the London concert which takes place in a few hours. Why the fuck am I sitting in Phoenix? Tim.