Welcome back to the Clash Blog with another update on the Justice Tonight tour. Because I have to sleep, eat and work I’ll probably be about 24-36 hours behind events in the UK during the duration of the tour. Life goes on I suppose, although I wish I had a railpass and was going from venue to venue taking notes of these concerts first hand. Speaking of life going on I’m actually sitting at a Girl Scout’s meeting for the Clash bloggette’s daughter tonight as she can’t be in two places at once. Talk about the opposite of punk rock, this is surely it. Of course I’m not making it up how could I….

Cardiff then – I wanted to say a huge thank you to Charlotte from Birmingham who I caught via Twitter on her way out of the gig last night and hoped she might be able to put together an account of the night from her perspective. I woke up this morning and she’d kindly obliged by sending a summary through to me to be posted on the blog. Last night was fun even to track from miles away, as soon as it got to around 11pm UK time I was checking Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to try and find some early feedback. Lots of comments on Twitter like “Can’t believe I’m seeing Mick Jones playing Clash songs” and “Mick Jones with James Dean Bradfield, surreal” plus a fair few about the very strong communal aspects of the gig, rallying cries from Pete Wylie about the state of the nation and the Hillsborough cause. As I wrote earlier in the week I hoped that the cause would be a key aspect of the tour and so it’s proving. One great quote relayed from Charlotte last night as stated by Pete Wylie:

“If you rob a bank, you go to prison; if a bank robs you they get a bonus.”

As you know these are very politically charged times and it seems ironic (probably using that word incorrectly as usual) that the gigs are taking place the same week as the largest national action in the UK since The Clash were at their peak in the winter of 1979. Add to that the ongoing occupy movement and things have a definite early eighties feel at the moment. Enough of my viewpoints, let’s instead hand things over to Charlotte with her rather brilliant account of proceedings:

It’s been a while since I’ve felt so excited by the anticipation of attending a gig, but I just knew that Justice Tonight would be everything I expected and more.

The Farm kicked off the gig, with Peter Hooton explaining why the Justice cause means so much to him, before launching into five of their biggest tracks, including Groovy Train and All Together Now in which Pete Wylie joined them onstage for.

Wylie gave an extremely passionate performance, particularly during Heart As Big As Liverpool. It was clear to see just how much the cause means to him. Joining him onstage, special guest James Dean Bradfield certainly added even more energy to Wylie’s Come Back, successfully throwing his trademark hop-on-one-foot-spin into the equation.

Despite the political issues and seriousness of the gig, the atmosphere couldn’t have been any more relaxed. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty of correctly projected anger at the government, the Murdochs, and of course The Sun, but everyone also seemed to be having a good time and enjoying the music. The most outspoken person on the night was Pete Wylie, whose constant jibes at Margaret Thatcher sparked much applause throughout the gig, and his new song The Day Margaret Thatcher Dies was received incredibly well.

After casually chatting to fans at the side of the stage, the rather dapper Mick Jones kicked off the Clash songs with Train In Vain, followed by Pete Wylie’s choice of Stay Free, then James Dean Bradfield’s rather spectacular rendition of Clampdown.

At one point, the modestly sized stage held nine musicians, all of which genuinely looked as though they were thoroughly enjoying the gig, especially Mick who spent the whole gig with a slightly cheesy, yet sincere grin spread across his face.

There was no questioning of the cause for the gig, and deafening chants of “Justice for the 96” could be heard throughout the interlude before the first encore. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people look so passionate at a gig.

Of course Joe Strummer wasn’t forgotten, Mick Jones, Pete Wylie and Peter Hooton all giving reference, with the general consensus being that he would have loved the cause, and would have been proud that people are fighting for what they believe in.

Being 22 I know this will be the closest I will ever get to seeing The Clash, and for me, it was definitely awe-inspiring not just to attend a completely non-corporate event, but also to watch a gig where every person on stage genuinely appeared to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.  I’ve never left a venue feeling so elated.

Wow….what a great night and a marvelous summary of it. Please join me in thanking Charlotte for her guest post, I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to give a first-hand account and Charlotte did the Cardiff audience proud. I’ve got many more bits and pieces from the tour to follow and I’ll try as best I can to update every 12-18 hours until the tour is over so all of us overseas or unable to get tickets can feel part of it. I wish I was there…I think I’ve said that previously. Enjoy the gallery below, just click on any picture to enlarge and then cycle through.

The photos last night were rather good with Mick Jones looking dapper and elated throughout and its great to see Pete, Peter, James and all of the others looking so committed. I typically try and make sure I credit the photos but I pooled tonight’s gallery from a number of people on flickr, if you need a credit please let me know. I saved these files at home and now I’m on my laptop so don’t recall the source on each one. I’ve also been wondering what you felt about the sound and the overall execution of The Clash numbers by the composite bands. While it’s nice to see the videos captured on mobile phones the sound leaves a lot to be desired. Right, that’s me done for now. Thanks for dropping in to the blog. Don’t forget to keep current via via Facebook, Twitter or get the RSS feed

Good morning, how are you? You lucky people who were in Cardiff last night for the Justice Tonight gig got your fill it seems. I’ll be back later with a special guest review of the concert, some extra information about last night and the rest of the tour and more. It’s going to be great wherever you catch it, that much I’m sure of. Mick Jones is unable to stop smiling.

I think seven Clash songs were played and the reception and atmosphere were electric, ‘like being back in the 80′s’ said more than one observer.

For now I wanted to post a few videos of last night, the audio isn’t great (turn down those speakers) but it certainly gives you a flavour of proceedings in case like me you’re completely unable to attend one of these historic nights. Have a great night in Manchester if you’re going and I’ll be back as soon as I can with much more. Sorry this is so short and frankly, sloppy. Tim

White Man (in Hammersmith Palais)

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

Good afternoon everyone and cheers for stopping in. It’s lunchtime in the desert so therefore Thursday evening in the UK as I write on December 1st which just happens to be the first date of six scheduled concerts on the Justice Tonight tour in Cardiff. I’m going with my gut on this plus some of the feedback from the Liverpool concert that took place earlier in the year, these six concerts are going to be something really special for Clash fans and indeed those who believe that music has the power to make an impact. While many of us have seen B.A.D., Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros, Carbon Silicon or other events that featured member(s) of The Clash the emphasis has always been on the artists own work outside that sphere. Which is as it should be but until now there’s never been something performed live with the promise of Clash songs being performed.

Of course Joe Strummer worked many Clash songs into his set, even going back as far as his time with The Pogues. Conversely Mick Jones has seemingly until more recent years left history on the shelf in favour of his subsequent material. That stance has only really changed in recent years which leads me to believe that his change is probably due to the loss of Joe in 2002. Mick has apparently felt that the Clash songs are too good to be left unperformed live and that with Joe gone the most appropriate person left to honour these songs is himself. Even when it would have been a huge crowd-pleaser (last year with Gorillaz for example) Mick has never added a Clash medley just for the sake of it. I’m all but sure Damon must have suggested it at some point, probably met with a scowl by Paul Simonon as a result. When I saw Gorillaz last year I remember watching Paul and Mick beside each other on stage again and just wishing for a Clash song (I certainly had flashbacks to seeing them as a teenager so long ago) but of course it wasn’t to happen.

So tonight, and for the other five concerts to come I hope those of you who are able to attend get something I didn’t really ever expect to see. Part of a set quite rightly dedicated to The Clash and perhaps just as importantly it’s truly in the spirit of Joe Strummer. I’m positive that he’d approve. We’ll see what songs get played and who picks up the vocals and see some moments that should he held onto for a long, long time. If there is one concert I’m really aching about missing over the last 5-10 years it’s this tour. The guest stars plus Pete Wylie and The Farm all appeal to me as well in equal measure to the cause itself.

The floral tributes at Anfield (home of Liverpool FC) on the days after the Hillsborough disaster

This is for those who lost their lives at Hillsborough after all, on an afternoon where they’d headed over to Sheffield simply to watch a football match. Something I did countless times at exactly the same age and in the same places. This isn’t a football blog but I love the game almost as much as the music and though I was actually at Highbury that afternoon the events of that day will always be with me. Somehow a ‘modern’ country paid the ultimate price for treating hundreds of thousands of people like cattle and the loss of lives remains as inexcusable today as it was that grim day. If you’re under 25 it’s almost impossible to imagine how we supporters (much like fans at concerts) were once herded and simply taken for granted. Tragedies and disasters can and do happen but this one was so avoidable that it’s painful to even reflect on. Going to matches was never the same after that, nor should it have been. Time does heal the wounds to some extent but the vitriol and lies from parts of the British press can never be forgiven. I sincerely hope a significant aspect of these concerts is raising awareness of the cause itself.

Enjoy it and perhaps savour it. Best of luck to Mick and those on the tour and to you who are heading out to see it. Roll back the years and have a laugh but please remember why the concerts are taking place. You also ought to know I’ve heard from people in deep despair because they can’t make one of these concerts. If you care to share your experience on the blog even if its just a sentence or two I’d be glad to include in the days ahead, photos too please!  Cheers – Tim