I wanted to add a series of posts about places that are relevant to the Clash story. I decided to start with somewhere I knew well and (geographically at least) was exposed to from an early age. I grew up about 25 miles North of London and my family originates from North London on Dad’s side and my Mum was from Dublin. Finsbury Park apart from being the birthplace of Johnny Rotten is also just a few hundred yards from Arsenal Football Club’s old ground Highbury (another Clash topic).

Apart from music Arsenal were (and are) a huge part of my life. If you support someone else just bypass that fact, being loyal to your own club is something you can’t or at least shouldn’t ever change. It’s been much the

Arsenal F.C.

same with The Clash through thick and thin you have loyalty built in. However I digress, from memory I think I used to go to football regularly with my brother and Dad every home game from around the age of 5 or 6. Usually we’d drive up to London, park at Arnos Grove and take the tube down. For some matches we’d drive closer to the stadium and would always pass the large former cinema on the corner of the Seven Sisters Road.

My brother, seven years older than me and consumed by music would always say ‘There’s the Rainbow‘ as if it hadn’t been sitting there two weeks prior. I imagine it was that at age 13-15 he was longing to get up to London to see live bands and that was his reference point. If memory serves the likes of the Who and the Osmonds had played there and it was also synonymous with Bob Marley who appeared there in ‘77.

The Rainbow, Finsbury Park

The Rainbow was an old art-deco cinema from 1930 with the architecture and flair you’d associate with that. The interior was a reminder of an age before sponsored marquees and plastic fascia as velvet and plush decor  were the order of the day. It held concerts in the 60’s but became a venue for live music exclusively in 1971. I’m sure my memory is more pronounced as it was a ‘new’ music venue when I was about 5 which would have made it more of a topic. On our way up to football all it meant to me was we were near the ground, little did I know it would become somewhere forever associated with the Clash.

In May 1977 The Clash appeared at the Rainbow along with The Jam, The Buzzcocks and The Subway Sect. Since the previous Summer punk had grown from a scattered idea to a real movement and damnation from the tabloid press. Centred in London the energy of this new wave was also spreading throughout Britain although London was still the eye of the storm. Less than a year earlier a punk concert wouldn’t have filled the foyer of the Rainbow and yet by then the 3,100 capacity of the venue was met.

Interior after conversion to a Church

It was the night that The Clash arrived and was well documented by Sounds the now defunct music weekly. I’ll write about it and the other shows by the Clash there in the next installment later this week.

Tim