Hello once more and thanks for visiting the blog again or welcome aboard for the first time. A slightly better day today for your blogger as the Clash Blog cat is back at home and for once it’s less than 100° F. outside which makes a pleasant change. Before last weekend is too far gone I wanted to quickly cover the best option that was to be found in London on Joe Strummer’s birthday. As previewed here the gig up in Islington at The Garage featuring The Chords looked to be the ideal choice for a Clash fan on a late summer evening in the capital, and so it turned out. Now is also a good time to remind you of the Strummerville events taking place on Sunday in conjunction with the Notting Hill Carnival, I’ll get to that at the end of the post but first of all The Chords.

I’m really excited to welcome back to the blog Pete in London who as you may know has been kind enough to provide some of his fantastic photography from various concerts and events in London since the early days of the blog. Strangely enough Pete lives but a few hundred yards away from where I once lived in West London and we met via the blog. He was lucky enough to get up to Islington for The Chords show, plus in addition to his wonderful photography he has even contributed a review of the evening. So let me hand it over to him:

“I’ve waited thirty years to see The Chords, arriving as I did in London just a few short months after the original band split up. The original members were Billy Hassett – Vocals/Guitar, Chris Pope – Guitar/Vocals Martin Mason – Bass/Vocals and Brett ‘Buddy’ Ascott – Drums.

Now occasionally reunions prove to be a little disappointing, an anti-climax or just plain sad for everyone involved. Saturday night in London proved to be anything but that. In short, The Chords were absolutely magnificent. Billy introduced the band, first acknowledging that the 21st August was a special day and making a dedication to the late, great Joe Strummer. On a personal note I went with Chris and Buddy to see The Clash in the mid-eighties play at Brixton Fairdeal and I know they are both huge fans of The Clash.

History may write off The Chords as ‘just’ a mod revival band. I think they may just have broken during that period in British music culture where the press were very keen on labelling everything. The only label I would attach is ‘a great pop/rock band’. Like many of the greatest bands, they – and I can say now with experience – are better live than on record, although their records were also damn good too.

The Chords, Islington, London 21/8/10 (image courtesy Pete Stevens)

The years rolled away and the packed house at The Garage in Islington witnessed one great song after another, guitarist Chris Pope looking like a man possessed, sweat-drenched and bleeding; Buddy manic on the drums and Martin holding it all steady on bass. Billy, suited and booted, with a beautiful electric blue Rickenbacker happily chatted to the crowd between songs as if to a room full of friends, which a lot of them probably were !

Maybe vague memories of sweat-drenched nights at the old Marquee in Wardour Street were re-kindled in older members of the audience. There were certainly many younger members in the audience who couldn’t have been more than a twinkle in their parent’s eyes when The Chords last played. The temperature in The Garage rose steadily until the explosive climax of ‘Maybe Tomorrow’, probably one of the finest 45′s of all time….

The final night of this tour will be in Brighton at the weekend and if you live any where in South East England I’d urge you buy a ticket.

Worth the thirty year wait for me ? You bet !!”

Pete,

Billy Hassett of The Chords, Islington, London 21/8/10 (image courtesy Pete Stevens)

Thanks again for that excellent summary Pete, I also know you wrote that in atypical location (a ferry in the middle of the Irish Sea) so even greater appreciation for your diligence. The photographs once again are excellent and I’m glad to share them on the blog. You may also recall if you’ve been reading the blog since the early days that Buddy from the chords played a special show with Mick Jones last summer at the 100 Club. It’s back in the archives but here’s a link for a great account Buddy wrote for us at the time. Still waiting on one other Joe Strummer birthday event summary which I hope to cover in the days ahead. Finally as mentioned, if you’re in London this weekend please don’t forget to head into the real center of London (West London) and enjoy the Notting Hill Carnival and of course the Strummerville carnival night on Sunday at ‘The Inn on the Green’. Six(!) Strummerville bands and a low admission cost really means you have no excuses to drop in if you are nearby. Here’s the link for further information, that’s about it for now I’ll be back over the weekend with more so please drop in.

Lastly, if you get the chance to vote at the bottom of the post by clicking on the Wikio button (if you don’t see it click on the title of the post and it will appear at the foot of the story) each time you visit. Wikio is a hugely popular blog and news portal service in the UK and we entered the rankings at number 108 for music blogs and also in the top 300 for popular culture blogs, any help you can give will be greatly appreciated and helps to spread awareness of The Clash Blog. Cheers for now – Tim.