Monday..that’s alright, midsummer’s day and all that. This was the longest day of the year it would appear, remember as a little kid staying out in June until 930-1000 at night when home time was limited to sunset? It felt like all the laws of conventional childhood freedom had been broken just due to the rotation of the planet, anarchy couldn’t be far off until we realised that the sunset would be back to 830pm in another month or so. But yeah it was all about the possibilities when you were seven…not that we did much…started fires, built rafts to float on ponds and found daring shortcuts on footpaths that weren’t public. Just what am I on about? Yes…midsummer – Glastonbury is nigh and I’m sure that will dominate proceedings the next week or so along with hopefully numerous reports from the field.

Speaking of big festivals The Clash *with Mick, essentially bowed out with their biggest ever concert at the US Festival in Southern California in 1983. Not the best event ever, the whole buildup was fraught with tension over appearance fees (and where to donate them) combined with inner friction which showed that the huge ascendancy of the band which had already seen Topper booted out was perched to cause more chaos. The US Festival didn’t cause The Clash to self destruct but it is certainly the symbolic moment when Mick and Joe weren’t on the same wavelength any more and this was to prove the case in more detail when they returned to London. So here’s what I want to know – how can a huge festival 27 years ago finally reveal a life performance that’s causing a buzz in Clash circles as the full version of London Calling is seen for the first time in its entirety? Funnily enough I hear from people all the time who’ve seen The Clash in small towns and famous gigs from the earliest days through to the The Clash Cut The Crap lineup but I never hear from people who were at the US Festival. Surely some of you are out there…if so what memories do you have of that night?

So back to the video (below) and what do we have? A UFO, but of course, opens up proceedings and then Joe making a nice little introduction about something for the centuries (to come). Mick Jones actually standing within 5 feet of him at the beginning and then off doing his own thing for the rest of the song. Paul another 40 feet to the right going through the song methodically, I hate big stages and then of course Joe. Lyrics in the wrong order, missed verses, missed lines but getting it back together for last third of the song. London Calling performed live seemed to have the lyrics routinely messed up by Joe, far more than any other song that springs to mind. I’ve no idea why. The audio is pretty good, and the camera angles suggest this was ‘officially’ recorded, the video quality is very good although it only heightens the appearance of a band that were by that time pretty fractured.

I just want to know just where these tapes sat for over a quarter of a century?

Have a lovely night ~ lots more tomorrow.

Tim

Hello again and welcome back, if you are a regular visitor you already know I’m in a good mood today and that was primarily due to this. For those of you with no interest in football in general or Arsenal in particular there are still a few good reasons to read the Clash Blog today, in fact more than a few.

To get you started Dubwise 72 was kind enough to email me with the details of links to a vast list of live Clash concerts. He says that the quality is good so by all means jump right in and see what you think. I’ll gradually sip through them like a fine wine. Here is the link to the site and in due course I’ll get them added in detail to the AudioClash page on this site. You can see the list of cities and dates currently at the foot of that page. Common consensus amongst audiophiles is that better Clash live performances are doing the rounds online and/or sitting in the vaults and that many surpass those that were issued as a regular release such as ‘From Here to Eternity’ (can you believe the prices on Amazon…snap that up!). By all means if you have the time, feel free to do a live review of one of these gigs and I can post it on the site. Just email me if you are interested.

Next up, a band with a very direct connection to The Clash who were as crucial to the music scene in Britain in 1979-1981 as any act I can think of have announced that they are playing the Coachella Festival in the deserts of Southern California. The Specials are playing on the opening night (why they aren’t headlining is beyond me) and to the best of my knowledge this is the only US date confirmed at this time. I’ll keep an eye on that and I’m sure there will be other dates added if only a handful. I’ll write much more about Coachella in the weeks ahead as the festival has a history of a rapidly changing lineup during January and February. Can’t imagine seeing the Specials after all these years but I am most definitely tempted and it’s only a 3.5 hour drive from here.

In conjunction with Strummerville the UK launch of the Shatter The Hotel CD (the dub inspired tribute to the songs of The Clash) have confirmed their launch party at Clash Central (The Inn on the Green) for Feb 5th at 8pm. We’ll dig into this more nearer the time of course and I should add that this will be sold out – tickets are just a fiver! More details are currently posted on Strummerville and the official Shatter The Hotel page, I’ll work on an interview with the creator/curator of the project also beforehand if possible, Mr. Mark Matthews. Please support this if you can make it to London that night, it will be great I’m certain.

Lastly, I’m reading a lot (an awful lot) of posts and reviews the last few days tying in Vampire Weekend with The Clash. What sort of filtering system can be doing that I was thinking? It seems the keys components are a political song called ‘Contra’ and a new album that people are interpreting as a not so subtle tribute to The Clash. I don’t know what to think yet – read one of the opinions here on the Musicfile.com site and you can also listen to the track in question there. **Update…the song is a stunner**

Final thought…would you go and see a (fully) reformed form of The Libertines? Looking more likely as I’ll explain in the next post. Hope Mick Jones has been informed! Up the Gunners…Cheers…

Good Morning all. Woke up at 4:10am today like a bleeding 6 year old waiting for Father Christmas to do his thing. What am I doing up so early? For starters I went to sleep early for once (1030) and I’m also a bit anxious about a football match in Manchester in a few hours. I’m sure the motorway is jammed right now as both sets of fans make the long drive North from London. Speaking of football, it’s time for another in our Clash Landmarks series. Football also operates in the States, but as you know this version involves motorcycle helmets, 36 referees, seemingly 80 players per team and lots (and lots) of television adverts. Occasionally they will actually carry the smaller rugby ball a few yards, pile on top of each other and then it all starts again. This goes on for 3 hours and its the most popular sport in the country, needless to say it hasn’t gone global – nowhere else can find enough TV advertisers or referees. (or simply huge men). So…I speak of the NFL….not proper football of course but the sport that caused our next Landmark to be built in the first place.

move yourself to go again

The Pontiac Silverdome played host to The Who and The Clash on Sep 30, 1982 and I’ll cover the concert after we look at the building. Pontiac is (was) a large car manufacturer but is also a suburb of Detroit about 18 miles north of the city centre. In the last landmark we looked at the site of the first Clash concert in a tiny pub in Sheffield, six years later they were playing in buildings best suited to building aircraft or hosting american football.  I’ve driven past the Silverdome about 12 years ago but not ventured in (the Lions weren’t in session) and it struck me as immeasurably ugly and large both at the same time. Surrounded by car park concrete in a non descript primarily blue collar suburb it looks more like it fell from the sky as opposed to being part of a community. The large domed stadium was completed in 1975 with a (sports) capacity of 80,000 fans. Silverdome was named such due to the fibreglass panels of the roof and the colour of said panels when viewed from the air. Naturally enough the NFL season doesn’t provide enough revenue opportunities so as such many other events were hosted in the arena. The highest attendance was for a ‘Wrestlemania’ show (is that the right term?) of 93,000+ in 1987. Concert audiences were as high as 76,000 (Led Zeppelin) and about 72k saw The Clash that night. My only proper ‘view’ of the inside of the stadium was the Word Cup games that it hosted in 1994. It looked like a big old warehouse and the distance from the seats to the pitch looked daunting.

In September 1982 The Clash had entered into a tour supporting The Who. Many at the time saw this as the old guard handing over the keys to the next big thing. In terms of popularity The Clash were near their apex and it was a wise enough choice by The Who. Pete Townsend has always professed being a

silverdome interior

fan and the West London links are deep between the two bands. When I lived in Acton in the mid 80′s I had no idea that every crevice of that area was filled with the early days of The Who….this was mostly due to my obsession with The Clash.  Anyway, the tour was good for exposure for The Clash even if the forum (giant indoor and outdoor Stadia) was not. I’ve occasionally been to shows at huge venues to see support bands in preference of the headliner and it’s always (as a fan) a strange experience. Most recently I saw Supergrass support some large band from the Pacific Northwest (that’s today’s trivia question) and the whole event is odd. 90% of the people around you are more interested in discussing television, sports, boyfriends, anything but the band. The drum riser is left for the headline act, leaving your heroes a junior version. The set (in this case) was capped at about 11 tracks coming in at perhaps 40 minutes and when it ends no encore. Then the crowd refill on beer and wait for the main act as I headed for the exit. I’m not sure how well The Clash were received by Who fans, I’d guess your ‘average’ Who fan in 1982 about 28-35 years old, a different demographic to Clash fans of course but I think that the similarities to the bands might have created broader appeal in general, hard to say – I wasn’t there.

Tickets for the show were $15 and the gates opened as early as 3pm (stupid… as the first act Eddie Money wasn’t on stage until 730om). By the time The Clash finally appeared at 9pm the arena was pretty full and most people weren’t there to see the pretenders to the throne. Against a chorus of boos The Clash took to the stage and opened with London Calling, apparently they struggled to convert the crowd and it almost a struggle of fan versus non-fan. The fact that probably 2/3 of the crowd had aleady been inside the stadium in excess of four hours can’t have worked in favour of The Clash. In true awkward style instead of leaning on better known songs from London Calling The Clash dissected Combat Rock to the annoyance of many. It never got much better and a 45 minute set ended without an encore and left the masses ready for a bit of See Me…Feel Me.

Personally, I feel sports arenas are for sports. I’ve never been a concert at a football stadium and I’m sure I won’t. Nor have I asked Arsenal for a kickabout at my local club. It’s not just the distance from the stage, it’s the acoustics, the hassle, the toilets and the fact that it means some huge level of detachment for the band. It simply must. When you look at a band like u2 who probably haven’t played a hall of under 2,500 people since the 3rd album I’m amazed that they can still feel connected to their audience. Obviously the tour helped The Clash financially and paving the way for Combat Rock to become huge. I think they were on course to break the US market anyway and I wonder if those few months would have been better served playing ‘normal’ venues. If anyone visiting the blog attended this or another of the Who support shows please write in and share your memories.

Buy a dome

As for the Thunderdome…well the Lions left and moved back to the city and the big old dome is now used for very little. The city is trying to sell it to anyone  with enough cash and the ghosts of Mick and Joe trying to convert an all too large audience remain.

Final note – as I watch the funeral of Ted Kennedy, though this man had some flaws – he spent much of his life fighting for those with less, and pushing for the underprivileged and trying to forge a more balanced and equitable society. For those reasons alone – we’ve lost a good man.

Tim