Hello again Clash people, hope the week is off to a decent start and the summer is not as hot wherever you are as it has been over much of North America for the last few weeks. It’s a bit like the famed summer of ’76 in England for hot weather and we all know what the result of that was don’t we?

I really hope that you had a chance to watch the videos of Big Audio Dynamite at the Royal Festival Hall on yesterday’s post. Most of the time I can swallow the fact that I miss this concert or that event in London but I really wish I was there at the weekend to have seen this one. It just looked and sounded right and from all accounts it felt right with the consensus being that Mick Jones seems so vested in the band once again and it shows in every sense. I’m becoming fairly convinced that we’re going to see an album as a result of the reunion, purely idle speculation on my part but I can see now that they’ve tested the water for fan reaction (and the addition of new/younger fans who never saw the band first time around) and the chemistry within the band that new music might well be the result. We’ve already seen the first new song being performed live.

I’d like to once again thank Pete Stevens for the excellent photography below from the weekend, I know he also was able to see the soundcheck in full. He must have an equity card or something. I think it’s the 4th time he’s seen B.A.D. this year – I’m sure someone will now write in and tell me they’ve seen them five times in 2011. Go on then.

Prior to the photos I do want to start sharing some of the recent blog posts that I’ve seen and enjoyed. I always enjoy reading about people’s experiences of The Clash and how they impacted them or briefly met a member or perhaps saw a gig or two. I don’t think I’ll ever get bored of that as every experience is different and exclusive to the author of it. In addition, these days with the internet and being able to see photos and videos or read brief accounts of a concert anywhere in the world within a few hours via twitter or facebook things are never going to be as they once were again as any sense of exclusiveness has all but evaporated. That in itself is both a good and a bad thing. How many people saw The Clash in Dundee in January 1980? More importantly how many have written about that experience? How many people had a chance to share a cigarette or a beer with Mick or Joe during the earliest Clash tours outside the UK – and again how many have committed those nights to memory and shared them? It’s those experiences that make me look to see what’s written on smaller blogs or social media, everyone has a story to tell and a lot of them are really good.

I know that a book was being compiled about fan’s accounts of The Clash, that was last year but I’ve not heard more of it since. I must find out where that stands. Anyway, another ramble off topic here instead is a link to a the Clicks and Pops blog where the author speaks of a friend named Julie and her love of The Clash. It’s a simple tale but no less special as a result, although I knew a lot of people (perhaps a lot is a slight overstatement) who owned Sandinista! I also remember getting my first ever Sony Walkman in about 1982 (?) and rushing to the record shop to purchase a tape as I was very loyal to vinyl only at that time, I ended up christening my new Walkman with a copy of Sandinsta! on cassette. Partly because I liked the album but mostly because I was impressed by the fact it was on just two tapes instead of three records and came with a nice cardboard outer sleeve for both tapes. I still have it in a box of tapes. It was odd sequencing as the 36 tracks compiled essentially sides 1-3 of the vinyl on tape one. Years later I got sand in the cassette inner plastic somehow whilst on a beach near Barcelona, it made the tapes screech and groan and as a result and tape two was never the same again although I kept playing it.

Hope you enjoy the photo gallery beneath, just click on the first image and navigate your way through. Thanks again Pete, simply brilliant shots. All these new additions due to  technology to the blog, soon I’ll be made redundant. I just read that The Psychedelic Furs and The Tom Tom Club are coming to town on the same bill and my first reaction was “I must go”, is this the first sign of a midlife crisis? More soon – Tim

All images the exclusive copyright of Peter Stevens

Good morning and welcome to the weekend again. Any readers this week in Greece? Hope all is well with you, please check in and watch out for the Guns of Brixton. I won’t keep you waiting by blathering on but instead launch right into part 2 of Pete’s marvelous account of his trip down to Bournemouth to see Big Audio Dynamite, part one would be worth a read first if you ask me and it’s immediately prior to this post. Pete left us hanging with B.A.D. about to reach the stage….

Although this is the third time I’d seen B.A.D. in as many months, there is still that sense of anticipation minutes before the opening. With my ‘Photo Pass’ I was only going to get three songs in the ‘pit’ this time. The pit was cramped and difficult to move around in and the size of the stage meant not great angles due to the microphone stands. I was going to have to work quickly and hope the lighting engineer was going to be on the ball from the off…..

Opening the set was ‘Medicine Show’ Mick playing a brief harmonica intro and straight in to that great riff, so much heavier live than on the original record. Immediately there was a noticeable difference in sound with Davo adding additional guitar to the sound with the same old Gretsch which had almost removed my front teeth at Carbon Casino VII….For the first three songs I concentrated on getting the shots as quickly as possible and as always wishing there was slightly more light on Don and Davo….At the back Greg was in almost complete darkness for the first two numbers.  (editor’s note Carbon Casino Davo is on page 117 with Tony James doing an insane version of ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’, photos by Pete)

Davo with requisite BAD badge, image courtesy Pete Stevens

Like all great gigs the time flies past so quickly and I actually was given four songs into the set before being ejected, in the nicest possible manner, from the pit. This actually lead me to shoot from some other angles entirely – long lens from the back of the room, behind the mixing desk and also from the side of the room, standing with The Clash archivist and Night Of Treason drummer Steve Kirk and Don’s brother Desmond Coy. So, in very good company I enjoyed another tremendous performance from Mick Jones and B.A.D.

The set list probably can be found online somewhere. It was punctuated by a great new tune titled ‘Rob Peter, Pay Paul’…..obviously I’m very disturbed by this. Who the f**k is Paul, taking all my money ! My suggestion would be to re-title it as ‘Rob Peter, Pay George (Osborne)’ ! I’m struggling to remember the end of the set. I do remember taking some photographs of Gary (Stonadge) of the Rotten Hill Gang and B.A.D. II with his Mum and his daughter. Apparently the bar ran out of lager, which caused a little consternation within the room. Pino Coladas all round boys ? The set virtually duplicated those great nights at the Shepherds Bush Empire and in a much smaller venue it was more intense and personal than back in April.

 

Seems that Mick is enjoying these gigs, image courtesy Pete Stevens

In that tradition of great clichés ‘A wonderful night was had by all’ and near the end of the set Mick did recount a slightly longer story about personal dentistry, ably demonstrating on Don Letts, who sat almost motionless on a flightcase, centre stage ! Mick has now developed an extremely personal and personable rapport with the audience. He recounted a dreadful confrontation with some discarded orange boxes as a young boy and after the accident how all his front teeth were removed by an over-zealous dentist. By way of compensation he was bought a scooter apparently. Not a Vespa or Lambretta though. When his new teeth came in he likened himself to Bugs Bunny, with that lovely self-deprecating goofy smile and the band then launched into a blistering version of ‘The Bottom Line’. As you would expect, the crowd went completely beserk. Another encore soon followed. Suddenly it was all over and the house lights went up (always the worst moment of the evening) and it was suddenly head planning for negotiating the roundabouts back to the hotel on the other side of town. Through clarity of pre-planning and sheer good luck this was achieved without an unexpected late-night visit to a neighbouring town.

The Don by the sea, image courtesy Pete Stevens

 

My ears were still ringing as I downloaded the images from the evening and by this time I was regretting the combination of cider plus a 9 frames per second motordrive camera !! Fortunately here, the images (link to B.A.D. images that evening) have been edited down to a manageable number and hope they give you a good flavour of a tremendous evening on the south coast of England. If you do get a chance to see B.A.D. this summer (and it could possibly be your final opportunity) then I urge you to do so. I watched the bands broadcast from Glastonbury this year and cannot understand why they didn’t show the B.A.D. set, unless they would’ve shown up many of these young pretenders as inadequate imposters. Elbow ? Coldplay ? Nice boys, but hardly breaking new ground !!

Cheers, Pete

You lucky devil Pete, that sounded like a simply brilliant night. You also did a wonderful job in recreating the events of the entire gig and buildup too, thanks so much for the guest post as I said before it was the next best thing to being there. I’ll see you in the comments and be sure and thank Pete so he decides to come back and write again on the blog. Thanks – I’ll be back soon. Tim

Good evening everyone and how is your week panning out? I do hope well….here we’re still besieged by stupidly warm weather and I’ve been buried in work so I feel like I’m in work/sleep mode, something I must try and remedy at the weekend. You’ve picked a great night to visit the blog as we are lucky enough to have a guest post tonight from someone who is not only very handy with a camera but is showing some added flair on the keyboard too. It is of course a new contribution from our friend Pete in London and I really appreciate him taking the time and giving my fingers a rest. He’ll be taking over this blog at this rate which might be very good news for all of you! This is a long post but very enjoyable so I’m going to split it up into two parts, I guarantee you’ll be back for the sequel. The topic – Big Audio Dynamite in Bournemouth at The Old Fire Station last week which served as their warm up gig for Glastonbury, from what I’ve seen and heard the warm up show was the one to be at. Over to Pete:

“Aren’t there a lot of similar looking roundabouts in Bournemouth ? This was my first problem arriving down in Dorset for the B.A.D. Glastonbury warm-up gig at The Old Fire Station – yes, it really is an old fire station. The confusing geography meant a short trip to nearby Poole, very picturesque even in the rain, especially some of the beautiful Art-Deco buildings, but was little help in securing a photo pass for the gig. I’d texted The Don (Letts) before leaving London and received a quick reply saying “Cool, no problem” in reply to my request for said pass.

When we eventually found the venue, after at least fifty more roundabouts, it was deserted, even after investigating the rear entrance. Checking into the hotel seemed like the best option, which is what we did…Cider and a gin and tonic or two.

Two hours later, preparation complete, partially inebriated and armed with the necessary kit – my photographic ‘suicide bomber’ outfit, harness replete with four large lens pouches, camera bodies and flash gun we returned to the venue where the front doors and widows were still bolted and curtained. Ever resourceful, I decided to walk round to the back of the building again, whereupon we found the ‘stage door’ open – a fire exit actually, but stage door sounds so much more exciting !

The brilliant Rotten Hill Gang were in the process of soundchecking and I was surprised to see Cole Salewicz filling in on guitar for Andre Shapps ,who has recently become a father. His father Chris Salewicz is a writer of great renown and was a close friend and confidente of The Clash. After a quick exploration of the building during the soundcheck, I ascertained that there were no members of  B.A.D present. It was suggested that we tried the tour bus……What, just climb aboard ?

Mick Jones in Bournemouth, image courtesy Peter Stevens Photography

With nothing to lose I knocked on the door of the large coach/tour bus parked out back to be greeted by a driver who took us to the ‘main entrance’ at the other side. Armed with only four CD-ROMS containing my photos from the B.A.D. performance at The Shepherds Bush Empire on 2^nd April 2011, I climbed the up steps into the semi-darkness to be greeted by a smiling Leo ‘EezyKill’ Williams, relaxed and seated at a small table. After exchanging greetings, handing over a CD-ROM I walked down the centre aisle, whereupon I heard Don’s voice from one of the lower bunks. A hand appeared, the curtain was partially pulled back and there was Don Letts lying, very relaxed on his bunk bed. I was extremely apologetic, but he seemed completely unfazed by my presence and reassured me that my name was on the guest list and photography was ‘cool’. I gave him the remainder of the CD-ROMs – for him, Mick and Greg. Whether they will ever look at them I don’t know, but they’ve got them anyway. I thanked him again and left him to enjoy a little essential pre-gig relaxation.

I’ll now fast forward to the gig itself. Entry was no problem of course and the venue is of a really good size, not too big, but large enough to hold perhaps four or five hundred. Imagine The Garage on Highbury Corner and it’s that type of venue. The Rotten Hill Gang were just coming on stage as we arrived and they launched energetically into their half hour set. I was extremely relieved to see their ‘new’ guitarist Cole Salewicz had survived his quick evening meal, which he’d just minutes earlier had been sharing with us – an incredibly spicy hot ‘Vesuvius’ pizza from an establishment just down the road…..Thankfully he wasn’t required to sing !

The Rotten Hill Gang finished their set with ‘Gotta Pick A Pocket Or Two’ and were gone. Next up were B.A.D. and whilst awaiting their imminent arrival I occupied my time by chatting to a few of the familiar faces pressed up against the barrier at the front, many of whom were B.A.D. veterans – hope I’m not being unfair, but mainly gentleman of a particular vintage – MINE actually ! What did reveal itself to me at least before the gig, was Dan Donovan’s replacement – non other than long term friend and tech ‘Davo’ who I’d first encountered at the Carbon/Silicon Carbon Casino events three years ago. He is the man who has rescued many of the old samples to enable the recent shows to go ahead according to my sources.

Back to me now….that’s a sensational story so far Pete, just brilliant and thank you for spending so much time composing it, you must have scribbled notes when you got back to your hotel seeing as I can’t even remember last night without being prompted. It’s truly the next best thing to being there. I think I speak for many of us scattered around the world who can’t attend these gigs that first-hand accounts like this are really meaningful to us. I love Bournemouth as it happens, wonder if they still talk about me there….

Part two will follow soon, please please join me in the comments in thanking Pete for his writing, photography and facing those roundabouts with such commendable spirit.

Don and Mick in full song, Bournemouth. Image courtesy Peter Stevens