The Story of the CLASH Part 8

Shakedown, 1979......1979 was my senior year of high school, and a
good year it was.....the new wave/punk scene was full blown in the USA by now, and while I was still a fan of good old 1970's metal/glitter stuff, but by 1979, the parking lot at Springfield South High School reverberated not only with the sounds of Zeppelin and Aerosmith, of the Stones and the Who, of Mott and Roxy, but also with the latest and greatest and most menacing, the sounds of the Pistols, and of the Jam, and especially of the Clash......

Right at their "punk" peak, before they expanded and experiemented with nearly every genre known, that first Clash album was a revelation that year....got several shows from 1979 as the Clash toured the USA for the first time. 2/7/79 (Berkely CA) was, in fact, their first US show, a good on that leads off with an energetic "Complete Control" and mixes in some material from "Give Em Enough Rope.

I have a NYC show, without a date, from 1979 also, a relatively long set for the Clash, includes some stuff off of "London Calling" such as "Wrong Em Boyo", "Clampdown", and "Koka Kola".....I'm guessing it to be later in the year due to the set list, could be wrong. Also undated is a short set from the London Lyceum, seven tracks spit out with machine gun rapidity.

Back to dated material, we have a set from the Harvard Square Theatre, Cambridge MA, 2/16/79....very, very good performance. Four days later they turn in a nearly identical set from the Rex Theatre in Toronto.

From September 8 1979 comes the Tribal Stomp Festival, Monterey CA Fairgrounds, the significance of this set being Joe Ely guesting on "I Keep My Fingernails Long". A week or so later, 9/14, they were in Chicago with a set that oddly leads off with "Jimmy Jazz", and the first lie performance I can find of "London Calling", although I'm sure earlier ones exist.....another similar set comes about ANOTHER week later (9/22) from Philadelphia.

The final show from 1979 that I have is 12/27, "White Men In Hammersmith Oden", in which "London Calling" material is fully incorporated into the set, including the title track as an encore.

The guys were at their best in 1979, the first two albums were still sounding fresh and new, and "London Calling" had the feel of an instant classic upon its release.

Tomorrow we will get to 1980/81 with some more classic Clash live sets! And, check yesterday's post for a link to a BUNCH more of them!

BERKELY CA 2/7/79-01 Complete Control/02 I Fought the Law/03 Jail Guitar Doors/04 Drug Stabbing Time/05 City of the Dead/06 Safe European Home/07 White Man In Hammersmith Palais/08 Tommy Gun/09 Clash City Rockers/10 English Civil War

NYC 1979-01 Safe European Home/02 I'm So Bored With the USA/03 Complete Control/04 London Calling/05 White Man In Hammersmith Palais/06 Koka Kola/07 I Fought the Law/08 Jail Guitar Doors/09 Guns of Brixton/10 English Civil War/11 Clash City Rockers/12 Stay Free/13 Clampdown/14 Police and Thieves/15 Capitol Radio One/16 Tommy Gun/17 Wrong Em Boyo/18 Janie Jones/19 Garageland/20 Armagideon Time/21 Career Opportunities/22 What's My Name/23 White Riot

LONDON LYCEUM 1979-01 Safe European Home/02 I Fought the Law/03 Jail Guitar Doors/04 Drug Stabbing Time/05 Cheapskates/06 City of the Dead/07 Clash City Rockers

HARVARD SQUARE THEATRE CAMBRIDGE MA 2/16/79-01 I'm So Bored With the USA/02 Guns on the Roof/03 Jail Guitar Doors/04 Drug Stabbing Time/05 Tommy Gun/06 City of the Dead/07 Hate and War/08 Clash City Rockers/09 White Man In Hammersmith Palais/10 English Civil War/11 Safe European Home/12 Stay Free/13 Police and Thieves/14 Capitol Radio/15 Janie Jones/16 Garageland/17 Julie's In the Drug Squad/18 Complete Control/19 Londons Burning/20 White Riot

REX THEATER TORONTO ON 2/20/79-01 I'm So Bored With the USA/02 Guns on the Roof/03 Jail Guitar Doors/04 Drug Stabbing Time/05 Tommy Gun/06 City of the Dead/07 Career Opportunities/08 Clash City Rockers/09 White Man In Hammersmith Palais/10 English Civil War/11 Stay Free/12 Police and Thieves/13 Capitol Radio/14 Janie Jones/15 Garageland/16 Julie's Been Working For the Drug Squad/17 Complete Control/18 London's Burning/19 White Riot

TRIBAL STOMP FESTIVAL MONTEREY CA 9/8/79-01 I'm So Bored With the USA/02 Complete Control/03 London Calling/04 Jail Guitar Doors/05 White Man In Hammersmith Palais/06 Drug Stabbing Time/07 Police and Thieves/08 Stay Free/09 Safe European Home/10 Capitol Radio/11 Clash City Rockers/12 What's My Name/13 Janie Jones/14 Garageland/15 Armagideon Time/16 Career Opportunites/17 I Keep My Fingernails Long (With Joe Ely)/18 White Riot

CHICAGO 9/14/79-01 Jimmy Jazz/02 I'm So Bored With the USA/03 Complete Control/04 London Calling/05 Clampdown/06 White Man In Hammersmith Palais/07 Koka Kola/08 I Fought the Law/09 Jail Guitar Doors/10 Police and Thieves/11 Stay Free/12 Clash City Rockers/13 Safe European Home/14 Capitol Radioi/15 Janie Jones/16 Garageland/17 Armagideon Time/18 Career Opportunites/19 White Riot

PHILADELPHIA 9/22/79-01 Safe European Home/02 I'm So Bored With the USA/03 Complete Control/04 London Calling/05 White Man In Hammersmith Palais/06 Koka Kola/07 I Fought the Law/08 Jail Guitar Doors/09 The Guns of Brixton/10 English Civil War/11 Clash City Rockers/12 Stay Free/13 Clampdown/14 Police and Thieves/15 Capitol Radio/16 Janie Jones/17 Garageland/18 Armagideon Time/19 Career Opportunties/20 White Riot

WHITE MEN IN HAMMERSMITH ODEN 12/27/79-01 Clash City Rockers/02 Brand New Cadillac/03 Safe European Home/04 Jimmy Jazz/05 Clampdown/06 The Guns of Brixton/07 Train In Vain/08 Wrong Em Boyo/09 Koka Kola/10 White Man In Hammersmith Palais/11 Stay Free/12 Bankrobber/13 Janie Jones/14 Complete Control/15 Armagideon Time/16 London Calling/17 Outroduction


It's late Monday night.....just watched the Red Sox go up 3-2 in St Louis in the World Series.....tomorrow after some sleep, I'll start gettting these links for this post ready for ya! Y're gonna love em, take it to tha fuckin bank motherfucker....(I've had a few brews too many perhaps)