White Riot Tour with the Jam, Buzzcocks, Slits and Subway Sect
last updated 7 March 2007
updated 28 Dec 2008 - punter comments re: slits plus photo
updated 28 Dec 2008 - added venue poster & new pics
courtesy Lee Greenwood
cdr from LP – Take it or Leave it LP -
Sound 3 - 43min - lp/m - tracks 16
Visit the Clash on Stage website for a comprehensive catalogue of unofficially released CD's and Vinyl.
The LP succeeds in documenting well just how chaotic, ferocious and exciting The Clash were on the White Riot Tour.
This was the hey day of punk (the night before The Rainbow gig* which Joe has subsequently said was his best memory and the night punk broke out of the clubs) before the band wagon jumping and commercialisation. Tensions may also have been running high backstage, as The Jam would play the next night before abondoning the Tour after acrimonious rows with the Clash over monies.
The Jams presence here confirming the date of the Rainbow gig as the 9th and not 7th, which was there final gig of the tour before walking off.
Source: Take it or Leave it LP
This is the first ever Clash bootleg to circulate and has over the year’s as a result tended to be forgotten. When asked whether the band minded being bootlegged, Joe response was always no. In one interview in 78 he commented that the only one he’d heard (referring to Take It or Leave It) was actually rather good.
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Relistening to this again you can see Joes point. It is a good audience recording but like the old football cliché, it’s a bootleg of 2 halves.
As far as the sound goes, all the instruments are audible and clearish, including bass and drums however the vocals are low in the mix. Generally it suffers probably from a lack of quality equipment at the venue and is a not bad recording considering.
The first side of the LP has quite clear instrumentation and vocals for an old early recording the lead guitar is particularly enjoyable. But presumably during Police and Thieves (which has an edit near the end of the song) the taper either gets knocked to a worse position or the soundman on the desk gets pissed! As a result the second side is fractionally less enjoyable because instrumentation becomes more distant, particularly the vocals and the clarity drops a little.
The Electric Circus was an old converted cinema which was condemned and pulled down within a couple of years.
The first side performances are all great, played with speed and anger, with a particularly fine 1977, Bored With the USA, Deny, and the the rarely performed Pressure Drop, joes angry introduction presumedly at a member of the audience, “this is JA and I aint gonna fuck off tosh!”.
Photo unknown
An excellent Police and Thieves is introduced by a crude but effective bit of anti-racism “this is a song written by a wog….so all those people who don’t like wogs, you know where the back door is”.
Remote Control, to be dropped from the set after this tour for this reason “this is the new Clash single by order of the giant corporation, we sold our soul….”. With echoes of Magnificent Seven to come, Career Opportunities is introduced by “ring, ring goes the bell on Monday”. Some Joe humour before a manicly fast Janie Jones; “I want to take off my shirt but I’m scared to show off my puny body, I ain’t Charles Atlas and I don’t want to be”. Before a chaotic White Riot “this an English pop song that did’nt make it to No.1”. A typical 110% Clash early gig that captures the early excitement of the band and punk.
Hi, I was just browsing the web and i found your site and looking at the "Electric circus" page i found you are using a photo i took of the clash on stage. I'm quite flattered that you think it's good enough to use. I have a few more of that day, one of joe standing outside talking to guy who wrote "gun rubber " fanzine, one of slits spraying graffiti on wall opposite circus, and one of the slits on stage.
The picture (above) one slit walking past me and tour bus as Ari-Up and another slit spray graffiti on council estate opposite, watched by local kids. If it is any good, if it is i'll send a few more. Lee
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Londons Burning |
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White Riot full page ad
with dates
The Jam quit White Riot Tour
Melody Maker Mid May 77
Oct 77 - Unknown Fanzine
page 1 page 2 page 3
Greatness from Garageland
Peter Silverton, Trouser Press, February 1978
UNANNOUNCED, TO SAY the least, a kid in boots, suspenders and short-cropped hair clambers through the photographers' pit and up onto the stage of London's Rainbow Theatre. Benignly ignored by band, stage crew and security alike...
Clash Landing
Search and Destroy Fanzine
Clash Interviewed by Annette Weatherman and Vermilion Sands
A lengthy interview with Joe, Mick & Paul in 1977. It was published in Search & Destroy mag out of San Francisco. It was the first word of the Clash in print in the U.S. Birmingham Rag Marktt & Sweden gigs referenced.
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Rascals, Chester |
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Barbarella, Birmingham |
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Affair, Swindon |
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Erics, Liverpool |
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University, Aberdeen |
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Playhouse, Edinburgh |
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Electric Circus, Manchester |
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Rainbow, London |
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| infamous riot gig - often mis-cited as the 7th. See 7th gig at Edinburgh with Edinburgh Ticket | ||
| Town Hall, Kidderminster |
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| Following an injury to his hand, Mick Jones of the Clash is forced to cancel the gig booked for Kidderminster Town Hall. | ||
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Palais, Nottingham |
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Polytechnic, Leicester |
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Brakke Grond Amsterdam |
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Fiesta, Plymouth |
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University, Swansea |
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Polytechnic, Leeds |
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Rock Garden, Middlesborough |
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University, Newcastle |
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City Hall, St. Albans |
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| Skindles, Maidenhead cancelled | ||
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Wolverhampton Civic Hall | |
| The Clash played a replacement gig at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall on May 22 1977. This gig was played literally days after The Jam departed the tour. Rumour had it there was a dispute about the use of lighting on the tour. Buzzcocks, Slits and Subway Sect supported. The ticket stub did not have the bands name printed on, but had a "complimentary" stamp across it and the price written on. It was however an official Civic Hall ticket. | ||
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Top Of The World, Stafford |
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Top Rank, Cardiff, Wales |
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| White Riot 1977 was Clash at their superlative best – from Cardiff’s Top Rank balcony the front of stage appeared a pogoing and spitting frenzy. Against the Notting Hill Riot backdrop, Joe’s eye’s burning and neck pulsing, his lyrics spat out with such white heat intensity - I wondered if he could survive another year! Dave Smitham | ||
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University of Sussex, Brighton |
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| Video exists | ||
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Colston, Bristol |
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Pavilion, West Runton |
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Odeon, Canterbury |
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| probably didn't happen... | ||
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De Montfort Hall, Leicester |
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| date listed in NME...This is often listed as CARDIFF 77. It isn't. | ||
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Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford |
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California Ballroom, Dunstable |
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