White Riot Tour with the Jam, Buzzcocks, Slits and Subway Sect.

These tickets were handed in on the door, so there can't be too many floating about. The bouncers on the door that night were the local Drug Squad in plain clothes, who were'nt going to let my sorry underage arse in despite having a ticket. Mind you, I only had a ticket cos a bunch were thrown out of a window by some would be hero. I have fond memories of dancing to the whole gig outside near the window by the stage. The ticket for auction is in a condition fitting it's age, and was customised with green felt pen by the original owner. Number on the back is 361.

There is no known sound recording of this gig.

Clash/Subway Sect/Slits/Prefects
Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford
Ian Fortnam, NME

BORED TEENAGERS – SUBURBAN HICKS with soap-stiffened Sid Vicious barnets and bleeding earlobes gape in awestruck, whey-faced wonder. Chelmsford, anonymous epicentre of NOWHERE is playing host to the White Riot.

"This one's called 'Birmingham Is A Shithole'." The Prefects' 90-second slabs of pure adrenaline career by. The punks chew Juicy Fruit and marvel. A single thought ignites 500 minds – "I could do that." And many of them will.

Alien dub reggae throbs as the punks swap fashion tips – how to turn Oxford bags into Bondage trousers using only safety pins, or a Jubilee carrier bag into a T-shirt. Essential information.

Ari Up is screaming. She teases her rat's maze hairstyle with a pink plastic comb and screams some more. The Slits can't play, but nobody cares. They're punks, they're here, and ultimately that's all that matters.

By the time Subway Sect appear, rumours abound. Teds are outside with iron bars. The council are pulling the plugs. Tempers fray, and the band become a peripheral annoyance.

The Clash play for what seems like five seconds. Five seconds of amphetamine-fuelled ecstasy. Slashing guitars, street-wise suss, and the politics of unity. A life-affirming blueprint for the future.

The kids pogo themselves ragged. They'll never listen to Deep Purple again.

They've got a riot of their own.

© Ian Fortnam, 1994

No known recording exists

BORED TEENAGERS – SUBURBAN HICKS
Clash/Subway Sect/Slits/Prefects
Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford
Ian Fortnam, NME
BORED TEENAGERS – SUBURBAN HICKS with soap-stiffened Sid Vicious barnets and bleeding earlobes gape in awestruck, whey-faced wonder. Chelmsford, anonymous epicentre of NOWHERE is playing host to the White Riot...

wanted

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

Tour Poster

Full page ad

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...

White Riot T-Shirt

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.


May 1

Civic Hall, Guilford
May 2 Rascals, Chester
May 3 Barbarella, Birmingham
May 4 Affair, Swindon
May 5 Erics, Liverpool
May 6 University, Aberdeen
May 7 Playhouse, Edinburgh
May 8 Electric Circus, Manchester
May 9 Rainbow, London
infamous riot gig - often mis-cited as the 7th. See 7th gig at Edinburgh with Edinburgh Ticket
May 10 Town Hall, Kidderminster
Following an injury to his hand, Mick Jones of the Clash is forced to cancel the gig booked for Kidderminster Town Hall.
May 12 Palais, Nottingham
May 13 Polytechnic, Leicester
May 14 Brakke Grond Amsterdam
May 15 Fiesta, Plymouth
May 16 University, Swansea
May 17 Polytechnic, Leeds
May 19 Rock Garden, Middlesborough
May 20 University, Newcastle
May 21 City Hall, St. Albans
May 22 Skindles, Maidenhead cancelled
May 22 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.
May 23 Top Of The World, Stafford
May 24 Top Rank, Cardiff, Wales
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
May 25 University of Sussex, Brighton
Video exists
May 26 Colston, Bristol
May 27 Pavilion, West Runton
May 28 Odeon, Canterbury
probably didn't happen...
May 28 De Montfort Hall, Leicester
date listed in NME...
May 29 Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford
May 30 California Ballroom, Dunstable