The NME LETTERS PAGE IN RESPONSE TO THE
'OUT ON PAROLE TOUR'

LET NO BLAME fall on The Clash

22th JULY 1978

LET NO BLAME fall on The Clash for the appaling state of their tour. Although Fashion were given a contract to play at the Birmingham venue, the promoters Stardate Enterprises told us that if we try’d to enter before the gig we would be removed by their guys, then palmed us off with a couple of free tickets for tile gig. We spent the rest of the fated day organising another venue (at one point even trying to play in a scientology book shop, but thought better of it) and played a small theatre in Birmingham which we advertised as a free alternative on local radio for any who specifically wanted to see us.

It was also the promoters that upped the price before the band went on - which they knew nothing of: Stardate also organised the Steel Pulse gig in Birmingham, which was also over-priced and which the band could do nothing about although they tried, and for which their fee still hasn’t been settled.

So small wonder Strummer was in tears having to deal with Stardate and what’s more they’ll probably get ripped off too. FASHION. I’m glad someone’s staying off the dash-with-The CIash-wagon. Thanx -CSM

SO THERE were 50 or 60 Clash fans outside the Apollo

SO THERE were 50 or 60 Clash fans outside the Apollo eh? NME 15. 7. 78) ... Bollocks - more like 300. I was there, where I was thrown to the ground by one of the local constabulary, cut all my face and hands and was later arrested for breach of the peace. In the cells a chorus of “The Prisoner” was sung once, by myself and about two others and that was that.

When chatting to Joe and Paul they were really alright, but fuck, they can walk out the court laughing, I can’t. when I appear in court in a month or so I’ll probably get about both their fines joined together (if I don’t go down). No joke when you’re on the dole.

The Clash gig won’t even come into it, just another Glasgow kid drunk causing trouble. So Joe, when my fine comes up and I can’t pay it (I don’t wanna be the prisoner, maaan) I’ll send you a letter and you can help me out. JOE MORIN, Rutherglen, Glasgow. Say it again: there are NO EASY ANSWERS.

I’m still glad that Strummer & Co. are doing their best. -CSM

I’M 18 and on the dole and bloody angry

22th JULY 1978

I’M 18 and on the dole and bloody angry - about some of tile crap in the Gash feature Chris Salewicz calls the Clash `the advance guards, the emissaries of the New Age when Babylon’s flaky hold on rock music (and on life) will finally fall ... “ That’s absolute shit. My respect for the Clash was reduced when they played moronic Heavy Metal and the inappropriate `White Riot” at the A.N.L. Carnival, but after this tour was announced I couldn’t identify with them at all.

If the Clash had loved or even cared for their audience they would not play venues that are well known for the ferocity of the security bozos, that exist merely to take as much money as possible from as many people as possible in one night. The band could play free gigs in parks or alternative venues not run by ultra-capitalist promoters. With a rich record company and good record sales they could easily afford it.

The Here `n’ Now have done about 60 free gigs this year. The Clash have done one. The Here `n Now will play for nothing under the Westway on the 20th, while 4 days later the Clash will charge £2.50 for a Music Machine gig (it was gonna be Picketts Lock, which is something like a scaled down Empire Pool, but they were banned from there). The Here `n’ Now got a £500 fine for an illegal free gig. The Clash pay £700 damages for shooting racing pigeons (that must have been a blow to capitalism when those pigeons were killed). Clash albums sell for £4 but Live Floating Anarchy `77’ has “Do not pay more than £2.25” printed on the cover.

Joe Strummer doesn’t really want a riot of his own. Re could have helped the Apollo Clash fans by hitting the security thugs with his mike-stand (something done very effectively by Hawkwind’s Bob Calvert at Manchester). He had hundreds of people behind him, and even security men are intelligent enough to recognise overwhelming odds. But the Clash only started fighting to save their own skins, at the end of the gig.

The Clash don’t deserve long sycophantic features in NME. Here `n’ Now, Sphynx and the rest of the peoples’ psychedelic anarchist rock groups deserve more than the occasional paragraph, because they actually put their idealism into practice for the benefit of their followers e.g. the free floating anarchy tours and the free concerts at Glastonbury, Stonehenge, Deeply Vale and the Roundhouse (the Love-in)

NIGEL SMEDLEY Letchworth, Herts.

So The Clash really love their audiences

So The Clash really love their audiences, huh? Is that why we had to wait one and a half hours before being let in last Tuesday in Birmingham? Is that why the tickets went up by 50p while we were still queueing? And so Joe Strummer cried over the way their fans were treated in Glasgow. Did he cry when the band saw fit to sack one of their support bands, Fashion? So Paul, Joe, Nicky, Mick, you think its funny, turning rebellion into money/money/money/money/money.

ETHEL OF THE FIFTH FORM, Birmingham

IT wouId seem that both of you, Nigel and Ethel, have other axes to grind on behaIf of Sphynx and Fashion, and that you’re severely wronging one of the few bands who actually TRY to do something positive about the rock business and the way it works. The CIash try harder and attract heavier pressure: the success of their attempts is limited (and I’ve got sympathy for them over the repercussions of the pigeon-shooting episode) but the fact That they care as much as they do does Them much honour. You may be demanding more than they can give. Do you seriously think, Nigel, that The Clash could get GLC permission to do free gigs the way Nik Turner can? In this racket, no-one has Complete Control - CSM.

WHAT’S ALL this crap about The Clash then

WHAT’S ALL this crap about The Clash then? I don’t really get off on their music, but I applaud them for at least having a go in the face of hype from all directions. Those that moan seem to choose to forget that until very recently The Clash were keeping prices down to 80p a gig and that it’s not usually the band who sets prices for gigs anyway. I really feel sorry for those guys - if they don’t play, they’re accused of deserting their fans. If they do play, they’re accused of playing gigs where the bouncers are morons (where else in Glasgow could they have played?). Up your revolution, lads. Don’t let the bastards wear you down. JOHNNY MOREBASS, GIoucesterhire.

P.S. Can I have a snide comment, even if you agree with me? Please?

Huh? Of course you can’t. Do you think you’ve got rights just `cause you’re right? - CSM

??? The Manticore Theatre, Fulham [Secret Gig]
in an interview in the NME 15 July 78, two xtra late dates were played, Rafters in Manchester and Fulham.

"Looking through your site yesterday i noticed a mention of a 'secret' gig somewhere, but no mention of the show at (I think) The Manticore Theatre in Fulham sometime in late 1978. It was the same night as a 'secret' show by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers at the Marquee ( I went to The Clash, the girlfriend went to Tom Petty). This show was inevitably broken up by the police after 30/40 mins but no real problem"
Jun 28

Friars, Aylesbury
Jun 29 Queens Hall, Leeds
Jun 30 Top Rank, Sheffield
Jul 1 Granby Hall, Leicester
Poster Ticket De Montfort Hall was one of the best venues in Britain with amazing acoustics, easy to enter or leave and had a decent bar the whole length of one side. Granby Halls was a temporary tin hut of a cattle shed, decades passed its sell by date and acoustically hell on earth (but held 4,500) - Bob Geldolf once spent a whole concert apologising for playing there and the Boomtown Rats did two nights at De Montfort the next tour "rather than ever play Granby Halls ever again".

Coventry Specials - did not spot them then as what became one of my favourite bands of the next decade.
 
Suicide - loved by the older, art school types at the back (I went out and bought the album) but hated by the skinheads and younger fans at the front. Half the front were lighting boxes of matches and throwing them onto the stage to set fire to the band, fortunately(?) the other half were pissing into the plastic glasses and throwing them at the band thereby putting out the fires. Joe Strummer had to come on to ask the crowd to let them play as he wanted to see them.
 
Clash - the improved PA was lost on the appalling sound quality of the hall, at the front it was all fuzz and at the back as tinny as hell. Nigel
Jul 2 Apollo, Manchester
Jul 3 Rafters Club, Manchester
A Riot of Our Own mentions a gig at the Apollo going down well and Joe asked for another Manchester date on their day off. Green found a small venue but had difficulty putting up Pauls bomber plane backdrop. A Riot of Our Own pg 61.
Jul 4 Apollo, Glasgow, Scotland
Another extensively chronicled night in Johnny Greens book. The bouncers beating up the fans was re-enacted for the film Rude Boy. See A Riot of Our Own pg89+
Jul 5 Music Hall, Aberdeen, Scotland
See A Riot of Our Own pg89
Jul 6 Dunfermline Kinema, Scotland
Correct info from a late tour poster. Johnney Green also refers to this as a venue on p89. End of White Riot appeared on Scottish TV the day after...
Jul 7 Deeside Leisure Centre, Queensferry, Nr Chester
Resheduled from the 6th? An audience recording was made.

Alternatively... Just looking at your Clash tourography, pretty sure they never played Deeside Leisure Centre in July ‘78, I can remember it being advertised but they never actually played.
Jul 8 Sports Centre, Crawley
Johnny Green says he trapped Micks fingers here and that after a trip top the hospital they all headed for the next venue which was Southampton. A Riot of Our Own p96.

.. after the gig we started towards Three Bridges Rail station, we'd heard we could get a train back to London from there. After ten minutes walk we encountered a group of punks walking back towards Crawley; a large group of skinheads had collected at Three Bridges station waiting for *us*. We walked back with them and hung around near the gig - after awhile the sounds of trouble and sure enough the skins had gotten tired of waiting and were now back in Crawley causing problems. My mate and I managed to get to the venue where the crew were loading out. We expalined what was happening and asked them for a lift back to London [with Johnney Green & Co]; we were dropped off on Streatham High Rd and walked home to Balham." Steve

Confirm story re skinheads (from Croydon). Me and my friends ran across railway sidings at 3 Bridges to escape. Specilas were then known as the Coventry Specials. This is the gig where the skin jumped on stage and lamped Alan Vega from Suicide. Colin
Jul 9 Locarno, Bristol
another confirmed performance in A Riot of our Own and dated the 9th on tour posters and later prom adverts and dates given to music press. However Green states Southamton followed Crawley - he needs to check BMC a lot more often?!.

Bristol followed Crawley not Southampton. I have door stub.
Set list: Complete Control, T Gun, Cheapskates, Jail Guitar Doors, Drug Stabbing Times, Clash CR, Riot, Stay Free, Capital Radio, Police and Thieves segueing into Blitzkrieg Bop, English Civil War, Safe European, What's My Nmae, London Buring, Garageland encores Bored USA, Janine Jones, White Riot. Colin

check Swansea 16 May 1977 - punters comments
Jul 9 Southampton
Jul 10 Town Hall, Torquay
Jul 11 Top Rank, Cardiff, Wales
Jul 12 Top Rank, Birmingham
Suicide, Coventry Automatics (later Specials) and Spizz 77 were supporting.

Steve Jones came on for an encore of 'Pretty Vacant'
Jul 13 Liverpool Empire
Cancelled due to the venue getting cold feet. Reararranged from the Empite to Erics a week later. Also Bob Gruens book pg39
Jul 13 King Georges Hall, Blackburn
Blackburn was a late addition to the Tour. Liverpool was cancelled due to the venue getting cold feet. See below. Refered extensively (p84) to in A Riot of Our Own where Mick got busted by Blacburn CID for possession. The motel he refers to is the Moat House. This is the date bacause it gets a late mention in the NME of the previous week. Steve Jones came on for the encores though the noise and atmosphere was incredible. For the afternoon soundcheck the band performed Desmond Deckers 'The Israleites' (which was about 4.30 for statisticians).
Jul 14 Corn Exchange, Bury St Edmunds
a late addition to the tour and the last night according to johnny Greens A Riot of our Own pg99

I was just re-reading Johnny Green’s “Riot of our Own” and when I got to the bit about the Bury St Edmunds gig (July 14 1978) my mind wandered back almost 30 years, to when I was 16.

I had taken two extra things to Bury St Edmunds that day - a “White Man in Hammersmith Palais” single sleeve (to be autographed) and one of those piano-style tape recorders (for bootlegging purposes). Positioning myself at the front, right-hand side, I thought life would be easier if I just placed the tape recorder on the stage; that way I could forget about it and enjoy the band. Paul Simonon was over on that side & when he made his darting runs forward he kept kicking the tape-recorder. At first I thought it was accidental, but he kept on doing it. I could see he was getting annoyed, because he couldn’t manage to knock it off the stage. Whenever it went close to the edge I simply stopped bouncing around for a second and moved it back.

Half-way through the gig this typical Camden Town rockabilly type came over and grabbed the tape-recorder. I obviously looked crest-fallen.
“You can come and get it after the show,” he said, not at all unpleasantly. It was Johnny Green of course. But I was still a bit concerned that I would never see it again, and tape recorders (in those days) were expensive items.

After the encores I said to the people I had come with that I was going to try and get my belongings back. I think they wished me good luck. In those days I didn’t really drink, so my only courage was righteous indignation at the loss of my tape-recording equipment. I soon found the backstage area and also the Camden Town rockabilly. True to his word he gave me the tape recorder back, minus the tape. We chatted amiably about the possibility of recording the band live, the reprehensibility of amateur bootleggers and (his words, not mine) the fact that the Clash never really sounded as good as they should when these live recordings surfaced. And then he invited me in for a drink.

What a scene of utter debauchery ! Half pint cans of Heineken and bowls full of peanuts. Mick Jones sitting in a chair looking pleased with himself, Paul Simonon glowering away at nobody in particular (surely not me). I helped myself to a can of lager and some peanuts. Then Mr Rockabilly decided to introduce me to Mick Jones as the person who was trying to bootleg the show. Well, he couldn’t have been more good humoured about it.

“Who’s a naughty bootlegger then ?” he said. “Hold your hand out.”

I held my hand out. He tried to whack it, and I pulled it away just in time. Backstage with the Clash was just like being at school, but with free beer and peanuts. I was probably on my third can of Heineken, sitting on the floor, when somebody said,
“Hey, what are you doing here ?”

“Oh, it’s alright,” I said, “he said it was okay.”

By this time I considered the Camden Town rockabilly as my friend and passport to beer & nuts. He really was a good guy.
The Clash, now I know, had finished their tour. They were in no rush to do anything. They lingered around in the empty Corn Exchange chatting to the fans. They all signed the “White Man” sleeve, even Paul, bless him. And afterwards, if the Camden Town rockabilly’s account is true, the roadies got paid & had a whale of a time.

So, there does exist a tape of that Bury St Edmunds gig. It was confiscated by Johnny Green & was probably recorded over or thrown in a bin, or strewn around the streets of Bury St Edmunds by the road crew. Tim Joyce
Jul 15 Picketts Lock Sports Centre, Edmonton
gig cancelled due to local residents complaints. the Clash also banned from Newcastle.
Jul 21 Liverpool Eric's - Friday evening
They also played an extra show on Friday July 21st at Eric's in Liverpool with the Specials in support. This was in response to the cancellation of the Empire concert and the large demand.
Jul 22 Liverpool Eric's - matinee for under 16's
Jul 22 Liverpool Eric's - evening
the Liverpool show on the 13th - the Empire show was cancelled due to the venue getting cold feet.  They re-scheduled Liverpool to Saturday 22nd July and played two shows at Liverpool Eric's - an afternoon matinee show for under 16's and an evening one.  It was so fucking hot... Paul Simonon mentions the 'ceiling raining' at Eric's on page 39 of the Bob Gruen book - that was the time he meant. 
Jul 24 Music Machine, London
Jul 25 Music Machine, London
Jul 26 Music Machine, London
Jul 27 Music Machine, London