Sort it Out Tour

Middlesbrough Town Hall 1978

cdr - from master - sound 4 – 20 tracks - updated 8 Aug 03

First Sort it Out recording

The first recording in circulation of the UK leg of the Sort It Out Tour which began on November 9th. Give ‘Em Enough Rope was released on November 10th and the set list contains all the album’s songs except Last Gang In Town and All The Young Punks. Safe European Home is now the explosive set opener with the first album songs saved for the sets’ conclusion and encore.

This gig includes a rare outing for 1-2 Crush On You, complete now with Joe singing the harder ending added to the recorded version of the song, released as the B-Side of Tommy Gun on November 24th.

Sounds review

The gig was reviewed by Phil Sutcliffe who was one of the older guard of music journalists, not a fan of The Clash but his review is good stating accurately that things really picked up from English Civil War onwards, with Police & Thieves and Capital Radio the highlights. He made the accurate point that the band’s electrifying presence in its first year could not be sustained but now the intention was “More Content. More Music. A communication less wild but hopefully deeper”.

Pro-photographer Rik Walton was there to document the event

The venue

Middlesbrough Town Hall (below) is still a popular venue for gigs in the North East and there were unlikely to have been problems with security in such a municipally owned venue. A well organised professional gig in keeping with much of this tour.

Previous recording

Until recently the best recording in circulation was a slightly distant but quite good audience tape for its time. With little or no distortion and quite a reasonable range of sound, It’s enjoyable listen but fairly flat and dull. The set is complete with no song edits.

New master

However, the master recording recently received is a major upgrade, with greater clarity, range and detail as would be expected from the master source. It does still suffer though from distance from the stage and a buried ill defined bass. However what was certainly unexpected is that from Guns On The Roof onwards the sound is in ‘stereo’.

The reason for this ‘stereo’ second half is unclear. It certainly does not appear to be from the soundboard as the vocals do not have the “in your face” quality as would be expected, and the problems of distance and poor bass definition remain from the mono first half. The sound generally though is a notch higher, the guitar sound particularly good.

The ‘stereo’ separation is on the guitars but most noticeably on drums. The latter giving it a very unusual sound indeed! Whether from an actual source or it has been ‘doctored’ from the mono source is unclear but the ‘stereo’ sound does certainly add to the enjoyment of what is now a very enjoyable bootleg and one of the best recordings from the Sort It Out Tour.

It’s a very fine performance throughout with a number of highlights. City of the Dead is back in the set, “you’re the saxophones” is Joe’s intro and the song gets a different mid section and extended ending from its Out of Control Tour treatment. Julie’s Working for the Drug Squad makes its first recorded live appearance (“I think they call this R’n’B”) and Cheapskates makes a welcome reappearance.

White Man “in Middlesbrough Town Hall” is excellent . Police and Thieves is now without the Blitzkrieg Bop ending but it’s power and drama is increased by Joe calling for loud whistling from the audience before the start (later to be replaced by calls of ooh! ooh! and cutting the stage lighting) and Joe extends the song with ad-libbed lyrics at its conclusion. Tommy Gun (“Our next miss!”) is also very strong.

Capital Radio is as almost always, brilliant; Mick plays the gentle intro, then hangs feedback in the air before the aural explosion of the song itself shreds the Middlesbrough cognoscenti. Joe ad-libbs over the drum roll ending including “Ain’t gonna write no letters to you, ain’t gonna do what I’m supposed to do”.

The most notable rarity is the rare outing for 1-2 Crush On You as the first song of the encore. The lively and noisy audience shout for White Riot with Joe responding, “Before we do that, this is one of the first songs we wrote”.

It gets a heavy rock treatment with Mick’s solo veering close to HM, as it would do at times on this tour. Next Topper’s bass drum beats out and Complete Control crashes in.

It’s now played again as the recorded version without the drama-building intro played on the Out on Parole Tour (which would be returned to in 1981, hear the FHTE Bonds version). Then the high energy levels peak as White Riot brings a very enjoyable gig to an end.

Images from pro rock photography Rik Walton. Hi Res photos for sale at http://rikwalton.com/music/index.html

"Middlesbrough Town Hall (below) is still a popular venue for gigs in the North East and there were unlikely to have been problems with security in such a municipally owned venue. A well organised professional gig in keeping with much of this tour."

On the night in question a load of skinheads turned up to pick a fight with punks leaving the gig. The security staff tried to keep everyone in at the end, but there was a crush with us inside not knowing what was going on and people started to push. The result was that one of the huge doors had its hinges damaged and we spilled out into the street, with running battles along a couple of the main roads around the town hall. A well known local hamburger seller had his stand pushed over and I got a black eye and needed four stiches in a lip after being cornered (running home) by a big group of skinheads (it might have been only one and his mum, but I've told the story so many times now).

Despite all the hassle afterwards, still counts as the best gig I ever went to.

Cheers Paul

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Safe European Home I Fought the Law Jail Guitar Doors Drug Stabbing Time City of the Dead Clash City Rockers Julies in Drug Squad Cheapskates English Civil War White Man Stay Free Guns on the Roof Police and Thieves Tommy Gun Capital Radio Janie Jones Garageland 1-2 Got a Crush on You Complete Control White Riot

Julies Been working for the Drug Squad
older recording

Sounds Review Phil Sutcliffe

These dates have changed and reflect A Riot of Our Own, the NME and tape details. Belfast was the first night, Dublin the day after, a day off in London before Paris. The remaining dates fit around the Belgium tape and A Riot of Our Own. Several French dates are missing after Paris
Oct 13		Belfast, University SU, Queens Hall
		Johnny Green (A Riot of Our Own p106) states this was the opening of the tour. Date from NME gig review.
Oct 14		Top Hat, Dun Laoghaire, Dublin
		with Berlin
Oct 16		Le Stadium, Paris
		Johnny Greens book states this was Le Palace (Le Palace is the promotion company for many French gigs). As the poster says, its the 16th October at Le Stadium.
Oct 20		The Stokvishal, Arnhem, Holland
		I went a concert of The Clash at the Stokvishal in Arnhem (Holland) on friday, October 20 1978. I don't know for sure if my agenda is completely right, but it seems right. The Stokvishal was a great place at this time, it was an old factory hall based on the, during the Arnhem battle of 1945, completely distroyed  area close to the Arhem bridge. Other concerts I visited at that time at the Stokvishal: Iggy Pop, Cure, Only Ones, Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, Specials, Madness, Theatre of Hate...
Oct 21		"Le Home" Cinema, Lewen, Nr Liege, Belgium
		Johnny Greens book A Riot of Our Own (p109) suggests a Belgium gig at Leuven just outside Brussels, following a drive up from Paris. Some suggestion that this gig followed the Brussels gig. 400 people there.
Oct 22		Ancienne Belgique, Brussels
		some tapes have this labeled the 30th. The recording (Joe) I.D.'s the venue as Brussels but Johnny Greens book A Riot of Our Own (p109) suggests the Begium date of the 22nd was Leuven just outside Brussels. Around 1500 people at the gig.
Oct 23		The Paradiso, Amsterdam, Holland.
		both these last two gig are noted on p110 of A Riot of Our Own.
Oct 25		Roxy Theatre, Harlesden, London
		Postponed on the 9th September, resheduled date of September 25th postponed and also further resheduled date of 14th October postponed. New GLC restrictions limited tickets to 900, so a second night scheduled for the other 700. Whirlwind supported. I do not know about the 26.10.78. Free t-shirts (Tommy Gun) given to audience for being messed around previously. I have two. Colin
Oct 26		Roxy Theatre, Harlesden, London
Nov 9		Village Bowl, Bournemouth
		cancelled? (NME 7 Oct 78)
Nov 10		Winter Gardens, Malvern
		cancelled?
Nov 12?		Canterbury Odeon
		A Riot of Our Own pg124
Nov 14		Locarno, Coventry
		cancelled?
Nov 15		Belle Vue, Manchester
Nov 16		Odeon, Edinburgh, Scotland
Nov 17		Town Hall, Middlesborough
Nov 18		Leeds University
		supported by the Innocents as well as by the Slits.
Nov 19		Top Rank, Sheffield
		supported by the Innocents as well as by the Slits.
Nov 20		De Montfort, Leicester
		supported by the Innocents as well as by the Slits.
Nov 21		Locarno, Bristol
		supported by the Innocents as well as by the Slits.
Nov 22		Birmingham Odeon
		cancelled?
Nov 22		Village Bowl, Bournemouth
Nov 23		Ipswich Gaumont
		cancelled?
Nov 23		Apollo, Manchester
Nov 24		Kings Hall, Derby
		supported by the Innocents as well as by the Slits.
Nov 26		Top Rank, Cardiff, Wales
Nov 27		University, Exeter
Nov 28		Tiffany’s, Coventry
		Melody Maker lists this as the Locarno at Coventry? On the Road with the Clash Traxmarx - includes Tiffany's Gig
Nov 29		Victoria Hall, Hanley, Stoke
		the 29th November '78 wasn't the Stoke Mandeville concert. '78 was with the Slits, was more rock, less anarchic, better musically, but I was a bit disappointed all the same (that isn't to say it was a bad concert, but compared to the first..). We weren't allowed backstage after the concert. Joe insisted that everyone got in for £2,25 whether they were advance sales or not, threatening not to play otherwise. (1) the gig line up was the clash slits and the innocents, viv and the rest of the slits came into the crowd to watch the clash autographs were given, when the clash arrived for the sound check, they also signed loads of stuff for the group of fans at the back door, which included me 14 years old and a clash fan then (2 nacro_killer) "During the drum intro for Tommy Gun, Topper hit himself in the eye with a drumstick, so joe shouted "tommy gun!, with one eye!" (Tim) I was at the same gig, had an amazing night, fist of all Topper was playing so maically his drum stick snapped in half and I managed to get the top half that flew off...and then after the gig me and my mates managed to get in the dressing room, sitting on the floor with the band talking, they all signed my Sort It Out Tour poster, unbelievable! (Shaun)
Nov 30		Wirrina Stadium, Peterborough
Dec 2		Polytechnic, Newcastle
		last night of the tour according to A Riot of Our Own pg 125 and it definately took place. It is listed on adverts in the music press as a late date for the Tour.
Dec 4		University Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland
		cancelled due to student only policy which Joe found out about and objected too. A Riot of Our Own pg123
Dec 5		University Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland
		cancelled due to student only policy which Joe found out about and objected too
Dec 6		University, Liverpool
??????		Brighton Top Rank
		I saw the Clash at the Brighton top Rank in '78 or possibly the first half of '79, can't see it listed anywhere, anyone else remember it? It was well before London Calling, they opened with English Civil War, I remember it cos Topper let me and some other kids in the side door as you were sposed to be 21 to get in and the bouncers weren't having any of it! I was 16 at the time I'm pretty sure, still at school anyway and i left in '79. I'd love to know the date of the gig.
Dec 12		Pavillion Bath
		This gig definately took place. Thx for info.
Dec 17		Portsmouth Locarno
Dec 18		Tiffany’s, Purley
		[originally anounced as Purley Locarno] supported by the Slits - snowed heavily. A large cheesy nightclub in South London. Supported by the Innocents as well as by the Slits.
Dec 19		Music Machine, London
		...Sid Vicious Defence Fund benefit. Also supported by Phil Rambow and Friends.
Dec 20		Civic Hall Wolverhampton?
Dec 21		Hastings Pier Pavillion
Dec 22		Friars, Aylesbury
		On the Road with the Clash Traxmarx - includes Friars Xmas Party featuring The Clash
Dec 28		Lyceum, London
Dec 29		Lyceum, London
Jan 3		Lyceum, London
		This gig may have been the 31 December? On the Road with the Clash Traxmarx - includes this Lyceum gig