Clash Take the 5th Tour
Supported by Sam & Dave and Undertones
The Clash/Undertones/Sam & Dave: The Palladium, NYC
Andy Schwartz, New York Rocker, November 1979
THIS REVIEW is being turned in weeks late, and I know why. After all these years and all these bands, all the disappointing second albums and bum gigs and sad declines – after all that, it's still like a dagger in the heart to be let down by a band you once loved.
I never thought I'd be one to join the Clash backlash; certainly, their New York debut last winter more than made up for the dull songs and misguided production of Give 'Em Enough Rope. But can it really be that every band has but one fleeting moment of true greatness (usually just before their first album), never to be recaptured? Oh, say it ain't so, Joe...
This show, the first of two nights at the Palladium, didn't start that way. It couldn't have – not with an opening volley of ‘Safe European Homes’, ‘I'm So Bored With The U.S.A.’, and ‘Complete Control’. The sound was so strong, the sight so thrilling (the group's new grease/punk sartorial fusion is classic) that I was yanked up and out of my seat, singing and hollering. And after that things went slowly, inexorably downhill. I'd like to write if off as a bad night (the next one was reportedly very different and much better), but I fear the problems run deeper than that:
1) Mick Jones, one of the great rock 'n' roll guitarists of this decade, has cluttered and distorted his sound almost beyond recognition with an array of Echoplexes, reverb units, phase shifters, flangers and God knows what else. These effects not only detract from the naked intensity of his playing, but lather a kind of sheen over the total band sound. It sounds pretty silly to call the Clash "slick" in view of what mostly passes for real rock 'n' roll in this country. But compared to the band I heard at this same hall not twelve months ago, they were slick. And I didn't dig it.
2) In searching for a passage through the narrow straits of '77-style punk, the Clash are incorporating a lot of reggae into their sound. It still works on ‘White Man In Hammersmith Palais’ because the song makes real the inner conflict and frustration of a white boy in love with the myths of black music, running hard up against black reality. It worked on Paul Simonon's solo song (which he may or may not have written), because the tune and the lyric are catchy as hell, in the sing-song style of ‘Uptown Top Ranking’, and also because Paul cannot sing to save his skinny ass – thereby injecting a much-needed quotient of raw amateurism into the performance.
But ‘Police And Thieves’ dragged on overtime, and one of the encores was a dull new song kicked off by some clumsy dub sounds from Paul and Topper Headon. The few lyrics I could catch made me not want to hear the ones I couldn't: Something like "a whole lotta people gonna have to run and hide tonight/a whole lotta people won't get no justice tonight." Joe Strummer's commitment and concern are not in question – only his proven strengths as a profound and poetic lyricist. Meanwhile, organist Mickey Gallagher (from Dury's Blockheads, with whom the Clash now share a manager) smoothed over most of the cutting edge. I like reggae – though mostly in singles-sized doses – and I don't object to progress. I just don't think the Clash play this stuff very well.
There were some great moments. Mick's ‘Stay Free’ was terrific, featuring perhaps his best extended break of the set, and Topper was stunning on almost everything, especially his thunderous roll into ‘I Fought The Law’. The guy is definitely one of the two or three best rock 'n' roll drummers in the world today. But after ‘English Civil War’, the energy flagged, guitars went out of tune, and Joe gasped for breath. Another new song began with a chorus or two of ‘Stagolee’ – the Clash sounded like a bad bar band – and ‘Janie Jones’ was rushed, almost perfunctory. By the time they closed with ‘White Riot’, my girlfriend had fallen asleep and I was ready to go wander around St. Mark's Place in search of friends who might have seen the show and could reassure me that the Clash were still the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band. Instead, I found Dimitri Papadopolous, fellow rock scribe turned hard-hitting drummer, who told me: "Face it, man: they stunk!" I didn't want to agree with him, but...
At least you got a lot of music for your money. First up were the Undertones, and though I don't know how much impact they made on the rest of the Clash tour, I thought they were a gas. Okay, so the group could never have existed had the Ramones not gotten there first, but they've still got great songs like ‘Teenage Kicks’, ‘Jimmy Jimmy’, ‘Male Model’, and a new one called (I think) ‘My Cousin’ ("what I like to do, he doesn't"). Fergal Sharkey's whole body shakes when he sings, and the band bangs away enthusiastically behind him. All stage clothes are strictly from Sears Roebuck and the encore was Gary Glitter's ‘Rock & Roll Pt. 2’. Good band – get the album when it appears here on Sire.
Also appearing were Sam and Dave. If '60s soul music played for late-'70s white rock audiences is the modern equivalent of Son House and Mississippi John Hurt being trotted out of obscurity for the enlightenment of early '60s white folk audiences, at least these guys cared enough to put together a great band (including five horns) and really work the crowd. Time has slightly diminished their vocal powers (Dave Prater more than Sam Moore) but at their high-energy best – ‘You Don't Know Like I Know’, ‘You Got Me Humming’, ‘Soul Man’ – I never really noticed. The set was also a little heavy on audience participation: the P-Funk chant of "shit, goddamn, get off your ass and jam," the sing-alongs, the mugging and jiving with a couple of girls from the audience. With a fourteen-track Best Of...album like Sam and Dave's (on Stax/Atlantic), who needs this kind of padding? What the still-dynamic duo really need is a new record deal, an understanding producer, and (this is the tough one) new material on a par with their string of Porter/Hayes classics. Otherwise, Sam and Dave are in danger of becoming an educational museum exhibit for roots-conscious white rock fans.
© Andy Schwartz, 1979
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Monterey CA, USA...Tribal Stomp festival |
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Civic Centre, Saint Paul MN, USA |
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Aragon Ballroom, Chicago IL, USA |
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Masonic Temple, Detroit MI, USA |
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Cleveland, USA |
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| A Riot of Our Own dates this gig pg194. However local fans believe Cleveland show never happened, the book reference notwithstanding. "I was 18 at the time and very tuned in to the music scene in the area. I missed the Agora show because I wasn't 18 at the time. In September I was and there is no way I would have missed that. I lived in Akron, OH, a one hour drive. I have checked all local newspapers and muic papers and there is no announcement of that show nor any review. Ray Sferra" | ||
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Orpheum Theater, Boston MA, USA |
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Palladium, New York NY, USA |
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Palladium, New York NY, USA |
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| ...famous photo of Paul from the London Calling sleeve taken on this night |
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Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia PA, USA |
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St Denis Theatre, Montreal, Canada |
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| Support acts were The B Girls and The Undertones, with DJ Scratchy playing new UK releases between sets. This was the same day that the Montreal Star newspaper ceased publication. The drum kit stand was adorned with the front page of that day's New York Post, with the large, garish headline "Docs Reattach Woman's Arm". The Clash Opened with Safe European Home, followed by I'm So Bored With the USA. They didn't play Tommy Gun. Audience members were encouraged to come on stage during the last song, White Riot, [I among them], with onstage security at the back, guarding the amps and drum kit. The Theatre St Denis had seating capacity of about 2,200 at the time, though few, especially in the front, spent much time seated. | ||
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O’Keefe Centre, Toronto, Canada |
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Clark University, Worcester MA, USA |
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| I missed them for both the 1st two Boston shows (Harvard Sq. Theatre and the Orpheum) but then I heard thru the grapevine that they were playing at Clark University on 9/28/79. So we drove down and got in line. Original scheduled to be in the field house, the promoters (I think it was a student organization) sold almost no advance tickets, and moved it to a smaller auditorium the day of the show. Then 100s of punks from Boston showed up and bought tickets, and they kept selling tickets. Terribly overcrowded, fire department came and made a few hundred leave the hall, but as soon as they left, Strummer says "There's a buncha fans out there that paid to see us, and they're stuck outside, but if everybody stays cool, and don't push, we can let them inside." The Heart breakers opened. That show changed my life. Cliche but true. Anyway, I still have the ticket stub. Rick | ||
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Ritchie Colisseum, College Park MD, USA |
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The Agora, Atlanta GA, USA |
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Armadillo Club, Austin TX, USA |
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| referenced in Johnny Greens Book, A Riot of Our Own p206 and also by Ray Lowry on page 73 of Mojo (UK Music Mag) No.9 Aug 94 where he says the heat was scorching... see also www.Pontbone.com/journal.htm [Joe Elys acordian player] Joe Ely.com; Back to London in 1979 for another tour. The Clash come to the show (Ely's) at the Venue Theater and invited the (Ely's) band to come to studio where they are recording London Calling. Became friends and (the Clash) showed the Lubbock boys around the London scene. The Clash come to America later in 1979. The two bands play several shows together including Houston, Dallas, Laredo, LA and the Monterey Pop Festival. Joe invites them to come to Lubbock to do a show together. They stay for several days mesmerized by the dusty home of Buddy Holly and the strange cowboy culture. In return the Clash invite Joe the following year to come to London for their London Calling Tour. |
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Cullen Auditorium, Houston TX, USA |
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| dates from www.Pontbone.com/journal.htm [Joe Elys acordian player]. also referenced in Johnny Greens Book, A Riot of Our Own p206 |
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Palladium, Dallas, USA |
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| this is often dated as the 6th and it may have been, but in order to fit the sequence of events in Greens book, A Riot of Our Own it would have to be before that, maybe the 4th. |
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Rocks Club [The Rox], Lubbock TX, USA | |
| referenced in Johnny Greens Book, A Riot of Our Own, p207, where the band went to play a unofficial gig for Joe Ely (support) in his own town of Lubbock. Green says the band took a couple of days off after flying to LA. dates from www.Pontbone.com/journal.htm [Joe Elys acordian player]. |
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| Laredo Texas | ||
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San Diego, California, USA |
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| referenced in Johnny Greens Book, A Riot of Our Own p 208 |
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Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles CA, USA |
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Kezar Pavilion, San Francisco CA, USA |
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Seattle |
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| referenced in Johnny Greens Book, A Riot of Our Own p211 ... ticket ... photo from gig "I just stumbled on this site while doing a google ‘egoist’ search. Great site. I wish I could find my taped interview with Joe. That was a story in itself. I must’ve woke up Cosmo at every stop from Cleveland to Denver where he finally put me through to Joe to do a pre-concert interview. You should try and get that from the Oregon Daily Emerald…or I could look in my files. If I recall Joe was getting ready for the Denver show…he was testy and abrupt…and loosened up later. My interview style was not to go by set questions…but to have question points and just talk. I remember asking about recording at Olympic Studios, which was being talked about…and joked that this was supposed to be The Rolling Stones favorite room. No laughter from Joe on that. And it was pouring down rain, with thunder in Denver and it made Joe in bad mood. I casually told him to put that mood into the show. But this was cool. Wish I was a better writer back then.
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Pacific National Exhibition Vancover, Canada |
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| referenced in Johnny Greens Book, A Riot of Our Own p213 as the last night of the tour. |
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