Bonds Residency
Three weeks & 17 gigs that shook up New York and America.
Supported by the Slits
last updated June 2005
cdr -distant clear - aud. master - Sound 4 - time 81.6 min -
d-mast - tracks 19
video - Bonds TV News Reports – short live clips and interviews from Channel 4 & 7 (on Clash on TV Vol.1)
audio - Radio & TV Reports – a collection of news pieces reporting on the ticket crises at it happenned - 25 mins - updated Jan 2009
If the conspiracy theory of inter-club rivalry and corrupt municipal practices is to be believed (and it was then and is still now widely accepted) then the agreement reached with the Fire Department on Friday 29th May which allowed that night’s concert (and future ones) to go ahead, was presumably not damaging enough for those behind the action.
Certainly we do know that just hours before the Saturday matinee for under 18’s was to go ahead, the Building Department stepped in and effectively closed Bonds indefinitely stating the club was a potential death trap because of unsatisfactory fire exit arrangements. As TV news reports put it “2000 fans were turned away [from the Matinee] with the help of mounted Police” and “hundreds poured into the street shouting obscenities and blocking traffic”. Some protesters were hit by billy clubs and one girl was arrested.
This mini-riot (Don Letts filmed scenes) provoked extensive TV and radio coverage, the front page of the New York Post declared ““Clash” in Times Square” (which the band proudly had made up as T-shirts) and was the basis for the band members oft since repeated boast that it was the first riot in Times Square since Frank Sinatra’s bobbysoxers in the late 40’s.
Kosmo writes in Bob Gruen’s book; “What happened to The Clash at Bonds was that they got phenomenal media coverage… Up to this time the coverage of punk was safety pins and Sid & Nancy. So this was a very positive thing. I think the riot in Times Square did it..The record company were banned from the gig, because they’d done nothing to support Sandinista. So you’ve got the biggest media event going on and CBS have to say, “We can’t help you, contact Kosmo at the Gramercy”. They learned a lesson there. It put The Clash on the map for real, big-time brand recognition. We clawed our way into the Premier Division with that one”
Although these events are covered in some depth by the various books on The Clash and magazine articles at the time, they do contain factual errors.
The Clash could have (like many bands would have done) just walked away and refunded the ticket holders but that would have been contrary to The Clash’s long established and proven track record of commitment to its fans. So The Clash instructed lawyers to seek court orders to overturn the ban and Kosmo and Bernie laboured to negotiate with the authorities. Both Saturday’s planned performances though had to be cancelled as a solution proved hard to achieve. The persuasive power that achieved the breakthrough according to a number of accounts (and its such a great story it has to be true!) came ironically from the Building Commissioner’s own daughters who were Clash fans and badgered their father into submission!
WNEW FM
Sunday’s events are well documented on the circulating audio dubs from WNEW FM (who had a reporter at Bonds to provide updates on developments) and from TV news reports. The WNEW FM reports begin with confirmation that the Saturday shows were cancelled because the Building Department said there had been “previous infractions of safety rules”. The Clash though had “no plans to leave town” and every effort was being made to get the shows back on. Everyone agreed the problems came from “rock club rivalry”.
On Sunday 31st May at 2pm The Clash called a press conference and Building Commissioner Irwin Fruckman confirmed all inspections had been completed (improved security and reworked fire exit systems now in place) and shows could go ahead safely provided no more than 1725 people were let in.
Bernie statement
At 3pm the press conference was over and the reporter spoke to Bernard Rhodes. Bernie in a rare recorded interview explained that agreement had been reached after talks with the Fire and Building Departments and the Mayors Office. The dates had now been rescheduled with 8 new shows added so that everyone who bought original tickets would get to see The Clash. Refunds or exchanges would be available to those who could not make the rescheduled dates. As on the Friday night it was Ticketron ticket holders who would be serviced first, they are the “people that the did most travelling, New Yorkers will a get special show as they have been so patient”.
Bernie then made this statement; “Bearing in mind we’ve been up for the last 3 days and nights trying to sort this out we feel that the policy of The Clash has been upheld - that is giving you the news behind the news to music, and if we can present a show no matter how tired we are that you people out there enjoy then we hope that it has been worthwhile …we think you are more informed than any other audience.”
WNEW FM announcer then said Sunday night’s concert is going ahead with a 10pm start, The Clash on at 12 who have been “doing an amazing job of straightening out this whole thing - WNEW FM in New York - Clash on tonight!”
Channel 2 TV news report (audio only circulating) has Mick saying, “we’re playing tonight”, and Paul “We like it here” and Building Commissioner, Irwin Fruckman interviewed confirming it was now safe for the concerts to continue.
Boston Rock Summer 81 No 19 > 1 2 3 4
This excellent article states there had been a rumour circulating the week before in Boston that this was going to happen. The fact that Bernie negotiated the Bonds shows not using a local agent, as was the norm could well have been a factor. The Sunday press conference is described in detail in the article. When asked why The Clash chose Bonds Joe responded, “We wanted a place with no seats. There is a big rule – when people get out of their seats, monkeys shove em back in!”
The article states that Joe felt the Sunday night concert was the best yet and the reviewer says the band were “Kicking and dancing and playing and singing with an unmatched intensity”. The sound problems were gone, the slide show perfected, the audience and band in a frenzy. Again an El Salvador “freedom fighter” dressed in full combat regalia played on stage near the end of Washington Bullets as leaflets were dropped demanding ‘US out of El Salvador’
A note of caution about the correct date of this recording; the Boston Rock article has Joe saying during the Sunday 31st May concert “how many people are in here tonight?” He points “1725, 26, 27, 28 .29 ,30 ssssh!”. But this comment is made on the recording credited to the 1st June recording.
The article ends with a description of the healing effect of The Clash which most people who ever saw the band would probably agree with; “…When people come to see The Clash they come with a lot of anger, frustration and negative feelings. When The Clash get on stage they are in pain, but like emphatic healing, all the anger and frustration goes through them and then …disappears. And people go home happy”
Clash Melee Points Up Danger of Overselling
by Robert Palmer - New York Times June 3, 1981
Venue
See review of the May 28 concert
From the audience master recording transferred to DAT. This is a typically sounding Bonds audience recording; clear, undistorted and well detailed. Its deficiencies being distance and depth. Instrumentation is clear except for bass, which is flat and low in the mix.
The quality of performance though tonight transcends the deficiencies of the recording making this an enjoyable and worthwhile bootleg to have.
The recording excludes the encores ending with Clampdown; the end of the main set. As explained in the Background this recording might actually be from the 1st of June and vice versa.
The recording fades into the intro music then Joe announces “Good evening. Those of you who’ve had to wait on line for hours or days we’re here now so lets get on with it” but there’s a further short frustration so he adds “You might have to wait a little bit longer!” London Calling then kicks in and not surprisingly after all the frustrations the band are fired up to be back on stage and Joe adds screams and cries on a very enjoyable performance.
Safe European Home drives along powerfully with Mick adding some great guitar fills, the band in top form. Joe is clearly fired up and enjoying himself on The Leader. “And now centre of the microphone Mr Mick Jones ..Murder!” intros a powerful Somebody Got Murdered with Mick’s guitar playing a particular pleasure. A good indicator of a special Clash concert is when Joe adlibs and free verses and there’s plenty of evidence of that tonight. On White Man in Hammersmith Palais his adlibs over the ending include “Believe me people I would not enter to create misery, believe me people …I’ve not eaten for 3 months, bully boy come in looking” The recording is not good enough for his words to be all clear, but the effect is certainly impressive.
Paul’s Guns of Brixton follows and despite the deficiencies of the recording the quality of the performance comes through.” This is what we’re working on entitled This is Radio Clash, let it rip!” The song has again an extended improvised ending and some adlibs from Joe. “Turn on the drum machine” shouts Joe as Topper beats out a steady rhythm, which goes into The Call Up. The band had played this in the sound check and these semi-improvisatory songs are the most interesting to hear on the audience recordings when the sound is not first rate. A strong performance of The Call Up but not a patch on the best of the European tour versions.
A gentle intro from Mick builds into a pumped up Complete Control. An edit at the end restarts on the 2nd CD with an enjoyable Junco Partner and is followed by an improvisatory Lightning Strikes, which loses a few seconds near the end to a tape drop out. Joe’s intro’s Ivan Meets GI Joe with, "Well, with your help, we'd like to lift the iron curtain".
Charlie Don't Surf gets an extended excellent treatment tonight with Joe adding at the start “Cambodia, Saigon 14 years, don’t look now” and then “Jimi Hendrix is in there somewhere”. Bankrobber gets the audience singing and with no gap a fired up Joe wants to get straight into Magnificent Seven. This song is now a regular highpoint in Clash shows and tonight is no exception; extended again into 7 magnificent minutes. Joe adlibs a plenty (but sadly most are unclear) and there is a new improvised ending, before the very lively audience roar their appreciation.
Mick again teases out the intro to a fine Wrong Em' Boyo. Mick’s Train In Vain also get an extended treatment as Clash shows now through to the end of 81 regularly extend past the 2 hour mark. Joe says “Everyone still conscious over there?” before Mick screams “1-2-3-4” and the band slam into a charged Career Opportunities. “Warming up!?” jokes Joe before a very powerful Clampdown on which Joe screams and rants unintelligibly but magnificently! The song drops down to drum and bass with Joe adlibbing “Is it a UFO or is it St. John the Baptist!” Topper builds it back up and Joe continues to rant over top.
The taper unfortunately did not presumably record the encores but certainly what he did manage to preserve is more than well worth having.
i was supposed to be at the first matinee. we went in, waited in line, and instead of a show, got a riot. the rumor going down the line at the time was that one of the competing nyc clubs were jealous that bonds got the gig and they didn't, so they called the police and let them know that the gig was oversold. basically, the venue sold tickets at their box office for capacity, and then ticketron (precursor to ticketmaster) sold the exact same amount at tm locations. which is how the band ended up doing all those weeks of shows, god bless 'em.
i went in and exchanged my ticket for the last matinee show, june 13. i went to that show instead of going to my senior prom (big high school dance), my mother still moans about that. i can tell you that the dead kennedys definitely did NOT open, i knew them and had seen them once at that point. the brattles did open, but i also remember another band, and recall that they were a rockabilly act, as i remember a pink stand-up bass. i want to say that it was the rockats, who were a pretty hot rockabilly band in nyc around that time, but cannot be sure.
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London Calling |
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Boston Globe Review
Sun 31 May Bonds
Steve Morse
Any further info / reviews
appreciated
2. Newspaper & Magazine Articles
Band Arrives at JFK
3 newspaper photos
Private Super8mm film footage of the rucus outside Bonds
30 April New York Post
On the Town
New York Calling The Clash
..tickets go on sale tomorrow...
2 May - New York Post
10,000 Clash fans queue for tickets for only US appearance
6 mounted police and 12 squad cars to control the crowd
NME - Win a week in New York with The Clash!
Early May - New York Post
Bonds Sold Out - Christgua
Blister Fanzine
A weeks at Bonds (main piece)
Cover Only
BMC desperately wants the inside pages!!
NYC Advert for Magnificent 7 & Bonds dates
24 May - New York News
Passport Impasses Crimps Clash's style
5 British Groups left at Heathrow
Clint Roswell
New York Times 24 May
scan or text
26 May - New York Daily News
Clash Promise 'Something Special'
Clint Roswell
29 May - New York News
For Bonds Disco it was double capacity or nothing. Police and Fire Dept shut down Bonds. Vincent Lee
30 May - New York News?
city and Disco Clash, and Clash cools it
Disco forced to close - extra dates
Larry Sutton
30 May New York Post?
City calls a truce in Clash wars and the band plays on. Building Dept Inspectors have lifted a vacate order...
31 - May New York Times?
scan or text
Stephen Holden
31 May - New York Times Gig review
The Clash rocks with raw energy
Ira Mayer
New York Times June 3, 1981
Clash Melee Points Up Danger of Overselling
by Robert Palmer
Bondage at Bonds (full text version)
Creem - Sept 81
Clash face unrully mobs - Bondage at Bonds
Michael Barnard
First page only
Under Fire in New York - NME
Clash forced to lplay 16 date season after ticket fiasco - When the Clash landed at Kenney Airport last Tuesday, it was nore than clear that America wanted the band... Mick Farren
How The Clash Fed The Wonderbread Generation, Made The Mountain Come to Mohammed - And Other Miracles
Mick Farren, NME, 20 June 1981
The winner of NME's Flatter The Clash competition checks out the ramifications when an English band's world is at Bonds. KOSMO VINYL shoots both fists heavenward, for all the world like a man who had just scored for West Ham at Wembley. "I got the news on every channel! I got the news on every channel!....
Boston Rock Summer 81 No 19
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Face NO 16 August 1981
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MOJO Clash Special No79
pages 1.. 2.. 3..
Fanzine piece by: J Blocher
can some1 transcribe this it is very poor
Clash Contre Mafia - French Mag
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translation required
Anne Toone from The Bloods remembers opening for the Clash
The Clash on Broadway Part 1
Chris Salewicz, Mojo, August 1994
IF THERE WAS ONE PIVOTAL EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE Clash's assault on the USA it was the season of 17 shows they played at Bond's, a tacky former disco on Broadway and Times Square, New York, New York in May and June 1981.
The Clash on Broadway Part 2
Chris Salewicz, Mojo, August 1994
Joe Strummer talks to Chris Salewicz. When was the first time you toured America? I think it was in 1978. We went to finish off Give 'Em Enough Rope in San Francisco. So it would have been to tour that.
Best Magazine [French]
6 page review with photos form Bonds
...page1&2 ...page3&4 ... page5&6
3. Posters, video, photos
The Clash @ Bonds NYC 1981
joe streno's blog
Photos, comments
Posters and Radio / TV Commentary
Radio interview with Mick/Kosmo backstage after the opening night
Bonds Photos 1
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Bonds Photos 2
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Clash & Slits at Bonds 1981 photos
{ joe streno } seattle wa
www.go2jo.com
Radio Commentary on ticket fiasco - 20mins
NBC TV on ticket fiasco 3mins video
CBS Live tapes
Quote, "Eventually, via Jeff Jones at Legacy in New York, I contacted Bruce Dickinson who'd worked at CBS in the 1970s and 80s and was a fan of the band. He knew of a company in the States who specialised in archiving live radio tapes. They had two nights of the Clash at Bonds on Broadway and two nights in Boston."
Bonds Photos
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...play on music: “6 Seconds To Watch” by Ennio Morricone, from For A Few Dollars More...Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five are among the opening acts...after the first gig of the original seven-show run, the NYC fire marshall orders the club closed for safety reasons; eventually, the shows are rescheduled to accomodate all ticket-holders... A strike in Britain had left 5 British bands in the UK and only 3 managed to make it with the Clash. Only the Slits, Funkapolitan and The Equators, who were slated for the matinee shows, made it. Left behind were the remains of Selector, The B-People , The Bell Stars, Aswad and most of all Theatre of Hate whom Mick had produced their debut album. There were two opening acts each night: one British or Jamaican and one American. Hopefully the correct artists are listed by the correct dates. Support Acts included Grandmaster Flash and the Treacherous Three, The Sirens, The Sugerhill Gang, Funkapolitan, Lee Perry, Texan bard Joe Ely, and a forgotten horn-section-and-skinny-tie band called the Nitecaps. And, plucked fresh off the stage of CBGB's, Miller Miller Miller & Sloane and a KRAUT who had formed 3 weeks earlier with only 3 demo songs and who never played live. Plus bands that showed The Clash’s continuing identification and admiration for punk; The Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, The Fall, The Slits, and The Bloods (not to mention The Brattles!). ESG a womans funk band from New York. The Rockets and the Equators were scheduled for the first matinee show which got cancelled.
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Bonds Times Square, New York |
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| Support The Sirens and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Thanks to Laura for the following info on the Sirens... From: "Laura DJ" <dejesuslauraann-at-gmail.com> i noticed you have the sirens on the tour date list from 81 as playing with treacherous three, that's not true, I was one of the Sirens, the guitarist, and we played after Grand Master Flash, and before the Clash. It was my idea to support the Clash. My manager charlie martin who built the sound system at CB's and Bonds was getting directions from the owners/managers who were in jail (studio 54 fame) and i had read an article in the nme or soho news or one of the music papers of the day and joe strummer said in the article they like all girl bands opening up for their shows. So i ran over to charlie showed him the article and suggested he get on the phone and reach out to his contacts and get the clash. The rest is history. He did it and we opened their first show at bonds. Grand Master Flash opened for us! |
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
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May 30 |
Bonds Times Square, New York | |
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Matinee show cancelled by NYC Building Dept - Riots |
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May 30 |
Bonds Times Square, New York | |
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Evening show cancelled by NYC Building Dept |
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| Bad Brains and the Slits opened | ||
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| The Treacherous Three |
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| The Bloods opened the show f/b The Bush Tetras. |
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| Four female singers singing accapella and Lee Perry opened | ||
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| (afternoon) I was at the June 6th matinee show in 1981 in Bond's. The Dead Kennedys did NOT perform then. It was the Hi-School band The Brattles who opened the matinee show, followed by Funkopolitin. The "We love you clash" that is heard mid-show is caused by a mic that fell into the audience. Joe just watched kind of amused while these guys in the first rows yelled into the mic. After a while, the roadies got it back and set it up again. | ||
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| (evening) The Dead Kennedys? | ||
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| The Fall were the support act. This is the pro-recorded concert. | ||
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| Allen Ginsberg makes an appearance | ||
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| (afternoon) Hi-School band The Brattles opened the matinee show, plus The Rock-cats? who they had a slap bass and played Stray Cats-type music. | ||
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Bonds Times Square, New York | |
| (evening) The Dead Kennedys | ||
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