Residency - second of seven nights

Last updated 7 July 2008 - Punters View

Audio 1

average audience rec. -  Sound 3 - time 64mins - Hits LP - tracks 17

I Fought the Law

Sources

The Hits triple LP set  was often for sale in the ‘bootleg’ end of Portobello market in the 80’s and was evidently a Japanese release. Jeff Dove’s excellent Clash on Stage website provides details and cover and label photos. There is an error though crediting incorrectly the first side of the 3rd LP to the Lyceum show when its from the Bonds show.

The first two LP’s are credited on the sleeve to the 19th October concert, which seems right as it differs from all the other Lyceum recordings and the set list matches the songs played there. The third LP has a partial recording of the Bonds show on the 10th June but it’s a poorer recording than the best circulating from that night. Shame therefore that the bootleggers did not include the encores from the Lyceum show on the 3rd LP instead!

The sound quality of this recording is rather unfairly maligned; it’s arguably better than the 18th and 20th.. It is an audience recording with some stereo separation but a thin, fairly distant sound. There is awful bass distortion on it. however if the bass levels are turned right down it has an acceptable sound with all the instrumentation present and reasonably clear especially drums and percussion. The excellence of Topper’s drumming comes through well here. Although definitely a poorer source recording than the one from the 20th because it is direct from the master recording there is none of the flatness on the 2nd/3rd generation 20th source.  

Looking for an upgrade to the full tape.

 “What does it sound like in the supper club section?"

The first LP misses the first two songs Broadway and One More Time and starts   with Know Your Rights; not a great start as Joe mumbles the words he’s still not sure of (and would later rewrite) and the words remain uncoordinated with the music (in contrast with the other new songs particularly Ghetto Defendant). “Don’t you have a home to go to?” repeats Joe over the ending. “Please welcome Mr Paul Simonon” and Guns of Brixton is fine if unexceptional as is Train in Vain.

 “What does it sound like in the supper club section? Sorry didn’t mean to interrupt you, what was you saying?” Mick interrupts Joe with a “1,2- 1234” and the band slam into White Man In Hammersmith Palais. The performances really picks up from here on. The recording is good enough to convey the power and the subtleties of an excellent performance. The audience singalong and Joe is inspired to adlib over the ending “way down south, say way down south, meet you at the picket lines” rest of words are unclear. The momentum is maintained with a pumped up Magnificent Seven; Topper’s terrific drumming shines through. Joe’s in classic and idiosyncratic mood, “…vacuum cleaner.  Come back budgie, come back just for a day, get some sour milk!” Joe screams Magnificent in great Strummer style then adds  “OK then this is the 14”, fuckin’ long innit? What is that sound oh ooh, ooh!”  Joe’s voice is drenched in echo over the extended ending.

Clash City Rockers is again a highlight with no varispeeding required here! It tears along with standout drumming and Mick and Joe shout it out with real intensity, the song reinvigorated and vital again in late 81. “Elevator going up” Koka Kola again drops right down then back up again impressively and even Ivan Meets GI Joe sounds spirited here!

“Once more round the block in case we missed anything out!” shouts Joe on a fine Junco Partner featuring Mick’s electronic effects to the fore. The second LP begins with a terrific variation of the intro to The Leader and Joe warning at the start  “anyone under 16 years old cover their ears! It’s then straight into I Fought the Law; all high energy performances.

“Get this, get ready for this” says Joe before Ghetto Defendant; a song that’s always of interest to see how it’s developing live. “Like to take a break here and do something with Futura 2000 entitled watch, see, believe, feel, the history of graffiti” Futura’s rap gets a good response from the Lyceum audience.

The building crescendo intro to Somebody Got Murdered heralding a high octane run through to the end of the main set. Another fine performance with Joe barking literally over the ending! More Strummer vocal gymnastics to the fore on a passionate London Calling and then with a “1-2, 1-2-3” The Clash bring down an aural apocalypse on the Lyceum, with a scorching Clampdown. Mick and Joe both shout the lyrics with conviction and Joe is inspired again over the ending adlibbing at length. Most is sadly unclear but includes references to Bob Marley, side winder missiles and Geiger counters and “Meanwhile in the clampdown queue I know there’s a few of my good old pop stars..yes, meanwhile down in the underground” Joe is still going as Topper brings the song to an end.

Again the band end of the main set with the unreleased Radio Clash which has adlibs from Joe including what appears like “Billy Bunter Billy Bunter!” The song breaks down with Joe saying “alright thank you” then immediately restarts with Joe again adlibbing new lyrics (sadly mostly unclear) and then the song ends abruptly; an unusual performance!

The encores are not circulating sadly but the recording is worth seeking out despite its sound limitations because of the quality of the performance.

Did you go? What do you remember?

Info, articles, reviews, comments or photos welcome.
Please email blackmarketclash

one of the best.

First saw The Clash at the Lyceum, London around this time (1981), being only 14 at the time, it was one of the first gigs I'd ever been to but remains one of the best. Still remember the sheer power of Safe European Home (hairs are standing up back of my neck as I type this), Tommy Gun and London Calling.

Also then saw them several times in Brixton through Sandinista and Combat Rock - Straight to Hell what a song!!! Most bizarrely was The Clash busking on the steps of Leeds University Union (1984?) when they were following The Alarm around (crap band -who incidently I first saw supporting The Farmers Boys and they never should have got any higher up the bill!).

Incidently The Clash also had more than one drummer which is enough of a link to the GB's to legitimise this bit of reminiscing, besides which beats working!

C Gull

I feel priviledged, truly, to have seen THE band at the height of their powers

Here are my memories of the Monday night after all these years, a life changing event.

At that time I was living on the east coast (Kent England?). My best mate, his sister and myself were obsessed with The Clash and swore we'd see them in 1981 no matter the cost. I worked on the side in a death camp for chickens to get a bit of extra money to buy the tickets - £3.50 was a lot of money back then if you were one of Thatcher's millions (Thatcher deliberalty made 15% of the country unemployed by forcing up interest rates bancrupting companies, privatising public companies, to deliberatley crush unions and lower pay to make 'the economy more efficient'). So when we knew we'd got the loan of a flat we cashed our giroes and got on the train to London, arriving on the Sunday.

We were very excited about the Monday night. We'd been outside the Lyceum on the previous night and only my mates sister got in. We didn't have tickets for that night, but she was 16 and had blonde hair so go figure. She'd been winding us up all Monday about how great they were and about how she was in love with Paul.

At last we got inside the Lyceum, my heart was pumping with the bass. I pushed my way as far forward as I could, when suddenly all hell let loose. There seemed to be about 200 youths with crazy haircuts and crazed looks smacking the hell out of eachother. They were shouting 'Zorch!' or something. Then a band came on. It wasn't the Clash. The bassist was playing an upright bass and the drummer and lead guitarist/singer looked demented. Then I got kicked to the side, losing sight of the others. I later found out the band were The Meteors and I have to say they really warmed the place up. I bought the album shortly after and it's still a favourite of mine 'Meteors In Heaven'. I was beginning to wonder how I'd get to see The Clash with these nutters beating the crap out of each other, but needn't have worried, as soon as the Meteors finished the psychos all left. This was my chance - their loss my gain!

I dodged past them and got to the second row at the front of the stage. It was really hot. There were a couple of false alarms with the lights going down then suddenly, right in front of me though several feet higher is Joe Strummer. Mick is on his left and Paul on his right. Topper is settling in behind the drums. My heart is thumping. There's a kind of pause, have I had a heart attack? Joe shouts something and the place goes up! Then I'm trying to stay on my feet, trying to figure the chords Joe is playing (I was learning to play at the time and barr chords were a mystery), clinging on to the bloke in the front of me, while jumping up and down, someone else is clinging on to the back of me. I've no idea what the song was now, though the web site says it was 'Know Your Rights' I can't say for certain what it was. I was in the presence of deities as far as I was concerned and totally lost it.

Paul seemed to be twenty feet high and sculpted from muscle and bone. Mick was leaping and singing harmonies seeming to be part of the human swell he was conjuring in front of him, I couldn't see Topper he was head down banging the skins behind a black and yellow chevroned kit. Joe though was the focus for me. He was a thousand miles high. The big brother I'd never had. The leader of my world, cooler than anything I'd ever seen even

if he did seem to be forgetting words and leaking saliva like he had a burst hose, banging that guitar like his life depended on it with one leg braced the other kicked the hell out of the stage floor. Curiously my mate and her sister raved about Paul the most, but there was something about Joe that held me - I wanted to be him!

During the few lulls I held my camera high and snapped what I could, no flash or the bouncers would be alerted. What I got was not good, but my mates were impressed. We treated those snaps like holy relics after I got them developed. The night went straight past my conscious mind and deep inside my soul. I can't remember it too well, I remember being surprised how many old people there were at the back - I was 18 and they must have been in their 30's and 40's. This, I later realised, demonstrated the wide appeal of the band by now.

I feel priviledged, truly, to have seen THE band at the height of their powers. I never thought 'Sandinista' or 'Combat Rock' ever captured the magic of those four blokes in full flight. London Calling is as close as they came to recording it. There was an energy that perhaps cannot translate into vinyl. I'm sure the gigs were being recorded on video, but have never seen any mention of this. I don't know why I came away with this thought, though I have a vague recollection of small tv monitors somewhere up and in front of the stage when I went to one of the toilets, though I could easily be mistaken about this. I didn't come down from these gigs for a week, I'm not sure I really landed yet - perhaps the world I took off from no longer existed blown away by four skinny giants: Topper, Paul, Mick and Joe.

B Whittaker Liverpool UK

We think the ANL may have supported the Clash on this Tour as they did at Glasgow?

Yep - another email from a died-in-the-wool Clash-head!  Oh, and Happy Easter.

Despite having a mountain of work to do ,I have spent the last hour or so trawling through your magnificent website.  I saw the Clash several times in the early 1980s.  I am trying to work out the first concert.  I have always thought that it was the Lycuem, and that bizarrely, they were backed up by the Anti-Nowhere League... Could it by any chance be the Feb 17 1980 date at the Lyceum.  There is no info about this date... I have googled to see if it was possible that the ANL backed-up the Clash...but without success.  Do you know who backed up the Clash at that show...?

I am sure that it was the Lyceum - I remember being about 14 at Holborn tube afterwards, wearing brown courdroys and a rather snappy green tarten-esque Levi's shirt with mother-of-pearl buttons....But then again, I could be completely wrong, mixing shows etc.
Anyway, 20 years on, I have three kids - the first two with Clash-friendly names (my wife said that "Rudy" was a dog's name here in Italy - this is where I live - so I wasn't allowed to call child #3 Rudy). 

So, thanks
Dick

Setlist

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Know your Rights Guns of Brixton Train in Vain White Man in Ham Palais Magnificent 7 Clash City Rockers Koka Kola Ivan Meets Gi Joe Junco Partner The Leader I Fought the Law Ghetto Defendent Grafitti Rap Somebody Got Murdered London Calling Clampdown Radio Clash The Call Up Bankrobber Complete Control Lightning Strikes Charlie Dont Surf Spanish Bombs greyed tracks are mssing - upgrade would be appreciated