The Clash live - Swindon The Affair - White Riot Tour

The Clash set begins with Joe commenting on problems with the sound "Mine's not working either" The band continue to tune up, amidst shouts already for White Riot, before Joe shouts "Swindon's Burning" and launch into London's Burning.

77 vintage energy levels continue into 1977 and into an excellent Pressure Drop. Joe comments at the lack of reaction from the majority "Don't clap if you don't move!" I'm So Bored With The USA is strong with Paul's bass lines to the fore. There is then a lengthy gap before Janie Jones "If you can't see what's happening, he's broken a bass string" - No Johnny Green or spare guitars to deal with the problem. The audience shout out requests including unusually one for KeysTo Your Heart.

Hate & War is strong as is Cheat but Joe's vocals can hardly be heard until mid-song. The sound dips a touch for 48 Hours before reverting back (but with several tape drop-ours) on an extended Police & Thieves with Joe improvising new lines;" Walking down Swindon High Street, nothing in your pocket, just walking, along comes the Police, say Hey where do you think you're going? It's late, you know it ain't allowed you mustn't deviate!…" Joe's continues until Mick's shouted 1-2-3-4 brings one of the set's highlights to an end.

"Listen to the tunes on the Dr Goebel's Show" is Joe's intro to Capital Radio, which also suffers several drop-outs. Deny next "A love song for the girls". Joe introduces a strong Remote Control "We were just told yesterday that this was going to be our next single" and Mick says "TOLD" emphasises their disgust at CBS's decision to release the song as their next single without asking them.

Career Opportunities is followed by Garageland dedicated to the Aggravators. "This is a pop song entitled White Riot"; the audience finally responding to a manically fast performance with Joe breaking off to congratulate them "this is better"

The audience shout for an encore, before an edit starts with Joe delivering some laid back Californian audience repartee "We're gonna do one more then fuck off! He's in love; he's in love…" leads into a stronger reprise of Janie Jones, getting the nod as the encore number rather than the usual 1977

I believe this is the original set list for this show. Very first song is indeed Londons Burning. jukesavages(at)aol.com

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6 Feb 2009 - Read the story of the Swindon band who supported punk legends The Clash at The Affair nightclub in Swindon in 1977.

The Clash at The Affair

Steve Baker

Read the story of the Swindon band who supported punk legends The Clash at The Affair nightclub in Swindon in 1977.

In the beginning there was The Clash... and they came to Swindon!

The date was Wednesday 4th May 1977 and it was a momentous occasion, at least in the minds of those that were enamoured with the noise that was punk.

The Clash were coming to town, and just about everyone was talking about it.

At the time I was the vocalist in Swindon punk band The Aggravators, and had been given a support slot by Ian Reid who managed The Affair nightclub at the time, and later went on to manage XTC.

The Affair later changed hands numerous times, and as a nightclub went through a succession of names such as Bubbles, New York New York and Po Na Na.

My fellow bandmates and I jumped over the moon to be offered the gig. For our tiny band back then it felt like a chance in a lifetime!

The Clash were due to play across the road at a venue called The Central Hall which was a lot bigger than The Affair, with two support bands Subway Sect and ourselves playing first, over in the small nightclub in Wyvern square.

Mysteriously, a short time before we were due to take the stage a fire started in The Central Hall, leaving Joe Strummer and the rest of the band with no choice other than to move all of their gear across to The Affair in order to be able to play.

When the time finally came, we thrashed through our set with wild abandon, savouring every second of it. As soon as we had finished playing, we hurried backstage to talk to The Clash and ask for their opinion, and Joe commented on one of our songs, by saying that he liked the guitar riff.

They were very encouraging, really down to earth, and totally devoid of any airs and graces.

Swindon's The Aggravators in 1977

More info: boredteenagers.co.uk, Google search

The Aggravators - Bored Teenagers

Formed in March 1977, The Aggravators were Swindon's first punk band. ... live performance at Swindon's ' THE AFFAIR ', a nightclub also managed by Ian Reid. ... moment came when we supported The Clash when they came to Swindon. ... Read memoirs from when the band supported the Clash on the 'White Riot Tour' ...

Vic Goddard and The Subway Sect ploughed through their set confidently leaving the crowd calling for more, then at last it was time for The Clash!

By now the place was heaving, and after what felt like an eternity, Joe and the boys took the stage by storm.

Thrashing through their songs that were soon to become classics they left the faithful amongst us spellbound, and the morbidly curious stunned!

Joe Strummer snarling his way through 'Janie Jones' is something I'll never forget, and the compliment of Joe dedicating 'Garageland' to us spoke volumes.

He even improvised a few lyrics - introducing 'London's Burning' as 'Swindon's Burning' and changing a line in 'Police and Thieves' to "Walking down Swindon High Street…"

The Clash, were in my mind, the embodiment of Punk rock, and are probably the definitive band of their kind in that era. And even though I state the obvious - Joe Strummer is still very sorely missed.

3) Opening for The Clash on their 'White Riot' tour, was a terrific experience, which has remained with me to the present day.

First off, they were due to play the slightly bigger Central Hall across the road from The Affair, but there was a fire (hence the term, 'Swindon's Burning'), which entailed The Clash, Subway Sect and The Aggravators all playing in the same, relatively tiny Affair. Due to said fire, they used our back-line and drums (and XTC's house PA), and were us such, more than gracious.

I was still at school at the time, and didn't drink, but I remember Paul Simonen ploughing us all with drinks: lager, white wine, red wine, shorts, you name it... Great bloke. Spent the best part of an hour propping the bar up with Mick Jones, discussing Jimi Hendrix and Mott The Hoople; and if memory serves, when I packed my amp up - which Mick used - all the controls were on num bert ten - which is as it absolutely should be! Joe Strummer dedicated 'Garageland' to The Aggravators, and gave me his T-shirt at the end of the night.

So yeah, an altogether memorable evening. Plus, their performance ranks as one of the finest I've ever seen by anyone: loud, tight, frenetic, dangerous, urgent, true and packed with quintessentially fab songs (all off the first album).

30 Jan 2009 - Take a look back to the late seventies when bands such as The Jam, Talking Heads and Blondie played at The Brunel Rooms nightclub in Swindon. ... acts that made up the burgeoning Punk and New Wave music scene. ... The band made their debut at the Brunel on Friday 30th June 1977, and the ...

Remembering when Swindon was centre of a punk explosion ... punters observe the group, fresh from supporting the Sex Pistols, ... It is March 1977 and The Stranglers are thrilling - but why aren't there ... Next, The Clash: an apocalyptic night at The Affair involving the fire ... Promoted Stories ... Read more.

2013-05-01 Barry Leighton

Night The Clash were on a mission

Had any passing member of the fire brigade happened to wander in then I'm pretty sure they would have consulted their manual on the rules and regulations governing the overcrowding of nightclubs.

But on that occasion just about every Swindon fireman was otherwise engaged. Across the road, less than a stone's throw away, they were tackling one of the town's most severe conflagrations of recent years.

Two momentous events occurred in Swindon on the evening of Wednesday, May 4, 1977; the elegant Methodist Central Mission Hall was burnt down and The Clash came to town.

The Clash gig - considered by many as the apogee of the Swindon punk era - took place almost 36 years ago today… the first Wednesday in May.

It is still spoken about in almost reverential tones by those who were there and has earned its place on Swindon's cultural landscape alongside the likes of Laurel & Hardy at the Empire Theatre.

The best thing about punk music was that you could read in the New Musical Express who were the hottest (no pun intended) new bands - and see them in Swindon a couple of weeks later.

Respected music critic Charles Shaar Murray infamously slammed The Clash as "the kind of garage band who should be speedily returned to their garage, preferably with the engine running."

What did he know? Their debut album released four weeks before the Swindon show was - and still is - one of the genre's greatest recordings.

So there we were, about half-a-dozen Advertiser journalists comfortably ensconced in our favourite watering hole, The Belle Vue in Old Town (now Long's Bar) cheerfully anticipating the forthcoming jollities.

Suddenly, one of our photographers burst into the back bar urgently seeking the duty reporter (thankfully, it wasn't me), while breathlessly spluttering something about the mission hall burning down.

I have to admit, perhaps with a tiny hint of shame, that my initial reaction - like everyone else's in the bar - was not sadness and shock for what appeared to be the impending loss of a worthy example of Edwardian architecture, complete with eye-catching dome. No, we all looked at each other in horror and gasped, as if as one: "That's where The Clash are playing."

Shaking the nation on their White Riot tour, The Clash had been booked to appear at The Affair in Theatre Square (now Foxies) but had become so big, so quickly it was decided they should perform at the much larger Central Mission Hall, a minute's walk away.

The idea was that local punk outfit the Aggravators would warm-up the crowd at the Affair - which had a drinks licence - before we all filed in an orderly fashion across Regent Circus to watch The Clash and support group, the Subway Sect, at the mission hall, which didn't have a drinks licence.

But when the mission hall was engulfed in flames, it was decided that all three bands should play the Affair, otherwise, well, there could well have been a white riot.

At what turned out to be an incendiary gig (oops), The Clash crashed their way through London's Burning which of course they sang as Swindon's Burning. Mightily pleased with the response, singer Joe Strummer then altered the lyrics of Police and Thieves to "Police and thieves in Swindon high street."

Every time I hear that song - including Junior Murvin's reggae original - that's what I'm singing in my head.

For the Aggravators - Swindon's first punk group - playing on the same bill as The Clash was a baptism of fire (sorry). It was only their second-ever gig. The line-up was: Steve Baker (vocals), Nick Brooker (drums), Glen Doughty (rhythm guitar), Ian Doeser (bass) and Dave Marx (guitar/vocals.) Ian, now 54, who remains a familiar and boisterous figure on Swindon's live music scene, graphically recalls the events of May 1977 He says: "The Clash gig turned out to be one of the strangest I've ever done. "On the night we arrived early and set up our gear before retiring to the pub. It wasn't long before we were hearing reports of fire engines outside the Central Mission Hall.

"Soon afterwards we were summoned back to The Affair and told the Central Mission Hall had caught fire and a lot of The Clash's gear had been lost in the flames.

"By this time, there were hundreds of people queuing outside the club, so cancelling wasn't an option."

In time honoured tradition, the show went on. Continues Ian: "By the time The Aggravators took to the stage, the place was packed.

"I remember being in awe at the size of the audience. I can't really remember our set; it was just a blur and seemed to be over before we'd even started. But people seemed to like it and remember it - so we couldn't have been too bad.

"One bit I do remember though was The Clash's road crew passing bits of equipment salvaged from the Central Mission Hall over the heads of the crowd and then rebuilding it behind us onstage as we were playing.

"I can remember the stage getting smaller and smaller as our set went on."

Ian and chums were thrilled when The Clash, in full throttle, dedicated their song Garageland - a suitably aggressive riposte to the aforementioned Shaar Murray criticism - to The Aggravators.

Aggravators singer Steve Baker, 55, now of The Sins, has a fleeting recollection of the occasion. He says: "I can remember The Clash being really friendly and Joe Strummer dedicating Garageland to us. I was quite impressed because they had a suitcase full of guitar strings and I had sold some of my records to buy strings for the gig. The rest of it was all a bit of a blur really."

In all, a sad night for ecclesiastical architecture. A victim of an apparent electrical fault, the Central Mission Hall in Clarence Street remained a charred shell for eight years before it was eventually demolished and replaced with a faceless office block.

But a blinding night for Clash fans - even ones like me, who never wore safety pins or an I Hate Pink Floyd t-shirt.

l By way of an encouraging postscript, Ian adds: "Punk is still thriving in Swindon. We have two bands - The Charred Hearts and Two Sick Monkeys - touring Europe each year. Last year we had a Jubilee punk festival at the Rolleston pub, at which I played."

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16	London's Burning 1977 Pressure Drop I'm So Bored With The USA Janie Jones Remote Control Cheat 48 Hours Police & Thieves Capital Radio Deny Remote Control Career Opportunities Garageland White Riot Janie Jones (Encore)