Clash on Parole Tour
Supported by The Specials & Suicide

updated 1 Aug 2011 - added new recording
updated 12 Feb 2014 - added Jimmy Pursey Photo
updated August 2022 added Steve Jones photos correcty with source

Music Machine - The Clash

Audio (new) - low gen - Sound 3+ - 62min - low/m - 18 tracks
cuts at Janie Jones

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Clash residency

Clash On Parole Tour climaxes with their first residency, four nights at The Music Machine. The Music Machine (now Camden Palace) is actually about 20 seconds walk over the road from Mornington Crescent tube, and roughly 5 minutes walk away from Camden Town tube.

The 4 nights recendency were rapturously received in the press and by those in attendance. Rude Boy captures the drama: is there a more exciting moment in rock’n’roll cinema than when the film cuts dramatically into Complete Control at the Music Machine?

The Music Machine

The Music Machine (later renamed the Camden Palace) began in the 60’s and became famous for punk gigs, still in use today as a dance nightclub, it has staged gigs in recent years by Blur and the Oasis.

The Music Machine was a perfect type of Clash venue; sweaty, intimate, seat less, restrained security and within the part of London they lived and loved best. Enjoying greater critical acclaim and increasing commercial success, few other bands (if any) either then or now, would have opted to play four nights here rather than they take the money and play one or two nights at the larger Hammersmith Odeon or similar.

New heights of popularity within the UK music press, the Music Machine residency resulted in some ecstatic reviews (see link).

The Clash At Music Machine in Camden, North West London, July 1978.
BY JUSTIN THOMAS 26/07/1978

The Clash was my favorite band back in the day, they had too much energy! It was really hard to shoot them because it was impossible to stand still, you would be moved from pillar to post by the crowd. The music machine raised areas on each side of the stage, so I made sure I was in the front of the row and got a position up there.

The moment they played I stepped on one of the speakers.

Security was telling me to come down but there was no way they could get to me. Might take my pictures without getting poked every five seconds.

The place was packed; many of the fans came in climbing through the bathroom windows and it was well over capacity.

Near the end of the show, I got a painting of Jimmy Pursey from Sham 69 jumping off the loudspeaker on the other side and almost hitting Paul Simenon's head. In the next song, Steve Jones from Sex Pistols walked on and to my knowledge, that was the ONLY time The Pistols and The Clash have shared a stage together.

Strummer - Pursey

Did you go? What do you remember?
Info, articles, reviews, comments or photos welcome.
Please email blackmarketclash

"I often check your site for  trip down memory lane and I was just reading about the Harlesdon Colliseum gigs, I went to one of these (and taped it ~bad sound as I remember) and I think one significant thing about these gigs was the fact that a quantity of t-shirts were given away on both nights, you can see one of these shirts ~ view pics ~ (I have one washed & shrunk and another unworn), also shown are a Suicide TS bought at the Music Machine gig (Suicide received a bad case of bottling by Clash 'fans' at this one) and a couple of shirts from the Brixton gigs, I think 5th Column printed these as the guys were on the stall, I was selling Mikey Dread tees for Kosmo at the second set of dates the Clash played at this venue (late July).
 
The Music Machine tape, an amusing (in retrospect) story about this tape, which I thought had great sound, was that a close friend badgered me to borrow it for weeks, I lent it to him but wasn't truly comfortable about doing so. Calling round his house one day his Mum said 'He's in his room, go right up!' I did so only to find my mate with unspooled cassette tape all over his floor (it was a C120) and him with a pencil in the cassette trying to get it all back in again. The tape was fucked & had to be thrown away.

I remember it was the gig where Joe went on about Aberdeen & Perthshire etc before Safe European Home, they played Blitzkrieg Bop that night and Cook & Jones joined for a couple of encores along (I think) with that idiot Jimmy Sham. I have the cassette box with the track listing if its of any use.

I ended up seeing the Clash 40+ times with the last gig being the one where it pissed-down on the Pier in New York, this was also the height of my 'I'm on the guest list' blagging, when I managed to get myseld & two friends in even though there was no way I was on that bit of paper, the Pier gig was the best I had seen the Clash in a number of years (1st gigs being the White Riot tour), the humidity and the incredible electric storm which broke-out were the catalyst for a great and exciting atmosphere and inspired the band as well as the audience; the forked lightning and monsoon-like rain, which came-in at an angle and totally drenched the band and their gear right at the end of the set, felt like a release from the oppressive heat of the day, I actually couldn't believe that they carried on playing as I'd have thought the chances of an electric shock were very high. The rain was so hard that my leather jacket was soaked on the inside as well as out."

I saw all the clash gigs (4) there. Brilliant. I followed them a lot back then. We were punks from the neighbourhood and someone from the band..usually Joe or Baker or JG would let us in through the back door. Once we had to scale 30 feet up a drain pipe to the dressingroom window. The MM bouncers were animals and there were always a lot of fights in there.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19	Complete Control Tommy Gun Cheapskates Jail Guitar Doors Drug Stabbing Time Clash City Rockers White Man Capital Radio Complete Control Stay Free Police & Thieves/Blitzkreig Bop English Civil War Safe European Home Whats My Name Londons Burning Garageland Im So Bored with the USA Janie Jones cut White Riot

If you know of any articles or references for this particular gig, anything that is missing, please do let us know.

If you know any please let us know