Short 'Secret' Midlands Tour

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Short mini-tour of the Midlands

In January of 1978 The Clash undertook a 'secret' tour of the Midlands in the UK and played three gigs. It seems that they were arranged mostly for the benefit of American record producer Sandy Pearlman, who was best known at the time for producing Blue Oyster Cult.

Sandy Pealrman who was being brought over from America to the second album. Johnney Green in A Riot of Our Own pg97 describes the near riot that took place. The NME report [below] screams the headline 'White Riot in Dusnstable'.

He turned up at all three gigs and tried to get into the band's backstage dressing room before the gig. The band's over-zealous the last (at Lanchester Polytechnic, Coventry, on 26 Jan 1978) zealous roadie Robin Banks used undue force to keep him out, resulting in the long-haired American laying prostrate with a bleeding nose as the band stepped over him to get on the stage.

PAUL: The record company had this idea that they wanted a big name American producer for the second album. I think Mick probably had an inter-est in Pearlman, and anyway he kept turning up at our shows. Mick's old schoolmate Robin Crocker (AKA Banks) used to be our security and at this one gig we're trying to get changed before going on, and this guy's trying to get in, when suddenly there's a 'wallop' and Sandy Pearlman's lying on the floor with blood coming out of his nose. So he's dragged out as Mick shouts at Robin, 'He's our producer!' But he kept coming back even after the punch-up so he was obviously keen.

Tracks not played

Reading the report it is noticeable the band don't play White Man and Prisoner, two new songs they do play at Barbarellas.

NME t-zers 'secret gigs'

28 Jan 1978

Link

Ticket

Queensway Hall, Dunstable, Luton

Queensway Hall, located in Dunstable, was a significant venue for various events from the 1960s until the end of the 20th century. It was initially known as the Civic Hall and was informally referred to as Queensway Hall before officially adopting the name 1. The hall was opened in April 1964 5 and was a popular venue for banquets, balls, concerts, and plays 13. However, it was less successful when it staged plays and concerts 13. It was also known as Civic Hall, was a prominent music venue.

The structure of Queensway Hall was unique, with a rather odd television-shaped window projecting from halfway up the staircase inside 10. The hall was a medium-sized venue with an oval auditorium 14 . Unfortunately, the hall faced the need for significant structural repairs, leading to its closure in 2000 1, 13. The district council decided to accept an offer to demolish the building and replace it with an Asda supermarket 13

. The funds from the sale of the hall were used to build the Grove Theatre, which opened in 2007 11, 13. Queensway Hall hosted numerous concerts, featuring a wide range of artists and bands. Some of the notable performances included The Clash in 1978 6, The Pretenders in 1980 6, and the last concert was by The Christians on June 30, 1987 8.

Youtube Video of Queensway Hall
The Sex Pistols playing at Queensway Hall and here
Queensway Hall, 45worlds.com
1980 Dunstable

Short 'secret' Midlands Tour

The Clash gig at Dunstable in January 1978 was part of short 'secret' tour that became known as the Sandy Pearlman dates. The Blue Oyster Cult producer was flattened the night after at Coventry

Record Mirror: Clash, Bang, Wallop

by Kelly Price

Original or PDF original

The Clash Official | Facebook

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Cuttings from Tim Watt's scrapbooks

The Clash | Facebook

Tim Watts and his wife Coleen saw The Clash live five times, including the Friars and Dunstable gigs in 1978, as 14 and 16 year old punks. Have a look at some cuttings from Tim's scrapbooks... 

A Riot of Our Own pg97

Johnny Green & Garry Barker

Record Collector HANG HIGH
A review of the making of Give Em Enough Rope LP

21 January 2012
or archive PDF

Dunstable Queensway Hall, 25 January

[partial] The three 'secret' January gigs sold out by word-of-mouth and local advertising, with Zigzag finding itself with an exclusive on the new songs. My report turned into a despatch from the front line in what turned out to be one of the most senselessly violent, wildest, even frightening shows I' ve ever witnessed.

Though it brought out the chaos-savouring beast in The Clash, many of those thousand or so young punks, jostling, spitting and often fighting, seemed like a manifestation of the tabloid press' s shock-horror reports. Support band Model Mania were pelted with spittle and beer cans, necessitating a plea for peace from Strummer, watching horrified in the wings before jumping into the mosh pit. Then French female band The Lous got the same, prodding Topper to come on and clobber the worst culprits with a mic stand. By then, police were in the building while ambulance crews tended to blood-soaked punters.

Backstage, Joe wrapped his traditional 'strum-guard' around his arm in gaffa tape, contemplating doing the same all over for protection. From the moment they launched into Complete Control, it was obvious this was going to be one of those supercharged special gigs which spurred The Clash into becoming the most exciting band on the planet. Its members seemed oblivious to the cans that continued to rain around them, Strummer contorted like a man possessed.

'Here' s another new song you won' t like, it' s called Last Gang In Town,' he growled. A full-but-opened can of beer whizzed past his ear, depositing its frothy contents over the already foamy stage. (I know, I was standing in it.)

After more new songs, including Tommy Gun, English Civil War and Guns On The Roof, and some recent singles, the fireworks soared several notches with Janie Jones and Garageland, as limp crowd victims were carried out. Topper crashed through his snare skin, Joe dropped his guitar, Paul ripped strings off his bass, while Mick ran about with a devilish grin on his face. The power Strummer held over the crowd that night was frightening. If he' d told them to burn down Dunstable, they probably would have. He started Career Opportunities as a gentle, unaccompanied ballad, the crowd taking it up terrace-style, before the group crashes in. Predictably, White Riot broke what' s left of the dam, around 100 punters suddenly appearing on stage. Mick and Paul could only climb on the drum riser, guitars held aloft, while the crowd really did start a riot of its own. Joe joined them, beaming with delight as they momentarily bask in one of the most unbridled, no-holds-barred, fuck-the-consequences rock' n' roll moments I' ve ever witnessed. Afterwards, as Mick bathed a can-gouge in his cheek, the hall resembled a battlefield; another venue about to ban punk.

NME: WHITE RIOT IN DUNSTABLE QUEENSWAY

Original or original or original

"White Riot in Dunstable"
The Clash at Dunstable, Queensway Hall
25th January 1978

DUNSTABLE, SUBURBAN OVERSPILL territory just 30 miles out of London, was the scene last week of some of the most unbelievable audience scenes witnessed at a rock gig in a good many months.

text version below

WHITE RIOT IN DUNSTABLE QUEENSWAY

JANUARY 1978 EDITION

DUNSTABLE, SUBURBAN OVERSPILL territory just 30 miles out of London, was the scene last week of some of the most unbelievable audience scenes witnessed at a rock gig in a good many months.

It was also the scene of probably the most tensely exciting Clash event since the Harlesden Coliseum epic a full 10 months ago.

Yeah, that’s right. The Clash City Rocker-Billy Rebels in your home town. Not so much another top secret tour, just one of a series of one-off low-key provincial dates before they get down to recording their next platter.

“We just wanted to keep our hand in,” said Mick Jones. “There’s a lot of people in Luton and Dunstable who wanted to see us.

The Queensway Hall itself is a coliseum-like oval ballroom. The Sex Pistols - The Jam, would you believe once played by- before 70 people at the same place. Tonight it’s packed. A top heavy punk audience.

The bar at the back of the hall is stocked with no glasses - plastic or otherwise - just those long, economy size ring pull cans. A ludicrously naive move on the part of the hall management.

The first band, Birmingham’s Modelmania, come and go. By their third number, the sporadic can starts flying towards the stage. The situation gets worse until, after the set, the road crew face a struggle to shift the gear offstage against a torrent of cans.

Joe Strummer walks onstage to cheers and makes a worthy effort to calm down the fans as a can bounces off his head. Joe steps into the swelling mass at the front of the crowd and a kid who a moment earlier had aimed a can at a roadie rushes up and vigorously shakes his hand.

Just when it seems things are cooling down, the worst scenes of the evening begin.

Female French quartet The Lous take the stage. On their night,The Lous are a great little band. They play bouncy, rocking rhythm `n blues, and enjoy it like no-one else around. On the last full Clash tour, they surprised a lot of people by their tough resilience to life on the road

Tonight, they don’t stand a chance.

Dunstable? To The Lous it was more like Dunkirk.

The cans and spit rain onstage. Rhythm guitarist Raphaele shouts something incomprehensible at the audience. But The Lous’ main problem ain’t one of communication . Some of the things going down in that crowd would disgrace Inter Milan verses Lazio.

“Here, why did you throw that can?

“Cos they’re crap, that’s why.!”

If this is audience participation, count me out.

Drummer Sacha - the Lou with the best English - braveIy steps out from behind her kit to the front of the stage and tries to reason with the audience. We witness the sickening sight of a can striking her full in the face.

In their second song. “No Escape’ (all too appropriate), they have no choice but to leave the stage. They don’t come back.

An incensed roadie swings a steel mike stand above the heads of the front three rows. I later learn he is Steve English, former Pistols bodyguard. Next it is the turn of Mick Jones and Paul Simonon to try their hand at cooling down the loonies. They are met with cries of “We Want The Clash.”

You lot hardly deserve them.

Anarchy in the Queensway Hall. A White Riot. A mindless one.

The lights go up. The promoter tells everyone that the gig is cancelled. But The Clash, above all else, are about playing, and minutes later they take the stage.

“We’ve just come to play some rock n roll,” shouts Mick, and the band are into “Complete Control”. A crazed “London/Dunstable’s Burning”, which used to be the show opener, follows.

A funky drum intro from Topper, and Mick Jones takes over vocals for the old 101’ers song “Clang Clang (Go The Jail Guitar Doors)”. Then it’s “Clash City Rockers” , the forthcoming single (with The Blue Oyster Cult’s man Sandy Pearlman as a likely producer scoopfreaks)

Joe’s vocals are as hard to mix as ever, helped by the echo on the PA, but what hits you is the overall intensity of the performance.

It was as if they’d rediscovered themselves after the poncing and posing of the last tour - adverse conditions bringing out the best in the band.

Two new songs were previewed: “The Last Gang In Town” , and a staccato two-minute gem called “Tommy Gun” , in which Topper’s mean kitwork took him right through his snaredrum, and finally buried the ghost of Terry Chimes.

They played it a bit safe by leaving out the two finest - but unfamiliar - of the newer songs, namely “The Prisoner” and “White Man In Hammersmith Palais” . But the vitality and noise of the Harlesden gig, the I00 Club and the ICA was there again for the first time in months . . Aaa’h,

The audience now had what they wanted - indeed, they were won over from the first song. Even “Career Opportunities” - a song The Clash should now drop as fast as they dumped “ 1977” - was touching. Strummer leading the crowd unaccompanied through the first verse before the rest of the band joined in.

Yet even now the can - throwing hordes are giving a new meaning to Heavy Metal. The cans, now squashed flat into lethal weapons, continue to drizzle stagewards, and Mick Jones is bloodied on the cheek by one.

A popgoing mass invades the stage for the swift encore and then The Clash are gone. after facing an audience from which most rock ‘n’ roll bands would have run a mile.

Their heads are still well above the waves.

ADRIAN THRILLS

In 1978, The Clash perform at Queensway Hall in Luton

The Clash | Facebook / Peter Sawley / Link

Still got my ticket for this one. Fantastic night

All of that ... plus the axes, knives and then there was the guy from Lewsey Farm who took a gun to the gig

richard cabut - @richardcabut - Link

All of that ... plus the axes, knives and then there was the guy from Lewsey Farm who took a gun to the gig...

Gary Connolly - @garyconno - Link

Anyone ever see The Clash gig at the Queensway Hall,Dunstable,25th January 1978? The wildest night the Queensway Hall & Dunstable has ever seen,glad I was there to witness it as well! I was there Jan 29 1978 first time I’d seen them live as a 15 year old,one of the best days of my life!!.Mick Jones said afterwards it was the best gig they had played up till then!!.

Hatter60 - @hatter60 - Link

One of those nights when you had to be there.  The Venue although quite big was heaving. As well as the support bands there was some  reggae toasting going on , showing The Clash's love for this type of music

Dave Tyler

I think that was the gig with the Lous supporting? Great gig but quite a scary atmosphere, if I remember rightly! first time I saw them and yes you were right as a 15 year old it was quiet a baptism of fire!!.Brilliant night though despite the chaos that ensued before during and after the gig!!.Those were the days eh!!.

Shaun Crosskey

I never remember it being as troublesome as history recalls, great gig! I also saw a Blondie documentary where the band cited the '78 QH in Dunstable as the night all changed for them and the gig was a riot. Again, I enjoyed it, got nudged off sitting on the edge of the stage by Debbie when I got a break from the melee

Kevin Patrick Southworth

Remember that one. Like being at a local derby football match. White Riot indeed.

Michael Daniel

It really was a riot. The big hall seemed to split into 2 sides. Each side were throwing beer cans ...some still half full ....through the air at each other. At the end the band could not play on and the stage was stormed by fans. It was complete chaos.

The management was later criticised for selling cans of beer instead of plastic cups. I believe punk bands were band after this night. Back then you had the dunstable queensway hall...dunstable california ballroom. Aylesbury friars..Hemel Hempstead civic hall. All with live bands.

Jim Nicol

Back in the day the promoter of many gigs at the Queensway Hall and also at St Albans civic centre was Barry Clarke. Real great guy who really loved the music. Anyone know if he is still rocking?

Travis Bryson

I saw the clash in Dunstable Queensway. The whole night turned into a chaotic riot. The french girl group "Lous" got bottled and beer canned off stage. People were getting beaten up randomly. It was a really scary situation.

I remember strummer came out on stage looking like Eddie Cochran. He was in a hail of missiles and he jumped down into the fighting crowd. Somehow he calmed them down, survived and the Clash played! Unforgettable night. RIP JOE, and the Queensway.

No known recording known to exist. If you know of any recording email blackmarketclash

These are tracks know to have been played from reading reviews

1 2 3 4 5 6 7	Complete Control Dunstables Burning Jail Guitar Doors Clash City Rockers Last Gang in Town The Prisoner - not played White Man - not played Tommy Gun Career Opportunities