Setlist
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1 |
Complete Control |
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Friars Aylesbury | The Clash at Friars Aylesbury | Facebook
Chris Verrall - An original set list which I rescued from the stage although the memory is now hazy not surprisingly
Johnny Green used to write out the set list with Joe, according to Riot of my own. Love the incident he tells when he put City of the dead as the first song without them knowing. A riot ensued
Extensive archive of articles, magazines and other from the On Parole Tour, June - July 1978
Photos
There are several sights that provide setlists but most mirror www.blackmarketclash.co.uk. They are worth checking.
from Setlist FM (cannot be relied on)
from Songkick (cannot be relied on)
... both have lists of people who say they went
& from the newer Concert Database and also Concert Archives
Also useful: Ultimate Music database, All Music, Clash books at DISCOGS
Articles, check 'Rocks Back Pages'
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OUT ON PAROLE TOUR JULY '78 ARTICLES, POSTERS, CLIPPINGS ... A collection of Numerous articles, interviews, reviews, posters, tour dates from The Clash on Parole Tour, June & July 1978
VIDEO AND AUDIO Video and audio footage from the tour including radio interviews.
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Jul 24, 1978: THE CLASH - Music Machine London 48 IMAGES
Aug 05, 1977: THE CLASH - Mont-de-Marsan Punk Rock Festival France 33 IMAGES
1977: THE CLASH - London 18 IMAGES
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Clash on Parole Tour
Supported by The Specials & Suicide
updated Dec 2014 - added ticket
updated Oct 2020 - added photo
updated July 2021 added poster
updated 26 January 2022, added very large flyer front and reverse
Updated September 20222 - new layout, addded new article NY Times
updated Dec 2023 added Hebso magazine review (french)
updated March 2024 added NYT article
Audio
very poor - Sound 1.5 - 61min - copied too often! - 18 tracks
Tommy Gun
Sadly the only recording circulating of this gig is fairly awful
It has very little clarity or range with Joe’s between song comments (and there are many) almost indecipherable. Its not near the master, distant and with all the instrumentation largely lost in a confused muddle of mid range sound. Any upgrades nearer the master very welcome.
History of Aylesbury Friars
See also this history of www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk
and this gig
First night of the Out on Parole Tour
The name of the tour coming not from the pigeon shooting farce which the press assumed and vilified the band for, but from Mott The Hoople’s All The Way From Memphis “you look like a star, but you’re really out on parole “.
Although venues were much the same size and largely standing as the previous Get Out of Control Tour this was to be a more professional tour with a new top grade PA and performances much less manic than before but very powerful nevertheless.
Mick’s guitar playing now has a heavier rock sound, which may have been a result of Sandy Pearlman’s HM influence or the quality of the new PA.
Out on Parole Tour would include most of the Rope songs but would climax with a run through of first album favourites to please their audiences who wouldn’t be able to get familiar with the new material until its eventual release in November.
To fill the album gap Whiteman had been released as a single on the 16th June, (same day as the pigeon shooting Court hearing hence the press piss-taking of the tour title) and Joe introduces it here by announcing its current chart position; No.32.
Pauls tour backdrop
The gig also unveiled the new Tour backdrop designed by Paul a Notting Hill townscape with blow up of a WWII Messer Schmidt.
The Friars Aylesbury was a popular venue with audiences and bands alike until its closure in 1984. The gig was reviewed by Garry Bushell for Sounds, the neo-racist Sun gutter scribe.
Posters, flyers
Flexipop | Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/
Aylesbury was the place to be in June 1978. UFO were one of the more interesting hard rock bands even though it cost 19p less to see them than The Jam and The Clash
Punk Memorabilia For Sale Or Trade | Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/
The Clash Aylesbury June 1978 Mixed band original Fullscrap Flyer 33x21cm other bands featured are Magazine/Shirts & Zones For Sale or Swap if Swap looking For Posters By Sham 69 Ruts or The Skids
Telegram informing the Clash where they cannot play
Steve James - You can read more about the gig here on the Friars website.. including that handout. https://www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk/clash78.html
See also: Friars Aylesbury | Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/
Adverts
Tickets
Aylesbury Friars
Friars in Aylesbury was a legendary venue, particularly in the punk and new wave scene of the late 70s and early 80s.It opened in 1969 but closed down twice, once in 1970 for a period of nine months and again in 1984 for a period of twenty-five years, reopening from 2009 to 2010.
The Clash - Live at Friars, Aylesbury (28.06.1978) - YouTube
Friars Aylesbury ran as a music club in the Buckinghamshire market town of Aylesbury between 1969 and 1984. The history of the venue can be separated into three distinct phases denoted by the venue in which the club was run. The first venue was New Friarage Hall, used from 2nd June 1969 to 6th August 1970, the second being Borough Assembly Hall, used from 17th April 1971 to 30th August 1975, and the final venue to be used (and the one in this recording) Vale/Maxwell Hall, used from 13th September 1975 to 22nd December 1984 and revived from 1st June 2009 to 4th June 2010.Â
Across its life, there were various trials and tribulations which saw Friars close to bankruptcy numerous times, but it survived and along the way gained an excellent reputation, and presented the best artists of its day. The venue is known as being heavily responsible for the subsequent success of such artists as David Bowie, Mott the Hoople, Stiff Little Fingers, and many more.
The Clash were big fans of Friars, and they played there four times. The final time they played was in 1982 at Stoke Mandeville Stadium sports hall, which was only ever used for that one gig.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Friars, an anniversary gig was held in June 2009, almost exactly 40 years to the day since the first gig and nearly 25 years after the last. This featured bands from the early era, and the event was considered by as a big success. Another was subsequently held in October 2009 with Friars legends Stiff Little Fingers, Penetration and The Disco Students. Stiff Little Fingers recorded their appearance at Friars in July 1980 (as well as their gig at the Rainbow in London the same month) for their legendary live album Hanx!, considered a punk classic.
www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk
See also this history of www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk
Friars first opened in 1969, at the New Friarage Hall on Walton Street. Since then it's had three other homes — at the Borough Assembly Hall, at the Civic Centre, and most recently at the Waterside Theatre — but the venue's importance remains the same.
"Friars stepped up a gear in September 1975 with the opening of the Civic Centre and the 1250 capacity Vale Hall (renamed to Maxwell Hall in 1977). Opportunities that would never have happened did - the return of Bowie, Genesis, Ian Hunter, Steve Harley, legendary Blondie, Clash, Ramones gigs and so many more. The decision was taken to close the Civic and replace it with the hugely controversial Waterside Theatre across the way. The building was demolished in 2011."
https://www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk/venuesremembered.html
Farewell to the Civic Centre 1975-2010
Aylesbury Friars Civic Centre photos here
Aylesbury Friars Civic Centre
Photos of the Clash at Aylesbury Friars 78-82
FRIDAY DECEMBER 22ND 1978
THE CLASH
THE SLITS
Source: Tim Watts
SATURDAY JANUARY 5TH 1980
THE CLASH
IAN DURY AND THE BLOCKHEADS
THE VICE CREEMS
Source: Don Stone
SATURDAY JANUARY 5TH 1980
THE CLASH
Source: Sarah Woods
MONDAY JULY 12TH 1982
THE CLASH AT STOKE MANDEVILLE
Source: Don Stone
MONDAY JULY 12TH 1982
THE CLASH AT STOKE MANDEVILLE
Source: Bucks Herald Archive
MONDAY JULY 12TH 1982
JOE STRUMMER AT STOKE MANDEVILLE HOSPITAL
Source: Bucks Herald Archive
MONDAY JULY 12TH 1982
THE CLASH AT STOKE MANDEVILLE
Source: Steve Hoad
Original Aylesbury gig flyers from 1978/1980/1982
Rare playing of All the Young Punks
It has a rare playing of All the Young Punks (like the demo version circulating) and provides the live debuts for Safe European Home, Cheapskates, Drug Stabbing Time & Stay Free. It also features the first very brief outing for Blitzkreig Bop segued onto the end of Police and Thieves. There is only one edit a short one during Stay Free.
Punk Band at Friars
THE CLASH ON PAROLE | Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/
Friars Aylesbury original set list
Friars Aylesbury | Facebook
and
The Clash Official | Facebook
The Clash at Friars Aylesbury original set list which I rescued from the stage although the memory is now hazy not surprisingly.
It was a great gig and well done for liberating it.
78 07 19 HEBDO magazine (french)
Pop Music | Clash proves punk still lives
The Morning Call Sun (Aylesbury) - 9 July 1978
John Rockweel - New York Times
/The-Morning-Call-Sun-Jul-9-1978-550.jpg)
Sounds - Clash/The Specials - Aylesbury
8th JULY 1978
Link or Link or text version
The Clash supported by The Specials gig at Aylesbury Friars reviewed by Garry Bushell in Sounds 8th, July 1978.
FOR PEOPLE who like to put things in neat little pecking orders - and because of our conditioning there’s a lot of them - the Clash are the Big Boys now, THE punk establishment.
Well, the Damned have split; the Stranglers aren’t cool, are they?; and with Johnny in cold storage the Ex Pistols are nothing more than Uncle Malcie’s marionettes, mainlining on the puerile publicity of negative outrage Jolly shocking, what?
Original link with comments: The Clash Official | Facebook
The Clash, Aylesbury gig 1978.
The Clash supported by The Specials gig at Aylesbury Friars reviewed by Garry Bushell in Sounds 8th, July 1978
The Clash | Facebook - Alternative PDF
The Clash Official | Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/
Iain Lawrence - Crass wrote an amusing song about Bushell
Dave Tyler - Surprisingly readable review for Garry Bushell! I was there, fantastic gig, they were at the height of their powers then as a live band I reckon. Also pretty cool to be present at the beginning of the Specials' rise to glory as well!
Traxmarx - includes Ayslebury Gig
Punk bands at Friars
Date / source unknown
New York Times : The Punk Scene May Be Waning, But The Clash Carry On
By John Rockwell
July 9, 1978
NYT, Section D, Page 7,
AYLESBURY, England
The punk obituary notices may have been premature. Ever since Johnny Rotten quit the Sex Pistols at the beginning of the year and reverted to his given name of Lydon, and ever since it became clear that no real punk band was about to make a commercial breakthrough in the United States, commentators have sounded the death knell for the whole movement.
But if you believe punk is passé, you should have been in Aylesbury a few days ‐ago, when the Clash began an English tour. Aylesbury is a moderateSized, semi‐rural, semi‐industrial town some 50 miles northwest of London. The space in which bands play is called Friars and is in a shinymodern civic centre in a room that looks like a cross between a theatre stripped of its orchestra seats and a school gymnasium apart for the fact that most people stood ‘downstairs (there were some seats in the small balcony), the concert didn’t seem like any other, at least at first. The opening act, the Automatics, were attended to with a polite indifference that seems the lot of most opening acts, anywhere.
Closer inspection revealed some anomalies, however, especially in matters- of dress. Safety‐pins driven through the cheeks and earlobes were in blessedly short supply. But the other accoutrements of the punk world were common enough — cropped, spiky, dyed hair, torn clothes, dog collars around the neck and such like. Some of these 'folk were London punk loyalists who had journeyed out to Aylesbury to see their favorite band. But most of then’ were locals, suggesting the spreading of punk throughout the land.
Innocence incarnate, this observer steadied himself in about the fifth row of closely packed bodies, right in front of the center of the stage. The instant theClash began to play, the whole clot of bodies began to pogo as one — a convulsive mass hopping. Since several hundred people can't hop together, however, there was soon a series of violent eddies cutting through the crowd. Whole masses of people would lurch againSt one another; individuals would jump off‐center and crash down half on top of their neighbors; others would fall to the ground and claw their way upright again.
If this sounds dangerous and brutal, it wasn't, really. Even the fights — and there were some — were more friendly rough‐housing than grudge matches, with smiles and laughter abounding. The only really unpleasant aspect was the spitting. Punks crowds have taken as as a matter of ritual to spraying the performers with beer or actually lobbing wads of spit about the hall. Some bands reportedly resent this lot, but although Joe Strummer and the others in the Clash went to the effort of dodging the grossest items hurled their way, they seemed sanguine about accepting sweat and spit as part& the intensely physical relief that a punk concert turns out.
After a bit of being knocked this way and that, this writer decided to extricate himself from the up‐front violence.‘This was easy enough to do, simply by working oneself back to the periphery of the pogoing, where the rest of the’ audience was standing more calmly, listening to the music. It was all rather like going on one of those rides,,at an amusement park in which one drives a rubber‐bumpered electric car,:the express purpose of which is to ram as many other cars as rudely as one The Clash itself is probably the leading punk band in Britain at the moment, although less well known in the United’ States than the Sex Pistols were. Actually, the Clash is known at least by name to readers of the American rock press, since a number of well known writers have proclaimed them about the greatest rock band of the day. But the group's first album, called “The Clash,” is available only as an import on CBS International. Somewhat crudely produced, its release in the United States has long been delayed (although why crude production should be considered inappropriate for a crude band seems paradoxical). Now, there is talk that the first album will be out soon in the United States (on Columbia's Epic label), with a few promotional concert appearances by the band at that time. And the Clash is close to completing its second album, produced with greater finesse by an American producer, Sandy Pearlman, and that should be released in America, as well.
The Clash is interesting on several counts. One is the way in which it testifies to the clubbish nature of British punk. The band is not only friendly with the Pistols and other British punk bands, but has played together informally with them the Pistols’ guitarist, Steve Jones, has reportedly rehearsed recently with the Clash, for instance, and the Clash's original second guitarist — when the group had five members — is now part of Mr. Lydon's new band).
More pointedly still, the Clash's manager, Bernard Rhodes, is a former associate of Malcolm McLaren, who founded the Pistols. Both Mr. McLaren and Mr. Rhodes steered their charges in a strongly political direction. With Mr. McLaren and the Pistols, it was a wild sort of anarchism. Mr. Rhodes and the Clash are slightly more specific in addessing themselves to the frustrations of their peer‐group — workingclass British youth — and slightly more overt about suggesting that a violent, political response is in order.
Actually, what the real nature of the Clash's politics is remains slightly mysterious. Mr. Rhodes can spin a fluent if somewhat disjointed rap about the band as a sort of Hegelian‐Marxian agent of the class energies of its audience, and about how the band can “focalize” those energies in its songs. But the band itself, only half‐joking, calls Mr. Rhodes “our enemy in the worst sense. Earlier on, he helped us as lot,” admitted Mr. Strummer, who is rhythm guitarist (always feverishly double‐time in his right‐hand strumming, hence the name), lead singer and co‐songwriter, along with Mick Jones, the lead guitarist and other lead singer. “But now I wouldn't say there is any connection at all.” Which is clearly exaggerated, since Mr. Rhodes was still very much in evidence arranging the concert at Aylesbury and at a dress rehearsal /punk party in London the night before. But it points up the inherent instability of all these genuinely punk bands.
Mr. Strummer disclaims any specific political intention. “We just wrote our kind of songs,” he says. “People heard ‘em and said, ‘You're a political group.’ I can remember the first time I heard that, I was genuinely surprised.”
Unfortunately, the two sets this writer heard — at the party the night before the tour began and at the actual first concert in Aylesbury — were not overwhelming. Interesting, even exciting at the actual tour concert, but not “the greatest.” The band's songs combine the raw energy of punk with a certain cleverness of arrangement and execution; Mr. Jones is a first‐rate guitarist, and the feverish strumming of Mr. Strummer heats things up considerably. But nobody seems the compelling onstage personality that Mr. Rotten/ Lydon was/is, and certainly neither Mr. Strummer nor Mr. Jones is a formidable lead singer. One could see how the band might be able to muster a white‐heat intensity, but that intensity was only intermittent at these shows.
One might be tempted to accept Mr. Strummer's curiously contradictory self‐analysis — “We're not a big deal ; we're just four guys who've got a great group” — except for the opinions of others one respects. One close member Of the punk community, a man who said the Clash a year ago gave the greatest rock performances he'd ever seen, was himself disappointed.
Perhaps the group was just rusty after several months largely spent inactive or in the studio. Perhaps the heavy reliance on new, less familiar material muted the response and the band's own energy; perhaps the new material itself doesn't stand up to the older songs. But perhaps Mr. Pearlman has inhibited their intensity in trying to polish their style. Or perhaps it is the very nature of the punk movement to remain underground, and the volatility of the best bands, their internal instability and the sharply focused yet extremely limited nature of their art, makes long‐term career growth a contradiction.
In any event, it seems clear now that the punk phenomenon, while still fairly strong as a fashion trend, has begun to recede into the everyday fabric of British teen‐age life. But it doesn't have far to recede, since punk is obviously just the latest manifestation of British youth fashions in music and clothes of the sort that have been erupting steadily since the early 1960's. In Aylesbury one could see not only punks but skinheads and hippies and even the odd Mod. And the Clash paid its own debts to the past in the form of an homage to Mott the Hoople, a band of just a few years ago with similar, if pre‐punk, sensibilities. “Punk,” as the hot sensation of 1977, may be on the wane. But punks themselves, in the broader sense of the term, as rude, rambunctious, lower-middle-class British (and American) young people, are just as ever- present as they've been for the past 15 years, and will clearly keep on producing both bizarre sub‐cultural rituals and attire and strong, Violent music.
The Clash themselves see the punk scene as dying, but the best bands capable of carrying on the fight. “We were part of a scene,” said Mr. Strummer, “but the scene is gone. It's changing. It was such an‐intense thing, it couldn't hold. A lot of people without any real ideas tried to jump on the bandwagon.”
“The important thing,” Mr. Jones said, “is that the people who had the ideas originally are still going strong. I think we're going to win this match.”
“Yeah,” added Mr. Strummer with a grin. “This is half time.”
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Great night
Sean Regan - I loved it there, great sound and considering it was so wide it never seemed to lack atmosphere.
Paul Hutton - Great night
Tim Blake - Was at Friars, Aylesbury.
Gill Peacegood - I was there. First time I saw them
Dave Wiseman - Was there - brilliant as ever!
Tim Watts - Me and missus at the Aylesbury opener. Support wasn't Suicide as on poster but The Automatics ( The Specials), great gig. Right up front with missus, great stuff.
Music press review of Aylesbury gig on Friars site , reviewer reminds us ,best he'd ever seen them , opened with ' Complete control' and ' Tommy gun' encore ' Janie Jones', ' I'm so bored with U.S.A' and ' White riot'.
Andy Bean, who used to know, put on one of the leaflet flyers pleading for no violence as The Clash banned from nearby halls in Hemel Hemostead, St Albans and Dunstable, last one a serious riot, Colleen the missus and mates at that one. Amongst mayhem/ stage invasions she did have a dabble on the drums when band legged it though!
Terry Hall announcing that from tonight they will be now known as The Specials
David Hardaker - Supported by the Coventry Automatics. I remember halfway through the set Terry Hall announcing that from tonight they will be now known as The Specials. Class night.
Al Castle - that was my first friars gig, midweek I think, the clash were supported by the specials (I’m sure it was their first ever gig with this name). Great night
Mike Plowman - It was. I was there too. They'd just changed their name from The Coventry Automatics. Both bands were great that night.
Paul Hutton - Great gig, in my top 5 ever
original set list (see above) which I rescued from the stage
Chris Verrall - The Clash at Friars Aylesbury original set list (see above) which I rescued from the stage although the memory is now hazy not surprisingly. Think this is from June 28th 1978
James Sheardown - Johnny Green used to write out the set list with Joe, according to Riot of my own. Love the incident he tells when he put City of the dead as the first song without them knowing. A riot ensued The Clash Official | Facebook - https://facebook.com/
What a great gig that was
Ian Evans - What a great gig that was
Della Fenton - Great gig
Al Castle - that was my first friars gig, midweek I think, the clash were supported by the specials (I’m sure it was their first ever gig with this name). Great night
Mike Plowman - It was. I was there too. They'd just changed their name from The Coventry Automatics. Both bands were great that night.
Glenkarl Daviz - I saw the Clash twice at Friars Fantastic both gigs
Great night
Paul Hutton - Great night
Steve Bonzi Vizard - Saw the clash a few times. Always a great gig.
Tim Watts - Think it was that tour, we'd seen earlier Clash gig at same venue with Coventry Automatics as support, Colleen saw even earlier one that ended in a riot at Dunstable. We must've been bloody close as no telephoto lens !! Decentish camera she borrowed from school for an ' art project' ,she neglected to tell teacher it was going into the pogoing throng at a Clash/ Slits gig !
https://facebook.com/ - Colleen photo, The Clash, no telephoto lens,we were right upfront, it was very lively !! Aylesbury Friars 1978.
Steve Brockway - I was there. Great gig
Nick Sendall - Great gig!
Gill Peacegood - I was there. First time I saw them https://www.facebook.com/
Awesome Gig
Barry Turner - Awesome Gig
Rupert Williams - I was at that Friars gig, still got a t shirt from the on patrol tour very moth eaten
James Sheardown - Johnny Green used to write out the set list with Joe, according to Riot of my own. Love the incident he tells when he put City of the dead as the first song without them knowing. A riot ensued
Gary Connolly - I was there to see that set list performed!!.
Gary Cooper - I'm pretty sure I was there as well that night. I remember the specials. Were they not aka that night?
Sandra Kenealy - I was at the Clash gig. Even though it’s called the waterside theatre now when the fella introduced the bands he said “ give a big friars welcome “
That was a great gig
Gill Peacegood - I was there. First time I saw them
Pete Levick - Yes. I was there.
Raemchai Rixon - Remember the gig well.
Steve Bonzi Vizard - That was a great gig.
Bernie Thomas - was there top night
(Specials) They pulled up in their white van and asked me for directions to Friars
Ian West - I remember it well too. I spoke to them earlier that evening when they stopped me as I walked home from work down the Bicester Road opposite Keith's Garage. They pulled up in their white van and asked me for directions to Friars. I duly obliged and then asked them who they were and they just said they were the support band and I said I'll look out for them later. I recall being very impressed by their music which seemed to be a mixture of reggae with punk attitude and enthusiasm.
Friars, The Last Outpost after bans
David Stopps - Not sure where my head was at in those days. The Last Outpost was there as punk had been banned in other local venues like Wycombe Town Hall and St Albans City Hall. We were the last venue standing. Punk goodtimers? Well I guess we were, Evening dress optiomnal? It looks like a Melody Maker ad even if it was sold out. Keep em coming Steve.
Richard Jan Cabut - I was at this gig. Relatively sparse crowd. Devoto had a banter with a couple of skins at the front. The Shirts weren't great.
Joe Strummer introducing (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais ‘at number 34 in the charts’
Martin James - Brilliant gig
Richard Houghton - I was there. I remember Joe Strummer introducing (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais ‘at number 34 in the charts’.
Michael Winter - what great night it was
Symond Lawes - What a gig, wish we could roll back time
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The Clash/The Specials, Aylesbury Friars, 28 June 1978
Ian Nixon | Facebook - https://facebook.com/
Every Gig I ever went to -
Gig 063 The Clash / The Specials
December 14, 2021
Everyone raved about The Clash. The press adulation was off the scale, they had amphetamine intensity and political militancy, no question they were the big punk act once the Sex Pistols had imploded; personally I just didn’t think they were all that. Their one album at this time had its moments, notably those where they sounded a bit like Dr Feelgood e.g. Janie Jones, and their take on Junior Murvin’s Police and Thieves was charming if a little ham-fisted, but I found much of it rather plodding, back-of-a-fag-packet lyrical agitprop welded to predictable chords. Perhaps they weren’t taking enough speed. That said, the subsequent single Complete Control (produced by Lee Perry, not that you’d know) was a cracking record, as was Clash City Rockers, and White Man in Hammersmith Palais, released a couple of weeks before this gig, was something else again. Lyrically it was streets ahead of their contemporaries, a rumination on betrayal going from disappointment that an audience of black music fans didn’t conform to white liberal expectations, to the futility of ‘punk’ posturing, to the rise of the far-right in the UK; musically it referenced reggae without lapsing into crass pastiche. It’s still kind of stunning now.
This was another gig I couldn’t wait to see, not least because scheduled support act on this tour were Suicide a duo from New York who channelled Eddie Cochrane and various horror scenarios through alternately beautiful and nightmarish electronica and were completely out there. So far out there, in fact, that the punk crowd couldn’t handle the absence of conventional musical instruments and shouty ramalama, and canned them offstage at every gig, so they quit the tour (though I saw Martin Rev and Alan Vega hanging around outside the venue). Their replacement was the Automatics, or possibly the Coventry Automatics, who apparently just hours before the gig had to change their name because there was another group called the Automatics who had enjoyed a modest hit with a cracking tune called When the Tanks Roll Over Poland Again. So, we learned from scrawled amendments to the posters, tonight’s opening act were The Specials. They were a good fit with The Clash, playing reggae, rock steady, ska, bluebeat, all with a full-on punk attitude, and they could really play. At this point they weren’t wearing the rude-boy gear and looked if anything a little nondescript, and I think Neville Staple may not have been there to provide a bouncy foil to Terry Hall’s deadpan presence. These days commentators often mention the significance of The Specials’ multi-ethnic line-up as if that was unique for a UK group, though that really didn’t seem much of a big deal; Ian Dury and the Blockheads could claim the same, as could Hot Chocolate, punk-ish group Bethnal and numerous other acts including several on the Oxford scene. Maybe the difference was that with The Specials it was consistent with their militant anti-racist convictions, but that wasn’t so evident at the time of this gig.
With the audience hopped up and ready to go, rapturous doesn’t quite do justice to the moment when The Clash hit the stage. When the lights go up over the staccato guitar and bass drum intro to Complete Control you’re looking at a vast backdrop of WWII fighter planes and vaguely constructivist graphics (why?), Mick Jones at the lip of the stage staring down the crowd as he scrubs out the riff, Paul Simonon hasn’t even started playing and already looks like the coolest guy in the world, Joe Strummer barking out the accusatory opening lines, left leg pumping like a piston. When the whole group kicked in the crowd went appropriately mental and I thought the whole venue was about to levitate, this was rock dynamics of a kind I hadn’t seen since The Who in 1975 only more edgy, more confrontational, more in-your-face. For all their professed iconoclasm The Clash loved being rock stars and looked the part, all skinny pouting and scissor kicks, and they were just really good at it. Second track Tommy Gun is all machine-gun snare and righteous anti-military snarl. How can they keep this up? They can’t. Third track is a new one called Cheapskates and it all starts to sag a little; when you start a gig with that kind of intensity, unfortunately there’s nowhere else to go. It’s still pretty good and all that, but once the momentum has gone, it’s gone. Another new one called All The Young Punks has a great title but goes nowhere in particular, and while Stay Free is a great tune it’s a touch too reflective to go over well with most of this crowd. The bass goes out of tune and these being pre-digital days Mick has to tune it for Paul, who for a moment no longer looks like the coolest man alive. White Man is terrific though, and they just about ride out the gig with a few barnstormers towards the end.
Tbh I never became a big fan of The Clash, I found their rock star poses and self-mythologising wearisome, and they were prone to musical stodginess. All the same they had their moments and I’m glad I saw some of them. No doubt they improved as a live act, I never saw them again. Gripes aside, this was still a great night.
The Clash, Aylesbury gig 1978.
Photo Mark Jordan - The Clash - | Facebook
Tim Watts and his wife Coleen saw The Clash live five times, including the Friars and Dunstable gigs in 1978
PHOTOS: The Clash at Friars 1978
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The Clash at Aylesbury Friars 1978, we took photos at this gig but not this one, note the Friars bouncer
Steve Bonzi Vizard - Thats dave the doorman ( bouncer) great guy. He liked the punk bands. I've not seen him in years. He ran the dark lantern after retiring from security.
Photo taken by Mark Jordan at Aylesbury Friars, 1978
Friars Aylesbury - Facebook
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Some amazing Friars Aylesbury pictures have recently come to light thanks to photographer Mark Jordan. This is Mick Jones and Joe Strummer of The Clash at Friars Aylesbury on 28 June 1978 and is one of many amazing photographs that will be featured in the Friars Exhibition at the Buckinghamshire County Museum in Church Street, Aylesbury from 1st March to 5th July.
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/yHjdKiR21Q5WZJRj/?
The Clash, Aylesbury gig 1978 Mark Jordan
Gary Durn - i was there!
photo-credit-mark-jordan / Welcome to the Friars Aylesbury websit
Mick, multi-tasking here, as he not only tunes Paul's bass up, but he even finds time to give the opportunistic photographer the 'evil eye'.
THE CLASH ON PAROLE | Facebook
Numerous photos, big Up to the photographers, Mark Jordan, Terry Lott.
Thus "The Specials" were born at Friars.
Friars Aylesbury | Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/
June 28th 1978 saw the first visit of The Clash to Friars on the first night of their Out On Parole UK tour. The support band had been billed as "The Automatics" AKA The Coventry Automatics. I guess the name was a play on the fact that Coventry was the nearest we had to a Motor town UK. At some point during the day they decided on another name change to The Specials.. perhaps knowing that they were destined to be known far outside of their home city.Â
Thus "The Specials" were born at Friars. Note in the photo below the name 'Coventry' appears on the speaker stack.. presumably along with 'Automatics'
The photo is part of the Mark Jordan collection which you can find here.. https://www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk/galleriesphasemarkjorda...
Full details of the gig can be found on the Friars website here.. https://www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk/clash78.html
I remember it well too. I spoke to them earlier that evening when they stopped me as I walked home from work down the Bicester Road opposite Keith's Garage. They pulled up in their white van and asked me for directions to Friars. I duly obliged and then asked them who they were and they just said they were the support band and I said I'll look out for them later. I recall being very impressed by their music which seemed to be a mixture of reggae with punk attitude and enthusiasm.
Extensive archive of articles, magazines and other from the On Parole Tour, June - July 1978
Archive - Snippets - UK Articles - Video-audio - Social-media - Photos
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