Sort it Out Tour
Johnny Green (A Riot of Our Own p106) states this was the opening of the tour. Date from NME gig review.
updated August 2022 added radio interview
updated Spetember 2022 - added new articles
updated Dec 2023 added photos
updated June 2024 added story and photo
No known audio or video
If you know of any recording, please email blackmarketclash
Mater Hospital Radio, Belfast
Interview with Joe, October 1978
Spit Records: The Clash in Belfast
Why not visit Spit Records at https://www.spitrecords.co.uk
The background to this interview recording, conducted back stage after The Clash gig in Belfast 1978 is ;
John Gracey was the founder of Mater Hospital Radio. Eugene his young brother Alan became volunteers for Hospital Radio.The pair quickly spotted an opportunity to see and meet many of the bands that they liked, so they quickly donned pale-blue Mater Hospital logo sweatshirts, complete with ID pass and approached local concert promoters with a view to interviewing some of the touring bands who braved the troubles to play here.
What you are listening to is the result of one such interview. Our young rookie journalist asks some very pertinent questions, as I hope you agree.
Sadly Alan passed away 3 years ago at age 54. John Gracey passed away in October 2020 following Covid related illness, His family went public and were on TV.
This interview is being made public by way of tribute to John, without whom these interviews would never have taken place.
A big thanks to Eugene his brother for preserving the tapes and for the wider family for giving Spit Records exclusive access.
"Seasons come and go and the music is constantly changing, but when punk rock ruled over Ulster nobody ever had more excitement and fun. Between the bombings and shootings, the religious hatred and the settling of old scores, punk gave everybody a chance to LIVE for one glorious burning moment"- Joe Strummer - Nov 2002 - Quote © It Makes You Want To Spit! Book 2003.
A Riot of Our Own p106
Johnny Green (A Riot of Our Own p106) states this was the opening of the tour. Date from NME gig review.
Punk Blues for the Clash
Belfast Telegraph Council pulls the plug on punks
Saturday 14th October 1978
Undetones concert pulled, febrile atmosphere arond pubk concerts. Clash mentioned.
"The Clash had just been to Belfast, and Joe Strummer was wearing a ‘smash the H-Blocks’ t-shirt.."
Joe Strummer | Facebook - "The Clash had just been to Belfast, and Joe Strummer was wearing a ‘smash the H-Blocks’ t-shirt... and he started receiving death threats. He was getting letters from the loyalist organisations saying, ‘you set foot in the north of Ireland, you’re going to get shot’."
A great interview with The Undertones' John O'Neill. "We were always trying to be as good as Television or the New York Dolls." Article online The Undertones | Punktuation! - or archive PDF
Advert
Belfast Telegraph - Friday 6th October 1978
/Belfast-Telegraph---Friday-06-October-1978.jpg)
Tickets, adverts
Johnny Green (A Riot of Our Own p106) states this was the opening of the tour.
Belfast Ulster Hall, Queens University SU
From Them To Us - Radio Ulster punk documentary 26/12/78
The Clash from 5mins
NME review The Clash / Belfast
Gavin Martin RIP
The Clash: Queens University, Belfast
Live Review by Gavin Martin, NME, 21 October 1978
Total word count of piece: 495
Actual scan (original) wanted
THE CLASH - BELFAST - – 21 October 1978
THE LAST time The Clash tried to play The Ulster Hall a combination of big business insurance moguls and local bureaucratic bullshit caused the gig to be cancelled at the 11th hour. And the punters' vigorous protest resulted in brutal law enforcement which left the crowd and the band sad, confused and helpless.
The bitter taste of that night was mostly eradicated by a hastily arranged Christmas gig at the city's university where despite turning in a below par performance, The Clash were the most potent rock `n roll fireball ever to blaze across a Belfast stage.
But tonight we get a TOTAL victory. After the tired sicko-subterranean toilette punque fetishes of the admittedly well-received Outcasts, the band launch into a set that harnesses their essential roots energy the fireball still burns - with an uplifting musical call to arms.
The full potential of " Rockers' , "Control' ` et al is realised with a greater emphasis on melody courtesy of Jonesy's fluid lead guitar breaks, some coolly paced drum figures from Headon, and the development of the band's corporate ability to seduce your emotional and physical core into a sensurround pot pourri.
Visually it's Jones who's the most immediately striking as the rock `n' roll outlaw in cowboy leathers and newly shorn locks that shake off the "Poodle' tag. The rest of the band come over with forceful cohesion while extending warmth and good feeling that no other band attains.
"Tommy Gun"is the obvious choice for the new single with its sharp shooting, rifle repeating rhythms - Jones and Simonon stand astride the drum platform while Nicky batters out the military riff from the rear, and upfront Strummer rages.
As it's hard to discern the titles, the new songs (possibly "lf You've Got The Fire", "Press Gang"and "On The Roof") are just sounds to these ears. But those sounds sure are hot.
Perhaps the most memorable was a sublime " I Fought The Law"with the call and response vocals of Jones and Strummer working to awesome effect.
The chestnuts from the early days have the dam busting attack of a controlled musical armageddon. You can listen to them play "Garage Land" without cringing because their performance still encompasses the brazen spirit of a "garage band". "Capital Radio's" culminating instrumental cavalcade is matched by the blue in the face fury and disgust of the now guitarless Strummer - it's little short of amazing.
The set is jam packed with golden moments bristling with imaginative ideas, best exemplified by the superbly sly and skilful merging of "Police And Thieves" into "Blitzkreig Bop" where they merge the guitar lick and pacing of the former with the rhythm of the latter to produce some idea of where the Bowery Boys might be if they ever discovered maturity.
Further high points were the ineffable "White Man" a spontaneous ` `Complete Control" and the dynamic catapulting of "White Riot'; an encore fit to send you home reeling with the ecstatic realisation that you've just seen the best band in the world.
Gavin Martin
Clash in Belfast
No pretentious pictures this time, but one great gig / Link
Larne Times - ULSTER HALL Belfast
The Clash are the Greatest!
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What’s on By DAVID JOHNSTON
The Clash are the Greatest!
I have seen the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world — and they are called The Clash.
Maybe you were one of the 1.500 or so who saw them too at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, last Wednesday night. 11 you didn’t you missed The Rock ‘n° roll event of the year, perhaps the best rock gig in Belfast since the last Zeppelin visit bhack in 1971.
I arrived at the hall some time after eight, just in time to catch the Outcasts, a local four piece group who play tough and look tougher still.
The lead singer. wearing a heavy army uniform DMs, and cropped hair. looked for all the world like he had just come off duty after a long stint up the Falls Road.
Ferri Hooly of Good Vibrations Rccords introduced them as “Belfast’s only punk band.” and they may be. Their loyal fans. and they are very loyal in Belfast. call them the Belfast-Clash.
I'he difference is they are two years behind. Ulster 78 may be similar in many ways to London '76. but the top London bands like The Clash and The Jam, havc moved on a long way since then inboth in music and attitude.
As if to cmphasis the vawning gap between London and the Provinces The Clash came on and howed how much they have progressed in the last 12 months since their last gig here.
Dropped is most of the first album. save White Riot. Police and Thieves, and Garageband. In, are the recent singles, Complete Control. Clash City Rockers. and White Man in Hamersmith Palais, together with their respective B’ sides.
The rest ils made up of new material from the cagerly awaited second Clash LP, and a couple of covers. Blitzgreig Bop and When Johnny Comes Marching Home.
The group seem to have more confidence in themsehes now and perhaps just a little arrogance. Alter all they are only survivors of the initial punk boom now the Pistols and Dammned have split.They kicked off with Complete Control. my favourite Clash single. and then went into a newic. The new songs didn’t grab me first time but doubtless they are growers, I hope.
Highlights were the two reggae numbers, White Man and Police and Thicves. White Man never worked as a single. but live its chorus hits you like a fist in the face.
It is good to see Mick Jones taking more of the lead vocals — probably to give Strummer’s vocal chords a well earned rest. And as usual Paul Simmeon strutted around ape-like while Nicky Headon kept beat almost unnoticed at the back.
White Riot was, of course. the encore. I hate it. So there it was. The first Clash gig in their '78 Furopean tour was over. I'll remember it and I'm sure so will The Clash. No-one stopped dancing for 75 minutes. It was exhausting!
Remembering the time The Clash turned up in Northern Ireland for a gig, but instead ended up causing a riot
https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-clash-in-belfast-riots
Features - Classic Rock
(Image credit: Michael Putland/Getty Images)
The Clash embarked on their Out Of Control tour in the UK in autumn 1977 determined to demonstrate that the punk movement was still going strong and that the band’s spirit hadn’t been diluted by signing to major label CBS. “The situation is far too serious for enjoyment,” Joe Strummer told punk zine Sniffin’ Glue.
Archive PDF and text
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Gary Jamo - I was at this gig in Belfast's Ulster Hall, 1978. The Clash were Brilliant.
Blackmarketclash | Leave a comment
When my boot hit punk legend Joe Strummer in the face
by jim mccool |
OUTLAW BLUES | Medium
78 10 11 Belfast 1978
When we fought the law for The Clash:
Recalling Belfast's 1977 punk riot (2023)
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/
As an academic conference opening today debates what really happened during the band's infamous visit to Belfast in 1977, Henry McDonald recalls the riot that took place – and the myths that followed.
Someone somewhere in Siberia, on the other side of the Urals mountain range, probably still has my Clash T-shirt secreted in their home. In an act of Irish-Soviet friendship I swopped it for a Red Army tunic with a Siberian in the dormitory of a third-level college in Weimar, East Germany, in the summer of 1981.
Read the full article online
Archived PDF or text
‘ON RESISTANCE STREET’
CLASH FANS DOCUMENTARY MOVES TO BELFAST
'On Resistance Street': Clash fans documentary moves to Belfast
‘ON RESISTANCE STREET’
CLASH FANS DOCUMENTARY MOVES TO BELFAST
The 90 minute full length feature documentary ”On Resistance Street” shifts its focus to Belfast this weekend, with a 3 day shooting schedule taking place on the 17th-20th December.
The film is a powerful, evocative story of our times and the contemporary culture wars. Using Boris Johnson’s shameless manipulation of The Clash (In a Conservative Party political broadcast) as a launchpad, the film shines a light upon on-following sinister related events involving multimillionaire Tory donors, lurking surreptitiously in social media Clash fans groups, containing over 10,000 people .
”I think we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I think we are on the verge of something both truly exciting and at the same time, terrifying. I think its going to change the way we view society completely, whether it be for better or worse.”
Photos:
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Joe Strummer @ the Ulster Hall - Belfast Pic by...
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Schoolkids after show Blackrock Park #dublin .. from the book Where The Streets Have 2 Names by Patrick Brocklebank .. Dublin, Ireland Berlin
Extensive archive of articles, magazines and other from the Sort it Out Tour October- December 1978
Archive - Bernie-Rhodes-Split - Tour-dates - Posters-Adverts - Passes-tickets - Snippets - UK-Articles - US-Articles - International-Articles - Comments - Video and Audio
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This is fake poster
If you know of any recording, email blackmarketclash
Setlist based on review only. Songs in black definitely known to be played, the grey ones the standard set lit for the tour.
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Complete Control |
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Extensive archive of articles, magazines and other from the Sort it Out Tour October- December 1978
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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SORT IT OUT TOUR Autumn 1978
ARTICLES, POSTERS, CLIPPINGS ... A collection of Numerous articles, interviews, reviews, posters, tour dates from The Sort it Out Tour Tour, October, November 1978
VIDEO AND AUDIO Video and audio footage from the tour including radio interviews.
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