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support acts ... to follow

September 2021 - added news clippings, personal comments and photo.
A big thanks to marcelstol at ziggo.nl

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The Stokvishal was a great place at this time

"I went a concert of The Clash at the Stokvishal in Arnhem (Holland) on friday, October 20 1978. I don't know for sure if my agenda is completely right, but it seems right. The Stokvishal was a great place at this time, it was an old factory hall based on the, during the Arnhem battle of 1945, completely distroyed area close to the Arhem bridge.

Other concerts I visited at that time at the Stokvishal: Iggy Pop, Cure, Only Ones, Undertones, Stiff Little Fingers, Specials, Madness, Theatre of Hate..."

Poster

Arnhem 1978: poster of The Clash's performance at the Stokvishal on October 20th with the Meteors pasted over. Photo: Gerth van Roden

Arnhem 1978 poster van het optreden van The Clash in de Stokvishal op 20 oktober met daar over heen the Meteors. Foto: Gerth van Roden

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The Stokvishal, Arnhem, Holland

The Stokvishal venue could accommodate 1,200-1,700 fans & was an important Dutch gig venue (1971-84). Until late 1980 the Stokvishal shared the same booking agent as the Paradiso Club in Amsterdam so visiting UK bands would frequently play both venues.

Although Stokvishal was known for its excellent acoustics, it was also pretty basic with no toilets/showers for the visiting artists (tailor-made for the Punk ethos) The Stokvishal at the Oeverstraat / Walstraat was used as a warehouse for the products and materials of the Arnhem firm Stokvis.

They used to produce baths and sinks and bicycles and mopeds. 

The had buildings across Arnhem including their main factory in the Vijfzinnenstraat which, much later on turned out to be adjacent to our second Goudvishal (1989 2007) in the Vijzinnenstraat 103, only to be separated by this tiny alleyway called de Wolvengang which is still there. The Stokvishal factory had long since been torn down due to the shelling and part destruction  of the building during the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. It was torn down in and around the 1960's.

The Clash Stokvishal got a mention in Johnny Greens book, especially the hippies there who break the neck of one of Mick Jones' guitars.

There's a mention of the ‘circular bar at the Hotel' there as well; pretty sure this is the Hotel Haarhuis bar in Arnhem.

No professional pictures were taken, the only pictures are mine that were taken with a camera of the day with throwaway lightbulbs you could use only one per picture and they were seated in this flimsy aluminum housing you could turn up from within the camera.

Of course the housing got really hot after using a couple of lightbulbs and it would instantly scorch your forehead with eacat which, much later on turned out to be adjacent to our second Goudvishal (1989 2007) in the Vijzinnenstraat 103, only to be separated by this tiny alleyway called de Wolvengang which is still there. The Stokvishal factory had long since been torn down due to the shelling and part destruction of the building during the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. It was torn down in and around the 1960's.

Especially the hippies there who break the neck of one of Mick Jones' guitars

The Clash Stokvishal got a mention in Johnny Greens book, especially the hippies there who break the neck of one of Mick Jones' guitars.

There's a mention of the circular bar at the Hotel there as well; pretty sure this is the Hotel Haarhuis bar in Arnhem. No professional pictures were taken, the only pictures are mine that were taken with a camera of the day with throwaway lightbulbs you could use only one per picture and they were seated in this flimsy aluminum housing you could turn up from within the camera. Of course the housing got really hot after using a couple of lightbulbs and it would instantly scorch your forehead with each subsequent foto looking through the lens, hahaha marked for life.

They were very late and therefore played very shorter set

The Clash mocht natuurlijk niet ontbreken bij de serie punk/ new wave concerten in de Stokvishal

Coen van Hall - They were very late and therefore played very short. After 12 hours they were no longer insured. But most of them were happy that they played for a while. Weren't there this late, looked gloomy late at night. Stokvishal | Facebook

We nearly tore the place down in anticipation.

STOKVISHAL October 20 1978  ;
I saw the Clash playing the Stokvishal in Arnhem  as part of the continental leg of their ‘Sort it Out' tour, Arnhem being the nearest city from my small-town Doesburg and was totally blown away.  Support act were The Lous from France; lous(y) they were and they were booed off. Hearing them now they seem pretty ok.

The Clash made us wait for what in fact were hours (!) but felt like an eternity; Rumor at the  time had it the axis of their snapped somewhere on their way (back ) to the venue. Much later I read they regularly did this on purpose to increase the pressure of the mounting anticipation which certainly worked: we nearly tore the place down in anticipation.

This gig is still at number one in my all-time list. Later that same month they release their second album Give em enough Rope I remember it well. One of my first experiences too with experiencing an event first hand and seeing it totally misrepresented in the papers / media later on: the gig / The Clash got slagged off by the local paper in the following Monday review completely for being a kind of second rate hard rock band.

Behind the two articles, photos below

Marcel Stol - https://www.facebook.com/

The Clash at the Stokvishal Arnhem 1978 was my first gig ever and made a lasting impression, age 14.

BMC would like to thank Marcel for finding all thismaterial

English

Friday 20 October 1978 my first concert: The Clash in the Stokvishal Arnhem. All this time there was a newspaper article of this performance (the Monday on it in local De Nieuwe Krant) with a very bad review and some (bad) photos I took. From the gigs before it (Leuven (ý˞ and Paradiso) there are professional photos. Just by chance a photo in the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden discovered by the archive research for the GVSH book

Traced the photographer who has the back pictures of these through Michael in Groningen, he is looking for them now.

Dutch

Vrijdag 20 oktober 1978 mijn eerste concert: The Clash in de Stokvishal Arnhem. Al die tijd was er van dit optreden een krantenartikel (de maandag erop in lokale De Nieuwe Krant) met een hele slechte recensie en wat (slechte) fotos die ik maakte. Van de optredens ervoor (Leuven (en Paradiso) zijn er professionele fotos. Nu bij toeval een foto in het Nieuwsblad van het Noorden ontdekt door het arhief onderzoek voor het GVSH boek

Via Michael in Groningen de fotograaf opgespoord die de achterliggende fotos hiervan heeft, hij zoekt deze nu op.

Book / Marcel Stol: Goudvishal -
DIY or Die! Punk in Arnhem, '77 to '90

https://fable.co/book/

By Marcel Stol & Henk Wentink

A beautiful DIY or die book all about punk in Arnhem (Netherlands) between '77 and '90 and the punk squat venues Stokvishal and Goudvishal that became the focus of the scene there.

With over 500 pages of beautiful photos and stories that show the power of punk as a counter culture, this is a true document of an era featuring everyone from the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Ramones, …  and many more.

All the gigs, protests and battles, re-written in English with the news-clippings and photos from the time to tell the story of these important venues and the punk scene around them.

About the author, Marcel Stol 

Buy the book: https://www.earthislandbooks.com/

During the years 1984-1990 Marcel was co-founder, first chairman, general manager, gig promoter, poster designer and printer for the punk squat venue De GOUDVISHAL (1984-2007) in Arnhem, The Netherlands. 

A punk since he saw The Clash playing at Stokvishal in Arnhem on 20th October 1978, his first ever live punk gig. 

Photos discovered

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The Clash: niet veel soeps

Newspaper article of this performance (Monday, the local De Nieuwe Krant)

The Clash: niet veel soeps  / The Clash: not much good 

ARNHEM - The fact that our country has hardly any punks became clear again on Friday evening during the performance in the Arnhem Stokvishal of the English Clash, a punk band from the very beginning. While the group The Loo from Venlo, who played all punk, was jeered by the audience in the support program, The Clash was cheered. The Clash, who brought nothing more than a combination of bad hard rock, rock and roll and punk into the room, were treated like true gods. Hers can't do it. Between the performance

The members of The Loo and The Clash had to endure the scandalous waiting time of an hour and fifteen minutes. The punks just took it as if nothing had happened. People were left with the accusation that The Clash's car had fallen through the front axle instead of putting everything together properly. 

What we saw were punks with fat bellies, bored teenagers with leather pants and jekkies, who if necessary had to throw whole hordes of plastic cups at the support act. The phenomenon of 'punk' generates itself. The show-stopping creepiness with which a group like The Clash works (nice clothes, crazy equipment, lighting installation) is clear proof of this!

The horrible distorted hard rock mix with which the sound was thrown into the hall detracted from the original punk sound. Only 'White riot' and 'Lon-den's burning' emerged as somewhat recognisable. Most of the 300 kids nevertheless had a great time and saw no objections to that.

translation required

Newspaper

The English punk band The Clash visited the Netherlands last weekend. The group gave two performances: in the Arnhem Stokvishal and in the Amsterdam Paradiso.

Fans came from far and wide to the performance in Arnhem. Even a large delegation from Groningen was present. In the photo: guitarist-singer Joe Strummer.

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Photos The Stokvishal, Arnhem, Holland

Open photos in full in new window

Arnhem Photos

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What the GVSH book research doesn't provide.... my first concert ever: The Clash in the Stokvishal on October 20, 1978.

During the research work for the Goudfishal book, an article in the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden newspaper discovered a concert photo of Joe Strummer (published).

[BMC: which mateches these photos and Meshersmitt backdrop was from The Out on Parole tour].

Then via Michael Bacteria in Groningen (TX Michael! ) the conscious photographer Marius Dussel was found. Now 43 years later (semi) professional photos of The only band that mattered.