Sort it Out Tour

updated 18 May 2010 - added punters comments
updated 22 January 2022 - added half ticket

Audio 1

from master - sound 3.5 - 20 tracks - stereo?

I Fought the Law

Previous recording

Until recently the best recording in circulation was a slightly distant but quite good audience tape for its time. With little or no distortion and quite a reasonable range of sound, It’s enjoyable listen but fairly flat and dull. The set is complete with no song edits.

New master

However, the master recording recently received is a major upgrade, with greater clarity, range and detail as would be expected from the master source. It does still suffer though from distance from the stage and a buried ill defined bass. However what was certainly unexpected is that from Guns On The Roof onwards the sound is in ‘stereo’.

The reason for this ‘stereo’ second half is unclear. It certainly does not appear to be from the soundboard as the vocals do not have the “in your face” quality as would be expected, and the problems of distance and poor bass definition remain from the mono first half. The sound generally though is a notch higher, the guitar sound particularly good.

The ‘stereo’ separation is on the guitars but most noticeably on drums. The latter giving it a very unusual sound indeed! Whether from an actual source or it has been ‘doctored’ from the mono source is unclear but the ‘stereo’ sound does certainly add to the enjoyment of what is now a very enjoyable bootleg and one of the best recordings from the Sort It Out Tour.

First Sort it Out recording

The first recording in circulation of the UK leg of the Sort It Out Tour which began on November 9th. Give ‘Em Enough Rope was released on November 10th and the set list contains all the album’s songs except Last Gang In Town and All The Young Punks. Safe European Home is now the explosive set opener with the first album songs saved for the sets’ conclusion and encore.

This gig includes a rare outing for 1-2 Crush On You, complete now with Joe singing the harder ending added to the recorded version of the song, released as the B-Side of Tommy Gun on November 24th.

Record Mirror 18 Nov 78

Northern Echo Clash cast off the Pistols tag

16 November 1978

Tickets

Link

“Before we do that, this is one of the first songs we wrote”

It’s a very fine performance throughout with a number of highlights. City of the Dead is back in the set, “you’re the saxophones” is Joe’s intro and the song gets a different mid section and extended ending from its Out of Control Tour treatment. Julie’s Working for the Drug Squad makes its first recorded live appearance (“I think they call this R’n’B”) and Cheapskates makes a welcome reappearance.

White Man “in Middlesbrough Town Hall” is excellent . Police and Thieves is now without the Blitzkrieg Bop ending but it’s power and drama is increased by Joe calling for loud whistling from the audience before the start (later to be replaced by calls of ooh! ooh! and cutting the stage lighting) and Joe extends the song with ad-libbed lyrics at its conclusion. Tommy Gun (“Our next miss!”) is also very strong.

Capital Radio is as almost always, brilliant; Mick plays the gentle intro, then hangs feedback in the air before the aural explosion of the song itself shreds the Middlesbrough cognoscenti. Joe ad-libbs over the drum roll ending including “Ain’t gonna write no letters to you, ain’t gonna do what I’m supposed to do”.

The most notable rarity is the rare outing for 1-2 Crush On You as the first song of the encore. The lively and noisy audience shout for White Riot with Joe responding, “Before we do that, this is one of the first songs we wrote”.

It gets a heavy rock treatment with Mick’s solo veering close to HM, as it would do at times on this tour. Next Topper’s bass drum beats out and Complete Control crashes in.

It’s now played again as the recorded version without the drama-building intro played on the Out on Parole Tour (which would be returned to in 1981, hear the FHTE Bonds version). Then the high energy levels peak as White Riot brings a very enjoyable gig to an end.

Sounds review

The gig was reviewed by Phil Sutcliffe who was one of the older guard of music journalists, not a fan of The Clash but his review is good stating accurately that things really picked up from English Civil War onwards, with Police & Thieves and Capital Radio the highlights. He made the accurate point that the band’s electrifying presence in its first year could not be sustained but now the intention was “More Content. More Music. A communication less wild but hopefully deeper”.

Pro-photographer Rik Walton was there to document the event

Sounds Review

25 November 1978
Live Review by Phil Sutcliffe
text version ... original1
original2 - original3

The Clash's gig at Middlesbrough reviewed in Sounds by Phil Sutcliffe 25th, November 1978.
Total word count of piece: 506

@TheClash

PERSPECTIVE.
THE Clash are heroes (but not mine).
They are the market leaders (see album chart). They are sorely harassed people (whose dealings with big business have been as unhappy as their political stance must have led them to expect). Unlike most bands they mean a lot more than any review of a gig is about to relate —for instance the fact that they pull out date at a students-only college venue is more important than if they did it and played the most-storming set of their lives. So in a certain sense this proficient night of Clash-rocking in Middlesbrough felt a bit anti-climactic.

(and still) best ever gig

Stephen Walton - Middlesbrough Town Hall! My (and still) best ever gig.

a load of skinheads turned up to pick a fight with punks leaving the gig

"Middlesbrough Town Hall (below) is still a popular venue for gigs in the North East and there were unlikely to have been problems with security in such a municipally owned venue. A well organised professional gig in keeping with much of this tour."

On the night in question a load of skinheads turned up to pick a fight with punks leaving the gig. The security staff tried to keep everyone in at the end, but there was a crush with us inside not knowing what was going on and people started to push. The result was that one of the huge doors had its hinges damaged and we spilled out into the street, with running battles along a couple of the main roads around the town hall. A well known local hamburger seller had his stand pushed over and I got a black eye and needed four stiches in a lip after being cornered (running home) by a big group of skinheads (it might have been only one and his mum, but I've told the story so many times now).

Despite all the hassle afterwards, still counts as the best gig I ever went to.

Cheers Paul

One of our greatest nights out was the Clash at Middlesbrough Town Hall

neil wheatley <n1wheatley[at]hotmail.com>

Hello, I nine months ago I was reunited with a girlfriend after 25 years. As we went over old tales of past glory, I showed here all my ticket stubs from the concerts we went to and she showed me a diary she kept at the time.

One of our greatest nights out was the Clash at Middlesbrough Town Hall Nov 78 of which I still had the ticket stub. I recently did a search for the gig and your website came up, which led me to a photographer who took pictures at the gig and I have contacted him to get copies.

The best gig I’ve ever been to

amol13 - @xamol - Saw The Clash on this tour in Middlesbrough. Slits were gobbed off stage.

Stephen Walton - 1st time I saw The Clash still the best gig I’ve ever been to!

Gordon Kay - I was at that gig. A rare outing for 1-2 Crush On You

Seismic event, 11 on the Richter Scale.

Michael Deakin - Whiteman in Middlesbrough TownHall

Stephen K. Weatherall - I was there! Seismic event, 11 on the Richter Scale.

Stephen Walton - Middlesbrough Town Hall! My (and still) best ever gig. 

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Setlist

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Safe European Home I Fought the Law Jail Guitar Doors Drug Stabbing Time City of the Dead Clash City Rockers Julies in Drug Squad Cheapskates English Civil War White Man Stay Free Guns on the Roof Police and Thieves Tommy Gun Capital Radio Janie Jones Garageland 1-2 Got a Crush on You Complete Control White Riot