Sounds Weekly UK Music paper 25 November 1978

The Clash

Middlesborough

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.

They began with 'Safe European Home' and with a sound almost perfectly clear (bass and drums for structure, vocals for lead line, rough edge of guitars mixed very low) they proceeded to drive hard through 'I Fought The Law', 'Jail Guitar Doors', 'Drug Stabbing Time' and 'CityOfTheDead'.

Momentum was high but the landscape rather featureless and I find myself seeking the something extra they had to have by watching Joe Strummer:

shoulders hunched like Rocky Marciano's as he clasped the mike in both hands, a remarkable man all right among the punk archetypes.

Oddly enough l would say this first third of the set was excellent but not satisfying. It was only with 'English Civil War' and 'White Man In Hammersmith Palais' that they began to get to grips with the songs and the crowd and make the evening something more than an event.

Jones did another of his enjoyable Cockney-charm vocals on 'Stay Free', the lightest piece they played, and the closing minutes were studded with their best numbers and most powerful communications. 'Police And Thieves' always was different, but now it's been given startling acres of space in which there is both a threatening tension and the freedom for Mick to play a solo combines his usual restraint with some impact (it's one thing not being self-indulgent and another being so minimal you say nothing). 'Capital Radio' blasted out that old-time punk energy in the set's most vigorous and fitting moments.

It was a good concert. Very. nice in fact and I'm not grinding about that. Middlesborough Town Hall is the best medium sized rock venue I've seen and everything was thoughtfully handled. There was no punk paranoia from the stewards and it was pleasant to see a good time being allowed to happen.

If this sounds tepid I can only suggest that perhaps there was no way the electrifying presence of The Clash in their first year could be sustained, simply because they are no longer a surprise. The band and the movement couldn't keep on running trailers for the revolution without ever being able to show the film.

But I'm sure their progress as charted by 'Give 'Em Enough Rope' and their present tour is based on some cool and constructed self-assessment. More content. More music. A communication less wild but hopefully deeper. They are shit kickers. And there are plenty of shits around to kick.

Power to them.

Phil Sutcliffe