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David Spanner

David Spanner used to manage a band called The Rabid, later The Subhumans. Dave was talking about the few days before the Clash 1st show of the 1979 tour. They were at the Commodore playing, getting ready for the tour, before the Vancouver show, and he drove with Joe Strummer to the Quadra Club, a local punk club at the time. The Rabid were playing.

The Clash rock the Commodore

Time the Clash Played Soccer With a Bunch of Vancouver Punks

Allan MacInnis,
Montecristo Magazine
Published date: unknown

Archive PDF

Vancouver punks remember that his most famous band, the Clash, kicked off their first North American tour not with a concert, but with a soccer game⁠—in Kitsilano, just before the band’s inaugural North American show at the Commodore on January 31, 1979. The Clash also checked out some local music at the Windmill and went to a house party at 509 East Cordova, a site so notorious the Modernettes wrote a song about it.

Bo Diddley talks about his experiences opening for the Clash

Bo Diddley talks about his experiences opening for the Clash on their 1979 US Tour. This interview took place in November 2002 at the Rock Nightclub in Maplewood, Minnesota.

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Local band called the Dishrags opened

Incredible Tomatoes: I was fortunate enough to see this show in Vancouver at the Commodore Ballroom about two weeks before. Bo Diddley and a local band called the Dishrags opened. Without question the best rock n' roll show I ever saw.

The Clash, Vancouver, 1978

The Clash played Vancouver for the first time in 1978 at the Commodore Ballroom. The place was packed with punks revved up at the prospect of slam-dancing on the spring-loaded dance floor. A local act, the Dishrags, got things going with a punishing, sneer-filled set, then Bo Diddley took the stage with his odd rectangular-shaped guitar and let rip with his epic riff “Hey, Bo Diddley.”

The punks were polite for a few songs, but clearly failed to grasp why Clash lead singer Joe Strummer would invite this old guy along for the tour. The beer and joints were starting to kick in, along with the catcalls, so Bo cut his set short. When the Clash took the stage, pandemonium hit.

The punks paid tribute to their heroes by slamming into each other, jumping onstage, throwing drinks and beer bottles at the band, and spitting at them. The Clash withstood the controlled riot for four songs, ducking and dodging the fusillade, then Strummer interrupted the music to mock them: “If anybody had any balls they’d be throwing wine bottles!”

At the end of the shortened set, Strummer, clearly peeved at the lack of respect shown one of the greats of rock and roll, pulled Bo Diddley out onstage for the encore to jam with them on “I Fought the Law.”

Excerpted from The Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information by David Wallechinsky, Amy Wallace, Ira Basen & Jane Farrow. Copyright © 2005 Ira Basen and Jane Farrow. Reprinted by permission of Knopf Canada.

The Clash make North American debut in Vancouver

Vancouver Courier

PDF archive

Clash: a New Rock Import

The Los Angeles Times

Fri 2 Feb 1979

How 3 teenage girls opened for The Clash 40 years ago The Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver

Link or Archived pdf

This Week in History 1979
The Clash rock the Commodore

Vancouver Sun

Link or Archived PDF

Time the Clash Played Soccer With a Bunch of Vancouver Punks

Allan MacInnis, Montecristo Magazine
Published date: unknown

Archived PDF

Vancouver punks remember that his most famous band, the Clash, kicked off their first North American tour not with a concert, but with a soccer game⁠—in Kitsilano, just before the band’s inaugural North American show at the Commodore on January 31, 1979. The Clash also checked out some local music at the Windmill and went to a house party at 509 East Cordova, a site so notorious the Modernettes wrote a song about it.

A Riot of Our Own pg127

Photos