Pearl Harbour Tour - Larry McIntyre Fund Benefit
Supported by Bo Diddley & Alex Bevan

updated 8 March 2007
updated 7 July 2008 - added 10 track soundboard
updated 25 December - possible video source?
updated Dec 2014 better audio review
Updated June 2022 -added Pulse magazine link
updated xmas 2023 added (TNEW45) ARTICLE CLEVELAND

Various sources

We have have been bombarded over teh years with various Agora recordings. All you need is source 9 which has he best 20 track FM and includes the best 4 KBFH recordings on the end.

The King Biscuit Flower Hour FM is the best (4 tracks) and matched by Wolfgangs Vault 10 track version, 4 of which were the KBFH broadcast. On better versions Joe announces Safe European Home before the radio annoucer speaks. Most copies miss the first few seconds.

The full 20 track FM version is slightly infereior but by a risla paper's width better than the bootleg LP Police and Fireman. Unlike KBH and Wolfgangs Vault, on the full 20 track FM version "s***" on Stay Free is not edited out.

Wolfang's Vault soundboard provides the best 10 tracks and the full FM version providing in good quality the remaining 10

Here's the list!

Audio 1

King Biscuit Flower Hour FM
Tracks 4 - 16mins - sound 3.0 - unknown source

Audio 2

King Biscuit Flower Hour FM
Tracks 4 - 16mins - sound 3.5 - unknown source

Audio 3

King Biscuit Flower Hour FM
Tracks 4 - 16mins - sound 3.5 - unknown source
Joe announces Safe European Home before the radio annoucer speaks. Most copies miss first few seconds

Safe European Home (audio 3)

Audio 4 - Police and Fireman LP (Scratched/Heavy)

Sound 3.5 - 49min - LP - 15 tracks [1-15]

Audio 5 - Police and Fireman LP

Sound 4 - 49min - lp/master - 15 tracks [1-15]
Includes Janie Jones (trk 16) from lesser source

Audio 6 - Police and Fireman LP

Sound 4 - 49min - lp/master - 15 tracks [1-15]
Includes Janie Jones (trk 16) from lesser source

Audio 7 - Full FM source & KBFH

1hr 5mins (FM) + 15mins (KBFH - Sound 4.5 - 20 tracks + 4 tracks

Safe European Home (audio 7)

Audio 8 - Full FM

Sound 4.5 - 1hr 1min - 20 tracks
Alternatively spliced FM version

Audio 9 - Wolfgangs Official soundboard

35mins - sound 4.0 - master - Tracks 10 -
from www.concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/
Much of a muchness like KBFH, slightly better than FM version

Safe European Home (audio 9)

Audio - Pulse Magazines live tracks/article

PDF version here

Full breakdown

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	I'm so bored with the USA Drug Stabbing Time Jail Guitar Doors Tommy Gun City of the Dead Hate and War White Man Safe European Home Stay Free English Civil War Guns on The Roof Police and Thieves Capital Radio Janie Jones Garageland Julies Been Working/ds Londons Burning White Riot Complete Control Whats My Name Full 20 track = above K = KBFH W = Wolfgang'sV soundboard L = Police and Fireman LP FM	K K K K	L L L L L L L L L L L L L L L	W W W W W W W W W W	FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM FM

possible video?

See below...

Visit the Clash on Stage website for a comprehensive catalogue of unofficially released CD's and Vinyl.

Agora 1979 footage

I just got an email from a guy and this is what he said

"Would you know if any video footage is circulating of the clash at the Cleveland Agora from 1979? I remember that WUAB local news tv station filmed all or at least some of the set as part of a story on the guy that the bennefit concert was for.  I didnt have a VCR back then to record it and the tv station no longer exists that aired the report,all of their stock news umatic video footage was taken to the dump years ago.

So maybe someone has it but with it being a news report it would be a slim chance someone taped and kept it.

An email arrived at BMC asking;"Would you know if any video footage is circulating of the clash at the Cleveland Agora from 1979? I remember that WUAB local news tv station filmed all or at least some of the set as part of a story on the guy that the bennefit concert was for.  I didnt have a VCR back then to record it and the tv station no longer exists that aired the report,all of their stock news umatic video footage was taken to the dump years ago.

Sound Quality: Classic clash gig

From Here To Eternity’ has great sound quality and professional performances but fails to capture the excitement, the mania, the atmosphere, the “controlled explosion on stage” that The Clash, like no other band before or since, could conjure.

There are 3 known variants of this gig circulating with varying lengths and sound quality, all seemingly from the same source.

Recorded professionally for local FM radio, the sound mix is particularly good in capturing the Clash sound, with Mick’s lead in one stereo channel and Joe’s rhythm in the other. Bass, drums are also all excellent, the only fault with the mix being the vocals which are not as “in your face” as they could be.

Police and Firemen LP

The gig was released as the Police (and Firemen) On My Back bootleg LP on Klashin Records in Canada in 81.

A lot of poor copies from circulate. Old tapes lifted from the vinyl

The LP has no edits between songs (see below) and therefore captures the atmosphere best, and includes all Joe’s between song comments and attempts to stop the crushing at the front.

It excludes though the 5 songs in the 2 encores [tracks 16-20]. Sound is excellent stereo but the LP suffers from surface noise from scratches. The LP was subsequently re-released with different artwork.

FM versions

An FM version also exist. With the exception of I’m So Bored which lacks the same quality at the start as the rest with great professional clarity and range. The twin guitar attack of The Clash is captured superbly.

King Biscuit Flower Hour Broadcast

Four tracks were also broadcast in very good stereo FM quality on the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio programme; Safe European Home, Stay Free, Police and Thieves & Julies been working for the Drug Squad. Oddly the mix on these tracks is different losing the 2 guitar split into the channels but has clearer vocals!

Pearl Harbour Tour

The Clash thrilled to be in the US for their first tour were in terrific form. Joe was suffering from chronic toothache for this benefit gig but jokes and berates the journalists. He would write a diary for the UK NME,

‘This guy called Larry McIntyre lost both his legs in Vietnam and when he went for a swim one day in the pool near his flat all the other residents banned him from the pool on the grounds that it was too disgusting…so we agree to play a show for him, helping his legal costs but we don’t get to meet him, I think because having forgot his name, I referred to him over the P.A. as “the guy with no legs”. Joe surely used him later though as the inspiration for the Car Jamming lyrics, “..boots blown off in a 60’s war..”.

Caroline Coon remembers this as a particularly intense show. Kids were fainting in the crush at the front. Most bands didn’t provoke that kind of intense response so the local security didn’t know what to do.

In an article that first appeared in the Melody Maker (24/2/79) and was reprinted in Uncut November 97 Allan Jones wrote of meeting up with The Clash in freezing cold Cleveland and witnessed this gig and the next one in Washington. Never a Clash fan Jones wrote the band were great but shambolic at times, trying to cope with an audience, going wild and gobbing. White Man was interrupted as bodies were dragged over the footlights and passed backstage. The crush at the front was now murderous and Mick’s face was white with anxiety.

Pass

Advert

Including the radio station

Ticket

an essential recording

This recordings [in various forms] captures the sweaty, manic atmosphere of The Clash magnificently and therefore is an essential recording. A very, very popular gig amongst collectors...

All the song performances are superb with an extended Police & Thieves being the highlight (of a gig full of highlights), with Joe making fun of US consumerism, salads, tv channels and at one point shouting “I don’t want 56 pairs of trousers, 3 cadillacs!..”.

The 20 tracks

FL = FULL

1. I’m So Bored With The USA (15 seconds of start of song edited from FL)
2. Drug Stabbing Time
3. Jail Guitar Doors (30 seconds of intro cut on FL “Thank you to whoever sent information backstage, stuck in envelopes, and I mean paper”
4. Tommy Gun
5. City of the Dead (100 seconds cut on intro on FL “I’m glad to see you’re so free with your money, for this guys got no legs, I assume you know what I’m talking about. And those of you at the back with the American/English dictionary, forget it man, they don’t give a fuck for the words.
This is a Japanese number, released by Hank Williams in 1965.. [which Strummer was to repeat at several other venues as well]”)
6. Hate and War
7. White Man in Hammersmith Palais (40 seconds cut on intro on FL, Joe tries to stop the crushing)
8. Safe European Home
9. Stay Free (40 seconds cut on intro on FL, Mick intro)
10. English Civil War (30 seconds intro cut on FL)
11. Guns On The Roof (30 seconds intro cut on FL)
12. Police and Thieves (45 seconds cut on FL . “We have to talk to a lot of journalists and they always ask, excuse me sir, but does your music have a message? If you say yeah, you let yourself in for, oh yeah well what is the message, so for all you trainee journalists in the audience this is the message…can we have the lights down please …Oooh! ,Oooh!, Oooh!, Oooh, Oooh, Oooh!)
13. Capital Radio
14. Janie Jones
15. Garageland
16. Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad
17. London’s Burning
18. White Riot
19. Complete Control
20. What’s My Name

Tracks 16 -20 are on the FL version only.

The crowd was so wild

Ova Dey: When the Clash started their set with "I'm so bored with U-S-A! , well, the place erupted. WMMS was'nt playing The Clash or much of any other punk, but strangely, they sponsored this show. They knew it was "new", this punk rock, but they never really figured out how to "sell" it. This show remains in my top 3 of all time. The crowd was so wild, I was actually scared at a concert for the first time ever in my life. WMMS taped the concert as they usually did at the Agora, but they refused to play it on the air, as they normally did. I called WMMS honk, "Matt the Cat" that week and he said, "we did'nt tape it". He lied. I knew then that WMMS was stuck in the past, they did everything right from 1968 to 1978 basically, but again, the punks just mystified them. They were afraid of losing their built in album oriented rock audience. A lot of WMMS's fans would call in and rip them for playing punk, unfortunately, a gutless John Gorman gave in. WMMS, which had opened many new doors for Roxy Music, T-Rex, David Bowie, Bruce, Artful Dodger, Todd Rundgren, Mott The Hoople, The New York Dolls, and many, many others, was slayed by punk rock and new wave.They became a Dinosaur themselves. The Clash knew it, and by selecting "I'm So Bored with the U-S-A!" as their opening number on their first American tour, they were like Paul Revere. The Punks are coming! The Punks are here!

more comments on this thread here..

Did you go? What do you remember?

Info, articles, reviews, comments or photos welcome.
Please email blackmarketclash

(TNEW45) ARTICLE CLEVELAND, FEBRUARY 1979

Link

February 1979

Pulse Magazines live tracks/article

article

PDF version here

The Agora Show is a benefit

Cleveland Scene around 6 Feb

see notes from Ray Sfferra / Ohio

Proud Punks rock the Agora preview

Cleveland Plain Dealer

8 February

Clash take complete control in Cleveland

Daily

14 Feb

Live in Concert - The Clash

Cleveland Scene Dealer

22 Feb

Chris Knowles: The Essential Clash Bootleg Bible

includes this gig

A Riot of Our Own pg143

Photos

Setlist

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	I'm so bored with the USA Drug Stabbing Time Jail Guitar Doors Tommy Gun City of the Dead Hate and War White Man Safe European Home Stay Free English Civil War Guns on The Roof Police and Thieves Capital Radio Janie Jones Garageland Julies Been Working/ds Londons Burning White Riot Complete Control Whats My Name