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Secret warmup date for US Tour

The top-secret concert in a former porno movie house was designed to give the press and a few die-hard followers a sneak preview of the new Clash album, London Calling, and to serve as a warmup for the upcoming American tour.

The British are coming
Review of Clash secret date

The Tampa Tribune Sun May 11 1980

Editor's note: Regarded as one of the finest of the new bands coming from England, The Clash demonstrated an even newer sound in a historic concert at the Notting Hill section of London. The writer, a student at the University of South Florida, attended the concert and has written his impressions of the event.

The Clash combines fury and skill

By STEVEN RUPERT

No longer archaic amateurs who funnelled a stance into a sound, members of The Clash are now musicians.

In a great critical backlash. the same papers that paraded The Clash to the top of English pop and exalted them as the only band that matters now seem shocked at the creative changes in the band.

But The Clash's radical departure froth primitive power chords to horns and keyboards does not signal an end to their conviction. It is, rather, a natural musical progression.

The Clash has souled out. Long live The Clash.

The top-secret concert in a former porno movie house was designed to give the press and a few die-hard followers a sneak preview of the new Clash album, London Calling, and to serve as a warmup for the upcoming American tour. The 300 fans inside were matched outside, as word of the show got out. About 50 persons waited outside during the entire concert, and were rewarded with Clash T-shirts, compliments of the band.

The concert audience was part journalists, part punk and mostly surprised.

Da boyz spontaneously leapt onto the stage from a balcony and went immediately into "Safe European Home," a safe-enough opener. But it was rearranged, with a longer reggae break in the middle. The punk constituency blossomed into a finely integrated pogo-ing mass that sent a rush of hot air across this excited crowed.

Singer Joe Strummer was typically uncomposed as he called out the lyrics. He leaned out over the pogoing punks and, as the song abruptly ended, was left dangling like a man over a cliff.

"Enough of that s---," he cried, and the enthusiasm of the crowd turned silent as keyboardist Micky Gallagher and three horn players appeared on the stage. Silence turned to whispered curiosity and mumbled amazement; The Clash with horns? Give us the Stones with a "mellowtron" or bluegrass with drums. But don't give us The Clash with horns!

Even the punks sat down. The atmosphere was not unlike Dylan's electric set at Newport in 1965. What are they trying to do, the crowd asked. Several punks spit on the brassmen a normal punk occurrence for even favored bands before a single note was played.

The band's first song with the new sidemen was an old ska tune, "Wrong 'Em Boyo." The horn embellishments accentuated the song's false intro, then fit nicely into the reggae backbeat of this didactic little ditty. The horns did not stand out or get in the way. They seemed naturally married to the con-text of 1980s reggae.

The next two songs were pure rockers, sans horns: "Janey Jones" amd "Career Opportunities," splendid old-time Clash shockers, heavy on the lyrics and intensity.

Mick Jones carries the song with some or his best fretwork, slicing a power chord at precise instants. Paul Simonon's bass is no longer a mere backdrop. His confidence has allowed him to contort a simple bass run into a menacing power riff that builds the music to an awesome proportion.

After so much fury, the music then slows down to "Jimmy Jazz," with Strummer trading his guitar for dark sunglasses. The Clash doing a slow song? Sorry folks, but it WORKS. Strummer's grainy moaning helps pull it off, but the horn section really gave this song the atmopshere it was meant to bring. In fact, the break in this song was pure horns.

After a few reggae treats titled "Rudie Won't Fail," "Hateful" and "The Guns of Brixton," the pace quickened to the bludgeoning blitzkrieg bop that made The Clash back-alley heroes.

"Working for the Clampdown" is a fine piece of political rock, as is "Spanish Bombs."

Again it slowed down to showcase Jones' soft-toned vocals on "Lost in the Supermarket," a fine suburban squatting song.

The horns were around for most of the set, doing an admirable job despite being constantly assaulted by flying projectiles launched by the disillusioned punk populace. The horns actually made a smaller dent on the music than they did on the audience. Even "Judas" was screamed out once or twice.

The horns left to a sarcastic wave of applause and The Clash sent everybody home with "Armageddom Time" "London's Burning" and "London Calling." And Strummer returns to his finest emotional pleading:

"The ice age is coming, the sun is zooming in/Engines stop running, the wheat is growing thin/A nuclear error, but I have no fear/London is drowning and I live by the river."

The encore had most everyone on their feet, although a few remained sit-ting in protest of the horns. It must have been the most unemotive, unresponsive and unenergetic crowd that has ever attended a Clash show. Only the die-hard punks pogoed throughout.

The music press pundits of the crowd seemed unamused by The Clash's blatant disregard for the punk ethos the group had helped to create. The crowd feared something had gone awry. Had The Clash's cultural reactions to high-rise living and dole-queue rock given way to a sound that's clean, professional and musically geared for the American audience they once seemed so bored with? Have The Clash taken themselves seriously?

Like any other young band that makes a niche with its first album, The Clash have to do its growing up in public.

Like McCartney said of The Beatles, The Clash must make its mistakes in public. The addition of the horns was not a mistake. Only a step into the future that improvements in musical techniques surely bring.

The fans hated Dylan when he turned electric. The mods disassociated themselves from The Who when Townshend embraced psychedelia. But neither was a sellout to trendiness. Both were necessary exercises in exploring new frontiers.

The Clash may alienate some bond-age-pants punks, but those who care about musical quality will recognize The Clash's experimentation and realize it is impossible to remain talented amateurs forever. This venture into other musical fields makes the overall sound more listenable which, ultimately, will broaden their audience.

The Clash took a chance by creating something new. It is still a band that cares, that sings about social oppression and difficulties. It has just found a wider musical format in which to pre-sent it.

It is refreshing to see a band that looks into the 1980s instead of sitting on the redundant tired poses of yesterday.

The British are coming
Review of Clash secret date (above)

The Tampa Tribune Sun May 11 1980

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Known setlist

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14	Safe European Home Wrong Em Boyo Janie Jones Career Opportunities Jimmy Jazz Rudi Can't Fail Hateful Guns Of Brixton Working for the Clampdown Spanish Bombs Lost in the Supermarket Armagideon Time Londons Burning London Calling