The Clash Live - St Paul MN - Civic Centre - Wednesday 12th September 1979

Paul Morley reviewed the gig as a "split around the edges, breaking amps, angry at everything & nothing show" The Minneapolis Star described it as "hardly transcendental". Joe was reported to have bit Paul in frustration!

The recording reveals though a band working hard to get the same type of reaction they were used to in Britain or at the smaller halls on the Pearl Harbour tour. As a result Joe tries too hard, his frustration affecting his performance with the result that a number of the performances are workmanlike rather than inspired. However from Clash City Rockers onwards things click and the performances are highly charged and impressive.

Joe first addresses the audience before London Calling somewhat ambivalently " I'd just like to say that we're very surprised that you want to come and see us, seeing as so many in the mid-West.. I don't mean to come here and knock you all but when I get to the hotel, turn on the radio, get bored, twiddle away and all I hear is the Eagles or Steely Dan, so I turn into Country & Western.." London Calling here is more together than at Monterey, retaining the "time to be tough, the midnight shutdown" lines over the recorded versions "phoney beatlemania" lines.

The Prisoner follows, a definite highlight and rare outing for this song. Tension between Joe and Mick is evident; Joe "Alright smart arse", Mick "Shorty, lighten up!" White Man hits a groove at the end but before the first live Koka Kola. Joe barks in frustration "Its no good, its just a pile of shit" Koka Kola is brilliantly segued into I Fought The Law (as it would continue to do) with Topper's drum rolls coming in just after Joe shouts "Hit the deck". Joe then appeals to the audience "now listen you guys it ain't getting any better, lets have a bit of encouragement, you gotta say fuck off you limeys, give it some stick you cunts!"

The audience response improves to Jail Guitar Doors. Joe introduces the first live Clampdown; "maybe getting a little better now, now here's the acid test, taking off his turban they said is this man a jew". This inspired lyric about racial intolerance goes over the head of at least one in the audience, a woman shouts "Fuck you" clearly misunderstanding Joe's words as anti-Semitic! Clampdown, a future highlight of Clash performances is still in transition here, with Joe singing all the lyrics and the song petering out after getting into a great groove. The song was so new a live ending had not yet been worked out!

As noted things really pick up from Clash City Rockers onwards. Armagideon Time the first song of the encore was the highlight of these shows; the lights were dimmed, drum and bass starts up and then Joe appears to great effect from behind the drum riser lit only by the candelabra held in his hand, "We have this here to remind us..a lot of people won't get any justice tonight". Armagideon Time is now much extended from its Monterey performance and is developing into another Clash live classic. A short gap and the pace dramatically changes as Career Opportunities blasts out. Jimmy Jazz gets its live debut sounding impressive an almost fully realised. Following White Riot, Mick says "great start", Joe's given his Casey Jones hat (another in a long line of dodgy Strummer head gear!) and the audience sound fairly appreciative. A good performance, quality sound and fascinating show.

Peter Silverton, Sounds, 29 September 1979

TUESDAY LUNCHTIME: Cleveland Airport. With a couple of hours to kill before my one-stop-only flight to Minneapolis and the first date on the Clash's second American tour (bewilderingly named ‘The clash Take The Fifth'), I dragged out the Corona Calypso, balanced it sloppily on a tubular chrome ashtray (everything's bigger and shinier at Cleveland Airport) and started attacking the keys. Unfortunately, this attracted the attention of a perambulating mahogany tree.

The tour proper started in Minneapolis. I pointed at a woman in the hotel lobby. ‘Elizabeth Taylor!’ Mick said, ‘It’s my mum,’ as the elegant and voluptuous woman walked over. Mick told her where the gig was to be. She said, ‘Wow! I saw Elvis play there.’ Lowry was impressed, muttering, ‘You’re right, she’s left, I’m gone.’

Mick said, ‘I’ve got you a room, Mum.’ He had wanted the best, and had I sorted it out for him, on the second floor, with a connecting door to his room. Mick took me to one side. ‘What? I didn’t mean that close.’ So I took Mick’s room next to his mum, and he had a room two floors up. His mum and her husband were good company.

St Paul Civic Auditorium, Minneapolis, was a huge concrete barn, with an artificial floor which allowed it to be used as an ice rink. The stage moved on wheels towards the back of the hall, depending on how many seats had been sold. I said to the stage manager, ‘That’s a lot of empty seats.’ He said, ‘Not as many as for Abba.’ ‘I bet that was a great night.’ He just looked blank. Abba were touring America at the same time but our paths never crossed, to my disappointment.

New heads and fresh hearts waited for us. The Undertones joined us for the first chunk of the tour. We liked their music and loved their attitude. One day we walked past a journalist interviewing Feargal Sharkey, and overheard, ‘I’m not English and I’m proud of it.’ Joe zoomed straight in on that and talked to him about Irish republicanism and terrorism. He was always keen to find out the details from the man on the street on the spot.

The American sound crew awaited us, looking like they were ready to go to bed. Their gear looked as though it had come from a flea market. They were a bunch of burnt-out hippies. As I put my fags on the monitor desk on the first night I was astonished to see the soundman with hair to his waist, reading a book. He was wearing headphones – not plugged into the music but unplugged to block out the noise. We crossed from the dressing room to the stage, which seemed like a five-minute jog, and Joe said, grinning, ‘Are you sure Hank done it this way?’

The set was OK, but the best sound was probably way up in the roof. ‘Good night’ echoed round the stadium. As the Clash bounced off-stage, Strummer grabbed me.

The candelabra. Quick. Now.’ I knew what he meant. In the dressing room he had spotted a huge candelabra. Liberace must have left it behind, with all twenty candles intact. I sprinted across, grabbed it and ran back to where the band were slugging a quick drink behind the stage. Joe said, ‘Zippo,’ and he lit the candles. With the stage lights down, the band eased into the gloom, and started the chords of ‘Armagideon Time’. I guided Joe as he crept behind the drum riser, candelabra in hand. It looked loads better than a bunch of weedy lighters held above heads in a crowd.

After the encore Mick said, ‘That was brilliant, just brilliant – improvised theatre. Keep that. We’ll keep that in the set.’ I put the candelabra straight in the flight case, but the manager copped me. ‘I’ll have that back.’ Mick said, ‘Pay him. Buy it.’ And I pointed the manager to our man with the calculator.

Twin Cities. On Sept. 12, 1979. The Clash stepped on stage for the first time at the St. Paul Civic Center, located where the Xcel Energy Center now stands. The crowd, "just a few thousand," according to Star Tribune critic John Kerans, danced ceaselessly throughout the 70-minute set. Though, funnily enough, it seems both Kerans and Jon Bream, who was then reporting for the Minneapolis Star, significantly favored both openers (the Undertones and David Johansen) over the headliner.

The performance, according to Bream, "was hardly cathartic or transcendental," making a point of distinguishing himself from coastal critics who drooled over the band at the time. After the group's opening track, "I'm So Bored in the U.S.A.," front man Joe Strummer quipped that the Midwest is a wasteland and asked that the fans "tell us limeys" where to go. According to Bream, punk rock had died earlier in the year with Sid Vicious of the "defunct" Sex Pistols.

Sharing photos from that show, local record retailer John Kass remembers meeting the Clash "in the parking lot of Sun Ray Shopping Center on the east side of St Paul. They had stopped to buy liquor and groceries on their way to Chicago, and I just happened to be next door applying for a job at J.C. Penny."

While the Clash sparked a movement in the UK, they didn't make it big in the US until 1982 when "Combat Rock" sold more than 500,000 copies. The Clash returned to the Civic Center that very year to 8,300 attendees (including Bob Dylan) and more lukewarm (at best) reviews in the local news — this time followed by a defiant reader rebuttal published a couple days later. "The Clash's stage performance was outstanding," the reader wrote," Maybe your reviewer could have asked a few fans whether they enjoyed the concert."

One fan who did was The Current's Bill DeVille. "It was fantastic," he remembers. "It blew my mind. They were my favorite band at the time, by far. Went to Ragstock to get some new duds for the show. Went with all my buddies. We drove to St. Paul...it was a big night.

DeVille remembers a crowd that was "very receptive, very enthusiastic. It was electric." He continues:

I still remember getting there, in line really early. It was festival seating, and I remember thinking back to that concert that happened a few years earlier by the Who where people died. I thought when they opened the door the same sort of thing was going to happen, because people bum-rushed as soon as they opened the doors.

The local band Shangoya, who were kind of a reggae/ska band around here, took the stage, and once they started playing there was a lot of pushing and shoving going on. This friend of mine ended up falling down, and he literally had to grab the tails of my shirt to pull himself back up again. Some people were actually jumping on stage. It was just insane.

Then, once the show started, I forgot about all of the nightmares. I had lost both of my shoes; I was barefoot. It was just insane. It was a big night, and one that I'll certainly never forget. As far as concerts, it's probably my strongest memory of a show that I have.

In May 1984

In May 1984, struggling to regain momentum in the wake of an onstage scuffle at the US Festival and the firing of guitarist Mick Jones, the Clash played their last show in St. Paul to a little over half the size of the audience at the band's '82 show. Bream wrote, "the teenage guys had come in their combat fatigues and the gals in their Flashdance fashions to vent some energy and witness (for the first time for many of them) a legendary name in rock history. However," he continues, "many of these young concert-goers found a legend that had lost its luster."

Just two years later the band dissolved, ahead of their time to the end. "They're not Top 10 material," a fan told the Star Tribune in 1979, "They're loud, fast, and simple. They're not a cerebral experience."

Lydia Moran is a music and arts writer in Minneapolis.

Stephen Thurmes @Stephenmplsmn - I was at that show. Very proud to have been able/blessed to see them. Stephen

Mark Stang - facebook - I was at that show. Had seen them at the Civic Center in 1979 (with The Undertones and David Johansen opening) and then on consecutive nights in Manchester for the first 2 nights of their Fall 1981 UK tour. (Theatre of Hate opened both nights) Don't recall who opened the 1982 St. Paul show.

JNAL - gojohnnygojohnny.wordpress - Thanks for the pics! I was at this show .. AS AN 11-YEAR OLD!! Thrashing up front by the stage!

Jim Froehlich - Here's a find right up there with Bowie and the NY Dolls. Sept. 1979 Mpls Trib ad for upcoming appearance by The Clash with David Johansen (of the Dolls) opening and again with the "open floor dancing" layout common to "new wave" shows of the time. This was their first appearance in MN after starting their first US tour in February; they would visit twice more in 8/82 and 5/84, both times again at the Civic Centre.

Mark McGirl - In my top 5 live shows. Either the Clash or The Undertones would make that list.

Gérard Boissy - The Undertones played first and were really great. I stood way up in front the whole show. The stage was in the center of the arena, and half of it was closed off. Really fun show, and lots of room.. not all that many people there if I recall. As a guitarist, the one thing that bothered me about the show was Mick Jones had the chorus pedal on the whole time. I was like come on man, stop the swirling, that's not punk.

Daniel Clark Peterson - I was pretty far back for The Clash, and I remember the sound being really muddy and weird. Chorus pedal would explain a lot of that.

Patrick Garrity - I was there! BTW, anyone else ever notice the record sleeve (remember those!), from 1980's Clash Epic...London Calling...look at the lower left hand photo, it's a Semi-truck parked inside of the St. Paul. Civic Center at THIS Sept '79 concert! Yep, Clash, London Calling & the St.Paul Civic Center...joined at the hip.

Tom Evered - The Clash were wonderful but I wished they had played a smaller theater. Only about half of the Civic Center was used...they tried to make it a smaller space but it was still a bit cavernous.

Karen Ann Milcarek - That was an amazing night. I remember going right up close to the stage. It was very reggae influenced which I thought was so cool!!!!

Philip Scott - I was there. During the Undertones set someone threw underwear on Feargal Sharkey's head! and he left it there while singing for a while. He was smoking a cig too. The Clash had cammo netting and flags of the world all behind the stage.

Philip Scott - Mike Lehecka - It was the big /main room, but somehow they had cordoned or divided off more than half of it with black curtains or some wall. I can't remember. It was all at one end of it.

Everyone was on the floor, no seats and you could get up front easily. it was just 1,000 -1,500 if that. I remember thinking how odd it looked with so few people there, to see way up to the ceililng and the unused seats far behind this curtain wall.

They put up a big curtain wall to block the view in back so it looked like 1/3 or 1/4 size of the place. It was actually the New York Dolls with Johanson too . So they said. I remember thinking he looked out of place. Undertones looked pale and Feargal had the blackest hair I ever saw. They were pale and sounded just like their records but more intense. He was working the crowd a lot. The band looked like they were just taking it the whole scene. If you read its their first American tour and that was the first date or nearly.

Scott Girouard - Davis Johanson was warm up. Great concert . They had the flags of the world as back drop. I was London Calling and bored with the USA then

Jay Philpott - The day of this show, the whole band came out to the Eden Prairie studios of what was then known as "Musicradio I-95, KRSI" which was an extremely adventurous punk/new wave station for a precious few months in late 1979. They were interviewed by the morning guy, Craig Ashwood...an Australian who had attended U of M and had done some work on the station known as "Wimmer...WMMR AM 73". He went on to a big career in Atlanta and was the original voice of Outback Steak House commercials. The band did okay, too. Remember, at the time, "London Calling" hadn't even been released.

Tommy Smith III - Mark Stang I got great photos of all 3 bands I shot david jo alot so I only had 7 photos to shoot of the clash

Tommy Smith III - We snuck in early got to smoke weed with the clash and david Johanson loved the show one of the 1st punk concerts in a arena

Gérard Boissy - My first Punk concert. I was up front and yelled at Feargal "We can't understand you!" He annunciated more clearly.. they were absolutely great. They hauled their own gear onstage and set it up themselves. First time I ever saw that at an arena show.

12th September 1979 The Clash perform at the Civic Centre in St Paul Minnesota. Joel Orff & John Kass

The Clash Take the Fifth Tour supported by The Undertones & David Johansen. Cartoon: Joel Orff. Photos: Mike Reiter

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21	I'm So Bored with the USA Complete Control London Calling The Prisoner White Man in Ham Palais Koka Kola I Fought the Law Jail Guitar Clampdown Police and Thieves Stay Free Safe European Home Clash City Rockers Capital Radio Janie Jones What's My Name Garageland Armagideon Time Career Opportunities Jimmy Jazz White Riot