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The Clash Photos at Bonds Casino - 80s Retro Punk Rock

By Keith 2 Comments

Before getting into the business of restoring old soda machines, I was in the T-shirt business for many years. A couple of friends and I started printing shirts in 1977 on my best friend’s parents’ porch. Although we would print anything to make a buck we really loved printing shirts of our favorite rock bands. It was right around that time we got into punk rock, and our favorite punk band was The Clash! So a few years later, when we got to do the printing for the official Clash at the Bonds Casino gig in NY City, we where ecstatic. We printed the shirts, drove them to NY City, sold them in the streets and even manned a concession stand at the show. Talk about a great time - hanging out in NY City, selling shirts and going to Clash concerts.

The Clash in Concert in NYC

My memory is a little hazy, so I’m not sure how many shows we saw or how long we stayed in NY but we where there on May 30th, 1981.

The Clash Concert Posters

The Clash were originally scheduled to play eight shows: May 28, 29, 30, 31 and June 1,2, 3, and 5, 1981.

But on May 30th the concert was canceled by the Fire Department because of over crowded conditions. The promoter sold far to many tickets than the place could hold and it almost caused a riot around the theater which was in Times Square. Police on horse back were pushing people out of the streets, and people running around yelling who knows what.

Check out these shots of that night:

Eventually order was restored and no one was hurt and The Clash - being a band of the people - decided to honor every ticket that was sold and kept playing every night until all tickets where used.

I hope you enjoy the pictures, and if you have any memories of when the Clash took over the Bonds Casino in NY City please share them here.

“White riot - I wanna riot White riot - a riot of my own” - The Clash

Mick Jones of The Clash

Joe Strummer of The Clash

Paul Simonon of The Clash

The Clash on Broadway at Bonds T-Shirt

The Clash NYC T-Shirt

Filed Under: Remember When Tagged With: music, NYC, punk rock

• ned flood

  sleazy bruce, trip and bernie rhodes…it was a blur…i know we used our passes to sneak friends into the shows…i was assigned to selling ‘official” clash shirts on broadway..literally..”on the street’…i got into a shouting match with clash manager kosmo vinyl about the prices i was charging…way to go ned….piss off the band on the first night. and remember kiddies it was when times sq. was shady…drugs/hookers/dive bars. it’s where i met ‘the drunk cabbie” who printed up the legendary “clash in times sq.”shirts…so i go back stage and give a shirt to joe strummer personally …i was nervous…he cut the sleeves off with a switch blade…paul simonon came up asking for the shirt..i don’t remember if i came back. i did have a beer while trying to act cool. grand master flash opened some shows…they got booed…i saw joe ely in the crowd.the funny thing was the saturday riot was for the afternoon show.everybody looks so young. death or glory-ned “vender” flood -bond’s survivor.

• Bob Yawger

  I was one of the first people in line for the show on May 28. The first show! We stood in line for hours and things started to get a little dicey with the police. Busting people for drinking and smoking weed. Personally, even though I was only 16 years old, I was smart enough to realize I could not drink or hit the pipe because it was going to be a long night of fighting for my place infront of the statge and I would not be able to afford a trip to the bathroom. Once the doors opened, it was a mad rush to the front of the stage. After many hours, the warm up bands came on and they were hounded off the stage. People were taking coins out of there pockets and throwing them at the band. It was viscous but of course, I never did throw anything. Towards the end of the warmup bands, it started getting hot, and everybody was soaked. The Clash came on late, around midnight I beleive. And the show rocked! I have been to well over a hundred shows in my life, I have played many sports and done some really cool things in my life, travelling the world and climbing the highest mountains. But to this day, I tell people my greates time ever was The Clash at Bonds Casino on May 28, 1981. All my favorite songs. London Calling and Safe European Home to start things off. It was a giant wrestling match in front of the stage and I did very well. They banged out Radio Clash and the best for me was when Paul did Guns of Brixton. He was right in front of me. I could see every detail of his tatoos. Anyway, it was really hot, and a lot of people were passing out. I was soaked through my clothes and close to passing out. On the way out the fire department were counting the number of people leaving the building. I ran across the street to the Burger King and pounded down two large root beers like they were nothing. I would see many great concerts after this one, but I never reached the level I was at at this show.