The Clash's first gig supporting the The Sex Pistols.
- updated 16 Dec 2017 - overhaul & new links
- updated 24 Jan 2020 - added 3 new articles
- updated July 2021 - added poster
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BBC Radio London radio interview (2003) with Paul and Mick. At 33mins they talk about the Black Swan gig.
From Fandom - The Clash Wiki
The very first Clash gig. Little is known about the gig although it is important to point out that the Clash waited over another month before performing again.1
Hostile eye-witness report in the NME of July 17th 1976: 'The Clash were just a cacophonous barrage of noise. The bass guitarist had no idea how to play the instrument and even had to get another member of the band to tune it for him. They tried to play early '60s R 'n' B and failed dismally. Dr Feelgood are not one of my favourite bands, but I know they could have wiped the floor with The Clash.' Signed 'A real music lover, Sheffield.' 1
Another eye-witness report: 'The Clash were billed as "The 101ers" on the posters...and Mick Jones and I were born on the very same day.The only song I remember was Steve Hibbert's " Pressure Drop" which I knew well from my old Trojan collection. There was a lot of shouting and political grand standing.'1
It is said that Keith Levene wrote 'What's My Name?' on this night.1
Elsewhere
Joe: The line-up for the first gig was Terry Chimes on drums, Paul Simonon, Mick Jones, myself and Keith Levene, so we had a three-guitar set-up at that time.
Mick: I don't think we had been rehearsing that long before the first gig.
Joe: The first gig we ever played was at what we used to call the Mucky Duck (actually called the Black Swan) in Sheffield. We had a song we did called " Listen" , which had a bassline that went up in a scale and then down a note to start, and Paul was so nervous that he just kept going up the scale, and we all fell over laughing 'cos we didn't know when to come in.
Paul: The day The Clash started really was when we played the Mucky Duck with the Pistols, which was great.
It was the first time that I had ever played on stage. The night before it felt frightening but once we were on the way there then I began larking about. I tied one of Keith's shoes to a piece of string and hung it out of the back of the van ñ the door had to be open anyway so we could breathe. So there we were sitting with all the amps and luggage with a plimsoll bouncing around behind us and all the cars behind us slowing down to avoid it. But the moment that we walked out on stage it was like I was in my own living room. I felt really comfortable. Things went wrong during the evening, and Mick had to come over and tune my guitar, but it didn't bother me. I just wanted to jump around, but Mick wanted it to be in tune.
Sex Pistols / The Clash, The Black Swan, Sheffield, July 4th, 1976 - an extract from This Day in Music’s Guide to The Clash
A pretty full review can be found here
The Clash at The Black Swan, Sheffield - Google
The Boardwalk was a bar/nightclub based on the corner of Snig Hill and Bank Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The venue played host to many up-and-coming home-grown bands, as well as smaller touring bands and cover acts. In November 2010, the landlord of the venue voluntarily placed the owning company into administration and closed the site indefinitely. Despite an official statement in December of the same year claiming three potential parties to be interested in operating the venue, [1] this did not materialise and the Boardwalk remained closed.
The Boardwalk held an important place in Sheffield's music scene since the 1960s, when it was known as the Black Swan (and later by its local nickname, the Mucky Duck). It played host to a number of high-profile bands including AC/DC and Genesis, with The Clash playing their first ever gig at the venue on a bill that also included Sex Pistols and Buzzcocks.
In its later years, the music venue had helped facilitate the rise of local bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Tomato Plant, Bromheads Jacket, Milburn, Bring Me the Horizon, and Little Man Tate, [2] with the former naming their first demo Beneath the Boardwalk.
Downstairs - (Under The Boardwalk), was called the Old Brewery Tap, Dive Bar, and the Merry England Bar at different periods of time.
The Black Swan Sheffield - Google
Did you go? What do you remember?
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Not known but thought to have played;
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1 |
Listen |
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There are several sights that provide setlists but most mirror www.blackmarketclash.co.uk. They are worth checking.
from Setlist FM (cannot be relied on)
from Songkick (cannot be relied on)
... both have lists of people who say they went
& from the newer Concert Database
Also useful: Ultimate Music datbase, All Music, Clash books at DISCOGS
A collection of articles, interviews, reviews, posters, tour dates from early 1976. Articles cover the period form July to New Year.
If you know of any articles or references for this particular gig, anything that is missing, please do let us know.
Sex Pistols / The Clash, The Black Swan, Sheffield, July 4th, 1976 - an extract from This Day in Music’s Guide to The Clash
Posted on July 4, 2019
Things went wrong during the evening, and Mick had to come over and tune my guitar, but it didn’t bother me. I just wanted to jump around, but Mick wanted it to be in tune. Archived PDF
Sounds
The First band to come along who will really frighten the Sex Pistols
The Birth of The Clash - The Independent
Online or archive PDF
Fri 10 Oct 2008 - An epiphany at a Sex Pistols gig led to the formation of the most enduring of punk bands. Here, in an extract from a new book, The Clash reveal how they started in a London squat
THE BLACK SWAN / Legendary Punk Pub - Underground England
The Clash
Joe: The first gig we ever played was at what we used to call the Mucky Duck (actually called the Black Swan) in Sheffield. We had a song we did called “Listen”, which had a bassline that went up in a scale and then down a note to start, and Paul was so nervous that he just kept going up the scale, and we all fell over laughing ‘cos we didn’t know when to come in. Archived PDF
Today in history the Clash play their
first full live gig
4 July 2018
The Clash's debut gig came as opening to the Sex Pistols. Archived PDF
Fresh hope for famous Sheffield music venue where The Clash played first gig -
15 March 2018
The future of a famous Sheffield music venue where The Clash played their first ever gig is looking up after a 'let' sign appeared outside.
The Boardwalk has been advertised for rent since summer 2016 but the new sign only recently appeared outside the building on Snig Hill in the city centre.
A spokesman for the letting agent Christie & Co said tenants had been found for the property, which has been split into two premises, but the deals were still being finalised and leases had not been signed at this stage. Archived PDF
The night 40 years ago punk rocked Sheffield - The Sheffield Star
Online or archive PDF
Four decades ago today The Clash rocked, if not the casbah of their later hit, a Sheffield venue at an iconic gig. The band's Black Swan live debut, supporting The Sex Pistols, is documented as the night punk moved overground amid a blistering heat wave.
Sheffield Star archived
Sheffield Star ON THIS DAY 1976:
Online or archive PDF
The Clash and Sex Pistols bring punk rock to Sheffield at legendary gig. Four decades ago today The Clash rocked, if not the casbah of their later hit, a Sheffield venue at an iconic gig. The band's Black Swan live debut on this day in 1976, supporting The Sex Pistols, is documented as the night punk moved overground amid a blistering heat wave.
Fandom retrospective
Online or archive PDF
Hostile eye-witness report in the NME of July 17th 1976: 'The Clash were just a cacophonous barrage of noise."
Sheffield Forum -
Pistols/Clash Black Swan
Online or ... (old) archive PDF
Sex Pistols/The Clash @ Black Swan 1976
Sheffield Forum -
Sex Pistols in Sheffield
Online or ... (old) archive PDF
Sheffield History
Online or (old) archive PDF
Entrance was 90p!
Return of the Last Gang in Town
Marcus Gray - page 170
Lounder than War
Online or archive PDF
The night that punk went overground- July 4th 1976- an oral account.
We were dressed in black and white. A couple of us had ties on, black and white shirts with suity bits. It was punky style Ӊ not good suits, a bit ripped. Kind of tight suits, slightly different. We were dressed fairly straight and well-behaved in a way Ӊ maybe a rip here and a little splash of colour there. A couple of pin-type things, not safety pins. The look was still formulating.
The Clash at the Mucky Duck
NowThen Magazine
online or archive PDF
The gig was in support of the still-relatively-unknown punk icons The Sex Pistols, allegedly hastily arranged by the bandís management in order to beat to the stage their London rivals The Damned, whose debut was scheduled only a few days later.
God Save the Sex Pistols interview with Lindsay Smith (no Clash)
Online or archive PDF
Pistols fanatic Mick Anyon interviews television engineer Lindsay Smith, a young punk of 25 years old at the time, regarding his memory of one Sunday evening in the summer of 76.
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