White Riot Tour with the Jam, Buzzcocks, Slits and Subway Sect
last updated 7 March 2007
updated 28 Dec 2008 - punter comments re: slits plus photo
updated 28 Dec 2008 - added venue poster & new pics
updated 25 December 2014 - added ticket
Updated October 2020 - added lounderthansound link and new photos
updated May 2021 added large poster
Please leave any comments, articles, scans here. Thanks.
courtesy Lee Greenwood
Audio - from LP - Take it or Leave it LP
Sound 3 - 43min - Tracks 16
Cheat
Source: Take it or Leave it LP
This is the first ever Clash bootleg to circulate and has over the year’s as a result tended to be forgotten. When asked whether the band minded being bootlegged, Joe response was always no. In one interview in 78 he commented that the only one he’d heard (referring to Take It or Leave It) was actually rather good.
Relistening to this again you can see Joes point. It is a good audience recording but like the old football cliché, it’s a bootleg of 2 halves.
As far as the sound goes, all the instruments are audible and clearish, including bass and drums however the vocals are low in the mix. Generally it suffers probably from a lack of quality equipment at the venue and is a not bad recording considering.
The first side of the LP has quite clear instrumentation and vocals for an old early recording the lead guitar is particularly enjoyable. But presumably during Police and Thieves (which has an edit near the end of the song) the taper either gets knocked to a worse position or the soundman on the desk gets pissed! As a result the second side is fractionally less enjoyable because instrumentation becomes more distant, particularly the vocals and the clarity drops a little.
Visit these websites for a comprehensive catalogue of unofficially released CD's and Vinyl (forever changing) or If Music Could Talk for all audio recordings
Discogs
Punky Gibbon
Jeff Dove
Ace Bootlegs
For all recordings go to If Music Could Talk / Sound of Sinners
The LP succeeds in documenting well just how chaotic, ferocious and exciting The Clash were on the White Riot Tour.
This was the hey day of punk (the night before The Rainbow gig* which Joe has subsequently said was his best memory and the night punk broke out of the clubs) before the band wagon jumping and commercialisation. Tensions may also have been running high backstage, as The Jam would play the next night before abondoning the Tour after acrimonious rows with the Clash over monies.
The Jams presence here confirming the date of the Rainbow gig as the 9th and not 7th, which was there final gig of the tour before walking off.
Poster
The Electric Circus was an old converted cinema which was condemned and pulled down within a couple of years.
The first side performances are all great, played with speed and anger, with a particularly fine 1977, Bored With the USA, Deny, and the the rarely performed Pressure Drop, joes angry introduction presumedly at a member of the audience, “this is JA and I aint gonna fuck off tosh!”.
An excellent Police and Thieves is introduced by a crude but effective bit of anti-racism “this is a song written by a wog….so all those people who don’t like wogs, you know where the back door is”.
Remote Control, to be dropped from the set after this tour for this reason “this is the new Clash single by order of the giant corporation, we sold our soul….”. With echoes of Magnificent Seven to come, Career Opportunities is introduced by “ring, ring goes the bell on Monday”. Some Joe humour before a manicly fast Janie Jones; “I want to take off my shirt but I’m scared to show off my puny body, I ain’t Charles Atlas and I don’t want to be”. Before a chaotic White Riot “this an English pop song that did’nt make it to No.1”. A typical 110% Clash early gig that captures the early excitement of the band and punk.
Photo unknown
Hi, I was just browsing the web and i found your site and looking at the "Electric circus" page i found you are using a photo i took of the clash on stage. I'm quite flattered that you think it's good enough to use. I have a few more of that day, one of joe standing outside talking to guy who wrote "gun rubber " fanzine, one of slits spraying graffiti on wall opposite circus, and one of the slits on stage.
The picture (above) one slit walking past me and tour bus as Ari-Up and another slit spray graffiti on council estate opposite, watched by local kids. If it is any good, if it is i'll send a few more. Lee
Any further info, articles, reviews, comments or photos welcome. Please email blackmarketclash
Great site, but while I was browsing I noticed a small mistake. The gig on May 7th 1977 in Edinburgh is not quite as listed. The Prefects didn't play that night but The Slits did. I should know as I was there and it changed my life.
Much to the chagrin, not only of the original Ranch Bar clique, but a few other cliques as well, punk in Manchester, buoyed by Morleyís increasingly prominent NME appraisals, began to swell ó at times uncontrollably. Suddenly, spotting ëHalf-Cast Paulí or Steve Shy or Morley in a crowd became more and more difficult. The gang-like atmosphere, more prevalent among the audiences than the bands, became inevitably diluted.
Factory: The Story of the Record Label
By Mick Middles
On Sundays at the Electric Circus, the scene raged, at times rather dangerously, for no one really knew how 1,000 sweat-dripped, arm-linked manic punks would be able to evict the building should something unforeseeable happen. The gigs flashed by as if in a dream. The Ramones supported by Talking Heads, the Damned supported by the Adverts (with Rat Scabies leering from the upstairs dressing room, showering the outside queue with rocks and badges), Buzzcocks endlessly, Drones endlessly, and perhaps the peak Electric Circus experience, the White Riot Tour featuring the Clash, the Slits, Buzzcocks and Subway Sect on Sunday 8 May 1977 ó a seething, rumbling mess of a gig. The full sulphate experience and the furious pace of the bands was countered by the DJís constant delving into echo chamber dub reggae, which rather suited the circus.
The only era that the show ignores is the early punk, yet radio 2 is fuckin built
round it!
I cannot remember if I met Lee G and there are only a few articles by him throughout the PTIDís issues. One that caught my eye was his one page recollection of the Clash White Riot Tour gig at the Electric Circus, Manchester on 8ª May 1977. He describes Jo Strummer as ì...the thinking manís switchblade and there is a blurred photo of the band on stage. Lee says it was the best gig he ever attended and how he felt everyone there considered the songs as our musicîand how ...we could change the worldí As teenagers you believe that sort of thing, whether its music, peace protests or anything you feel passionate about. That never diminishes - it only gets tarnished as you get older and understand how the world really works and your place in it. Unless you are a Bono, Bob Geldoff or Bill Gates you have no influence other than from the age of eighteen when you tick a ballot paper. However, I felt, and still do, that Punk Rock and what Roy and I were doing, was a sort of mission to inform what the message was that we all took inspiration from. In Royís interview with UK Nige (vocals and guitar in Sick 56) Nige sums up what Punk Rock means to him:
Unsigned Unscene
By John Winstanley
Any further info, articles, reviews, comments or photos welcome. Please email blackmarketclash
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Londons Burning |
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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 White Riot Tour. Articles cover the month of May 1977.
If you know of any articles or references for this particular gig, anything that is missing, please do let us know.
Google Seach
'The Clash' Strummer Manchester Electric Circus May 1977 White Riot
Ghast Fanzine
This flyer appeared in the third issue of Ghast Up. It was created on a typewriter with repeated semi colons using a Roneo stencil, which was how Ghast Up was printed. It was based on the famous NME Cover photo of The Clash.
The full Ghast archive can be found here. A big thanks to whoever put this up.
Page 6 of Ghast Up fanzine Issue 2. Featuring a review of The Clash debut album followed by a live review of the White Riot tour at the Electric Circus on Sunday May 8th 1977.
Page 1 - album review Issue #2
Page 2 - gig review Issue #2
Page 3 - stencil Issue #3
Page 4 - save The Circus #3
Stencil: This flyer appeared in the third issue of Ghast Up. It was created on a typewriter with repeated semi colons using a Roneo stencil, which was how Ghast Up was printed. It was based on the famous NME Cover photo of The Clash.
Page 15 of Ghast Up fanzine Issue 3. Featuring details of an ultimately fruitless campaign to save the Electric Circus from closure. As I recall I received one phone call from a young lady who said she was a friend of Graham Brooks, who ran the Circus with Allan Robinson.
Guardian - A northern soul
Thirty years ago, the Manchester music scene was changed for ever. Paul Morley revisits the city of his youth and recalls the sights and eviscerating sounds that transformed the lives of a generation
The Clash, Buzzcocks, The Slits, Subway Sect: Live In 1977
By Mick Middles - Classic Rock - May 01, 2014
On May 1, 1977, The Clash started their first ever UK tour. On May 8, they played at the Electric Circus in Manchester. In 2003, Classic Rock reflected on that crazy night.
White Riot Tour montage
The Clash compilation video of the track 1977
THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN Song 1977 (Beaconsfield Film School Session)
Licensed to YouTube by SME (on behalf of Sony Music UK); CMRRA, LatinAutor - UMPG, UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA - UBEM, UMPG Publishing, and 2 Music Rights Societies
White Riot: Documentary about Rock Against Racism Festival
https://www.facebook.com/WhiteRiotFilm
http://whiteriot-movie.com https://bcij.jp/ctg/movie/5598.html
According to the Japanese promo link above, it will be available for digital rental starting this April 2020:
“The rental distribution period will start from April 17th (Friday) on the following distribution platforms. The service will be available for approximately one month until May 15 (Fri). The platform also includes the online movie theater "Uplink Cloud", which has been urgently implemented due to the situation of uplink. In the future, some theaters are planned to be released one by one, but so that people who live in the self-restraint area can also enjoy it, and also in the `` chaotic world by director Rubika Shah of this work, thinking by myself, I want you to know the importance of raising your voice. Even if you are alone, you can find your friends by raising your voice. You can act together and overcome it. "What you can do now It was said that it came to be implemented. Please check out RAR's activities at home, which are relevant to modern times.
■ Distribution platform Uplink cloud, Amazon prime video, GYAO! Store, crank-in! Video, COCORO VIDEO, TSUTAYA TV, DMM movie, dTV, Hikari TV, Video Market, Videx JP, Movie full plus, music.jp, U-NEXT, Rakuten TV and others.”
The Clash Live - University of East Sussex Brighton White Riot Tour - Wednesday 25th May 1977
Video - Video - Filmed by Students
Youtube release (by students?) 10 tracks
Capitol Radio (Youtube)
Protex Blue (Youtube)
Cheat (Youtube)
Remote Control (Youtube)
I'm So Bored with the USA (Official)
Hate & War (Official)
Career Opportunities (Official)
Remote Control (Official)
White Riot (Youtube)
Police And Thieves (Youtube)
Official re-release - Official Sony Soundsystem Boxset DVD
I'm So Bored With The USA 2:14 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
Hate & War 1:94 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
Career Opportunities 1:42 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
Remote Control 2:73 PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
The Clash Live - The Rainbow 9th May 1977 - White Riot Tour
Video - probably filmed by Don Letts/Julian Temple.
Don Letts' Punk Rock Movie is the only known footage to have been broadcast (White Riot). The taper also recorded Subway Sect. Punk Rock Movie 2mins and also Old Grey Whistle Test 2mins
The recent offical Sony release Sound System box set includes new video footage.
Don Letts Super 8 Medley 11:40
White Riot 1:52 (Harlesden, 3 Mar 1977)
Janie Jones 1:73 (unknown)
City of the Dead 2:04 (unknown)
Clash City Rockers 2:15 (unknown)
White Man in Hammersmith Palais 2:53 (unknown)
1977 1:41 (The Rainbow, 9 May 1977)
Don Letts footage has recenty been released. A good listing of the contents of the The Clash's Sound System box set can be found here.
If you know any please let us know
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