Pearl Harbour Tour supported by Bo Diddley & The Cramps
Also, Harley from the Stimulators was at the NY show but they didn't play. (Scratchy)
updated 7 July 2008 - added punters view (Joe Burdette)
Updated 28 Dec 2008 - added new venue info and photos
© Allan Tannenbaum
Audio 1 -
unknown gen - Sound 2.5 - 69min - Unknown Gen? - 21 tracks
Tommy Gun
not at all bad audience recording
Thankfully a recording circulates of the concert and it’s a not at all bad audience recording. All instruments are clear, though there is some over amplification and the sound is toward the top end. Most of Toppers drum kit can be made out and Paul’s bass is clear if low.
Its main problem is that the taper was well back in the Palladium making the vocals in particular sound distant. There is also some noise but the atmosphere is captured quite well.
The Clash in New York
A highly significant concert in the history of The Clash, particularly in terms of breaking the band in the USA. There was a buzz about the band in the US before the Pearl Harbour Tour but here at the Palladium were the key players in US rock journalism (not to mention the New York glitterati of De Niro, Andy Warhol, Springsteen ,Paul Simon). The band were fully aware this was the big one that could really break the band in the States, and they did not fail putting in a superb charged but professional performance.
A night of nights - Strummer
Strummer remembers it now, still as one of the greatest and most significant Clash concerts, “a night of nights”. Joe had said, “Rock’n’roll changed the way I look at society” The Clash were attempting to make the US do the same. They had come to the USA, not to bury rock’n’roll but to reclaim and re-energise it.
They won important converts to their cause at this concert. Journalists previously sympathetic were now bowled over: the now legendary Lester Bangs declared it one of the best concerts he’d seen in his life; “They launched into I’m So Bored With The USA with a surge of energy that surpassed any band we’d ever seen and just built and built, leaving us all drained and ecstatic”. Tom Carson in Rolling Stone wrote, “The Clash unleashed one of the most staggering performances I’ve ever seen. It was music of heroic grandeur, epic sweep and visceral force; each song was faster and meaner than on record and had twice the impact”
The equally influential Robert Christgau, wrote the Palladium crowd was on its feet before a single note was played and 2 hours later were still on their feet. Christgau eloquently described the visual and aural impact of The Clash; Mick and Paul leapt around as if no stage could hold them, Topper’s drums cracked through the music with the authority of machine gun fire, Mick’s ethereal, incantatory back up vocals filled the gaps in Joe’s harsh leads. “Strummer his eyes alight and staring as he snarled and screamed his message, looked like a man who’d just seen everything he loved destroyed, unsure whether to explode with rage or run for his life. His extraordinarily expressive face conveyed as much wit as passion.”
© Allan Tannenbaum
Its an enjoyable listen and conveys the brilliance of the performance, Joe’s vocals snarl and rage and Mick is excellent playing a brand new guitar, having broken the neck off his Les Paul in Washington.
The band were very nervous and Mick starts the gig with a determined “OK Strummer, lets go!” before blasting into Bored With The USA. Bass distortion in the right channel affects the first half of this song and then cuts out for the rest of the recording.
Mick introduces Hate & War topically with “this is an old one from the last record, and seeing China have just invaded Vietnam, we’re back in it”. In a snap shot which reveals The Clash’s determination to break the States Joe says “ this guy in the white t-shirt says it sounds alright, how about you people in the $27 seats?” but before Joe can say anything scathing about the celebrities and the rich in the Circle, Mick jumps in with a calming “I saw Bruce Springsteen up there and he wasn’t half bad”. Joe pauses, says OK and the band play White Man. No Lennon “rattle your jewellery” lines ala the Royal Command Performance here!
Indeed there are no “political” comments from Joe to stir the waters, which did not stop Andy Warhol stating, “The Clash are cute but they all have bad teeth and scream about getting rid of the rich!”
Mick intro’s Stay Free with “its time for the wimpoid ballad, I don’t know if you’ll fuckin’ understand this, oh yeah you will, its about a geezer in nick and their mates waiting for them” but then goes on to deny it by delivering a particularly impassioned performance. Police & Thieves and Capital Radio are the highlights of a set full of highlights. The dub echo intro of the former swirls around the Palladium dramatically and Joe bemoans the state of New York radio on the latter.
The crowd roar the band back for 2 encores and still cheer for more.
NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 17: Joe Strummer of The Clash performs at The Palladium on February 17, 1979 in New York City, New York. (Photo by David Gahr / Getty Images)
© Allan Tannenbaum
Above 2 photos © Allan Tannenbaum
A collection of wonderful photos by © Roberta Bayley
Did you go? What do you remember?
Info, articles, reviews, comments or photos welcome.
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"3000 of us waited for the Clash to take the stage. It was their first performance in America and many of us wondered whether these punkers from England could deliver the goods, many had their doubts. The lights came down. Beams of light started searching the stage, like prison spotlights. Suddenly a huge roar, a machinegun-like volley of raw guitars and drums. The Clash tear into 'I'm So Bored With The U.S.A.' The power and glory of rock and roll had never sounded so urgent and furious. Joe Strummer leaned into the mike like he was about to rip it from the stand with his teeth. His voice, a cry, a scream, a call to arms, a liberating burst of human anger and rock and roll voodoo. The Clash were the sound and fury of a new generation of rockers ready to riot and ride out on strings of steel and thundering drums. This was more than music, this was the human heart, the gut, the soul, electrified, amplified, bonafide!
Read your story about The Clash / Bo Diddley / The Cramps at the Palladium in 1979. I was there and it was a great show.
The crowd booed Bo Diddley and Joe Strummer came out mad and gave them a talking to, it was one of the best things I ever saw. I always liked their music, but when he did that, I really had respect for Joe Strummer. Thanks. Joe Burdette
The 3,800 seater Palladium on New York’s 14th Street was an old converted theatre, as ornate as London’s Lyceum but sleazier with drug pushers plying their trade outside. Thanks to Sukwoon Noh (it was his first Clash gig) for providing the following recollections of the Palladium;
You can see the ol Palladium inscription in the left photo above the montage on the facia.
"In the 70's and 80's the Palladium was THE place in NYC. That's where all the great new wave bands played. I saw the Jam, Joe Jackson, Ramones, David Johansen and few others. It was essentially a movie theater converted into a concert hall.
Main floor and the second level called the loge. It has since been demolished and in place stands a high-rise. The street level is now an electronic store called 'PC Richards' and the upper levels belong to NY University's dormitory. Only 1 block away from the Irving Plaza [where Joe played with Meskies in 99 & 2001]"
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I'm So Bored with the USA |
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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
If you know of any articles or references for this particular gig, anything that is missing, please do let us know.
Clash City Talkers:
New York Meets Jones And Co.
Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, June 1979
There's nothing quite as frustrating to watch as the hypocrisy of press, radio, and record companies rushing to get behind some new band that has successfully survived their initial indifference and become some sort of hot property.
New heights of punk paranoia
Sounds review - 10 March NYC
The Clash Conquer America
Rolling Stone - April 25th 1979
By Tom Carson
In the two years since the release if their first album, the Clash have earned a following unlike almost any other in rock & roll. To their fans, they're not just the greatest rock & roll band in the world - they're the last hope, the only group that still seems to promise that rock & roll can make a difference. This is an almost impossible burden to put on anyone, but the crowd at the Palladium expected nothing less; they were on their feet before a single note was played.
The New York Rocker - March 1979
Page 6
New York Palladium
Don't expect the back-Clash to start here. Since the Clash's smashingly successful Palladium debut, I have had some second thoughts, but none of these contradict my first impression that this is the finest young rock 'n' roll unit in the world. Their performance still resonates, dominating my hopes and fears about the future of not only rock 'n' roll, but the world.
Des Moines Tribune - Rock Talk
Fri Mar 2 1979
Surprisingly Few Clashes Noted as the Clash Tours the Nation
Billboard - 3 March 1979
Snippet - unknown
4 excellent photos
Ebet Roberts - musicpictures.com
A Riot of Our Own pg146
A collection of articles, interviews, reviews, posters, tour dates from the Clash's first US Tour covering the period of the Pearl Harbour Tour.
Toronto Interview 2-20-79 Paul Topper Canada
part 1 - (5mins)
part 20 - (5mins)
Candian Radio Interview (20mins)
Toronto - 20 February 1979
The Clash 1979 Canadian TV backstage interview
Complete interview segment of the Clash backstage at the O'Keefe Centre in Toronto, Canada with the Undertones which was originally broadcast on CITY TV's New Music Program in 1979.
The New Music was hosted by J.D. Roberts (aka CNN's John Roberts) and Jeanne Bekker (later host of Fashion Television). This clip includes the infamous concert aftermath with Cosmo Vinyl counting the ripped out seats at the venue.
This rare interview was shown/re-broadcast during the Joe Strummer death coverage.
Bo Diddley talks about his experiences opening for the Clash on their 1979 US Tour. This interview took place in November 2002 at the Rock Nightclub in Maplewood, Minnesota.
Bo Diddley opening for the Clash At Ontario Theatre, Washington DC
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