First night of two 'Secret Gigs', Thursday and Friday 5th & 6th July.

At the Thursday Notre Dame Hall show in '79 the Mo-dettes and the Low Numbers opened up the show.

updated 30 March 2003
updated 25 Dec 2008 - added support info
updated Dec 2014 added poster

Audio 1 - Notre Dame 'Secret Gig' - major upgrade -
Sound 2.5 - 59min - very low gen - 18 tracks
previous recordings were missing tracks and of much poorer/inaudible quality

I'm Not Down

Full 18 track low gen upgrade

The recording is probably a very low gen one, this particular tape being from Camden market traders during 79. It contains all the songs from the concert with no edits. As far as I am aware, this is the master copy for all copies in circulation.

A big upgrade on the old version which was dreadful and only had the first 12 tracks and was only 45mins long. This one is the widely circulated one, avoid this one.

Many of the sound deficiencies of that original exist on this one, however much less so.

The biggest improvement is the spiel between tracks which is much clearer and you can hear what is being said, though it is all considerably much better. The vocals are fairly clear too but distant. The lead guitar drums and vocals all have there own definite sound and even the bass is more audible.

Overall it's an average quality audience recording suffering from a lack of clarity with the instrumentation blurring together with some minor distortion. An enjoyable listen nevertheless.

Did you go? What do you remember?
Info, articles, reviews, comments or photos welcome.
Please email blackmarketclash

I’ve just come across your site and was intrigued about the bootleg of the 1979 concert at Notre Dame Hall, because it was recorded by a friend of mine on a cheap cassette player. I can’t believe its still doing the rounds today !.

It was, as you rightly say, recorded at the Thursday night concert (the next lunch time we played the tape back to listen to it in St. James’s Park near where we both worked, until a member of the Royal Parks Police told us to turn it down).

To fit it onto a C60 cassette, my friend edited out at least 2 songs from the set the band played - 1 was definitely a version of ‘Jimmy Jazz’ (which we thought was called ‘The Police walked in for Jazz’) and I’m pretty sure another was ‘Lovers Rock’ - we just thought those were the weakest of the new numbers the band had played. My friend sold the bootleg tape through ads in Sounds and NME, through approaching likely looking punks in the Kings Road, and also on a stall in the Great Gear Market in the Kings Road where my girlfriend worked. We also recorded a whole host of other bands during 1979 and the early part of 1980 and sold bootlegs of concerts by The Jam, Adam and the Ants, Gang of Four to name but a few. Unfortunately, from a sound quality point of view, the Clash concert was the last to be recorded on the cheapo cassette as my friend splashed out on a more sophisticated device which enabled the later concerts we taped to sound much better and would have done wonders for the Clash recording.  

punkr77 This Clash show was very unannounced. And I didnt know about it !!! That is until we were record shopping in Rough Trade Records on a Saturday and buddy behind the counter alerted us to this upcoming show. I was probably wearing a Clash t shirt.....we bought a ticket...cant remember which day...I do remember them road testing a few tracks off of London Calling 4 months before its release. First time I saw the Modettes opening..and the only time I saw the Low Numbers. Another memorable night. No security. Just Johnny Green and Baker patrolling the front. Jam packed in there..it was a church Hall not a concert hall. Good times.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Clash City Rockers White Man Safe European Home I'm Not Down Death or Glory I Fought the Law London Calling Rudi Can't fail Lovers Rock * City of the Dead Jimmy Jazz* Hateful Stay Free Capital Radio Janie Jones Hate and War English Civil War Londons Burning Complete Control Whats My Name

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