The Clash - Middlesborough, November 17, 1978
By Phil Sutcliffe - from an unidentified English paper
PERSPECTIVE, THE Clash are heroes (but not mine).
They are the market leaders (see album chart). They are sorely harassed people (whose dealings with big business have been as unhappy as
their political stance must have led them to expect). Unlike most bands they mean a lot more than any review of a gig is about to relate -- for
instance the fact that they pull out a date at a students-only college venue is more important than if they did it and played the most storming set
of their lives. So in a certain sense this proficient night of Clash-rocking in Middlesborough felt a bit anti-climatic.
They began with "Safe European Home", and with a sound almost perfectly clear (bass and drums for structure, vocals for lead line, rough
edge of guitars mixed very low) they proceeded to drive hard through "I Fought the Law", "Jail Guitar Doors", "Drug Stabbing Time", and
"City of the Dead".
Momentum was high but the landscape rather featureless and I find myself seeking the something extra they had to have by watching Joe
Strummer: shoulders hunched like Rocky Marciano's as he clasped the mike in both hands, a remarkable man all right among the punk
archetypes.
Oddly enough I would say this first third of the set was excellent but not satisfying. It was only with "English Civil War" and "White Man in
Hammersmith Palais" that they began to get to grips with the songs and the crowd and make the evening something more than an event.
Jones did another of his enjoyable Cockney-charm vocals on "Stay Free", the lightest piece they played, and the closing minutes were studded
with their best numbers and most powerful communications. "Police and Thieves" always was different, but now it's been given startling acres
of space in which there is both a threatening tension and the freedom for Mick to play a solo combines his usual restraint with some impact (it's
one thing not being self-indulgent and another being so minimal you say nothing). "Capital Radio" blasted out that old-time punk energy in the
set's most vigorous and fitting moments.
It was a good concert. Very nice in fact and I'm not grinding about that. Middlesborough Town Hall is the best medium sized rock venue I've
seen and everything was thoroughly handled. There was no punk paranoia from the stewards and it was pleasant to see a good time being
allowed to happen.
If this sounds tepid I can only suggest that perhaps there was no way the electrifying presence of The Clash in their first year could be
sustained, simply because they are no longer a surprise. The band and the movement couldn't keep on running trailers for the revolution without
ever being able to show the film.
But I'm sure their progress as charted by "Give 'Em Enough Rope" and their present tour is based on some cool and constructed
self-assessment. More content. More music. A communication less wild but hopefully deeper. They are shit kickers. And there are plenty of
shits around to kick.
Power to them.