Going out to buy the newspaper this morning, I'm sure the clerk at the corner store thought I'd come down with Spontaneous Swearing Syndrome. I was just muttering "fuck ... fuck". I'd just put on my coat and was out the door when CBC announced Joe Strummer died last night of a heart attack.
The Clash not only were The Only Band That Matters, they were one of the first bands I'd seen live and my introduction and conversion to punk. In 1978 at college one of my friends, Patrick, was newly arrived from England. He brought his records with him, The Clash, the UK pressings of Elvis Costello's first three albums, Nick Lowe, the whole Stiff roster, and more. When we heard The Clash would be playing Montreal we had to go.
They were playing Theatre St. Denis with The Undertones opening. The audience went nuts with everybody jumping up and down on the soft theatre seats. It remains one of the best rock shows I've ever been to. I still have the t-shirt somewhere, though it hasn't fit for decades.
Fuck ... fuck.
Article comments
1 - JC
The Clash...Verdun Auditorium, Montreal, 1980. What a fuckin' show. Goodbye, Joe. Death or Glory??? You were glorious.
2 - Chubby Pecker
What I never understood was who thought to call a hockey rink the Verdun Auditorium?
The place sounded like a speaker stuck in the bottom of a galvanized garbage can.
But, yes, The Clash rocked the casbah there, too.
3 - kevin
I was lucky enough to that see that Montreal show at Theatre St. Denis. The B-Girls and The Undertones were the opening acts and I believe it was the 'tones North American debut. What a show! I thought Joe was going pop veins in his neck. I'd never seen anything that intense and that tight, and can't think of much that I've seen since that compares. I saw them a few years later at the CNE in Toronto. No Topper and a bit shambolic. It didn't help that Black Uhuru with Sly and Robbie were the opening act. Poor old Terry Chimes and Paul just weren't going to be able follow that.