Friday, January 2, 2009

december 1977

The week before Christmas, 1977:

I had a friend at Brunel University and he tipped me off the The Sex Pistols were going to play so I got the 207 bus to Uxbridge and met him in the bar. This article tells of the mayhem outside when the University organizers stupidly kept the doors to the Students Union hall shut - put up a sign SOLD OUT and had everyone wait. And wait. .
It was only when I left that I saw all the shattered glass and this article explains that the crowd got fed up waiting and someone broke into the college by breaking a window and climbing in. They found themselves in the toilets.
The students Union person also did a stupid thing by asking everyone outside with a ticket to hold them up in the air so they could see who to let in when the doors opened. That was stupid because people who didn't have tickets grabbed them off the others.
BOooooo!
The gig was great. Johnny Rotten kept telling the crowd they were too laid back. Some kids built a human pyramid in the middle of the crowd. That was funny. And they played all our favourites.

On the Tuesday before Christmas, the Clash played at the Rainbow.
This was a seated gig which was better than the stand anywhere gigs and I'll tell you why. I didn't have, nor would I have worn a leather jacket.
I wore a pink mohair sweater and I liked to stand at the front.
At the Roundhouse (a stand anywhere gig) when The Clash came on, you heard a lot of fans clearing their throats and then it just rained gob.
It was DISGUSTING. I went to the bathrooms to try and get it out but from then on I had to stand at the back or along the wall. The floor got really gunky. I won't go on about it. Needless to say, that sweater had to dry out on a radiator and go to the cleaners.

The Melody Maker has two reviews here. One tells of the security holding a fan back and The Clash saying, "no let him go" and then the fan sang "White Riot". The other review tells of the wait. It's true. They didn't go on til after 10 o'clock which is a bit annoying if you were getting a train home. The underground (subway) trains stopped before midnight and then you would have to get a bus. And Finsbury Park (where The Rainbow was) was miles from everyone. I lived in Ealing then and it took forever to get home.









Then we went Christmas shopping.
If you wanted to buy your boyfriend a record, this was your choice.












You could buy records in Woolworths, or you could go to OUR PRICE records.

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