1985

BUSKING TOUR...Joe and Paul took the boys on an impromptu busking tour - playing publicly and outside venues acoustically... the ‘shows’ generated some excitement about the forthcoming album...
May 2 F		Garage Club, Nottingham
May 2 F		Old Market Square, Nottingham
May 3 S		Another venue - Leeds Sat night
		I was sitting in the MJ coffee lounge at Leed Uni. Someone came in and said: "There's a bloke outside, looks just like Joe Strummer." Yeah, right. That's going to happen. So I take my time, drink my coffee, go take a piss and amble downstairs. I get there just in time to see them play the last few bars of the last song. And it wasn't even a Clash song. Apparently they busked the queue of the Phonographiqe later on that evening. But I missed that as well.
May 4 S		Le Phonographic nightclub, Leeds Outside Leeds Railway Station 1.30am Sunday night
May 6 M		Royal Park Road pub, Royal Park Road, Leeds 6
		Think they only played a few songs there...
May 7 T		Leeds University
		outside where the Alarm were playing that night -disrupted 15 minutes /4 songs (about 7pm) from the Chumbawamba website The red paint thrown over Joe happened in Leeds, outside the University before an Alarm gig and not York as is shown. There's a couple of references on the web to it: Pouring red paint over the Clash on their comeback "busking" tour in Leeds demonstrated their contempt for what they saw as false prophets. "Meanwhile, anarchy was becoming archaic in the U.K., as a pallid version of the Clash, sans Mick Jones, roamed the streets in search of lost credibility. "They'd done the America, champagne and coke thing, and they came back over here trying to prove that they could still relate to the kids," says ex-punk Bruce, who felt betrayed by his former idols. "To me it just smacked of insincerity; they were doing this tour where they would be busking outside gigs. So [fellow Chumbawamban] Danbert [Nobacon] sprayed them with red paint and then got chased through Leeds City Center by a load of angry people. But he managed to escape." Alarm May 07, 1985 University, Leeds
May 7 T		Faversham Pub, Leeds
		after a short walk down the road from the Uni, the band set up in the pub car park and played a full set for 45 minutes (about 7.45pm) - date confirmed from Alarm website
May 8 W		St Sampson Square 12noon
		Jam down Petersgate 9.00pm
		York Minster, York 9.30pm
		played three songs including I Fought the Law before being moved on by the Police.
May 9 T		York, Kings Square/Market Square
		at Lunchtime on a park bench The famous photo is from this lunchtime gig and the reason Joe's jacket has orange paint is some protestor threw paint over him from a window!  "Pete used his drumsticks banging on the bench (and told me he was pissed that he had no drum so a mate of mine went home to get him one which he used at the evening gig at St Johns College.)  On the photo I'm the kid with the bleached hair directly infront of Joe!  This photo was taken by the Yorkshire Evening Press." Neal
May 9 T		York, York Arms Pub
		The band Spent all afternoon at the York Arms pub where joe gave an interview to Radio York (which they passed onto Radio 1 and Joe later said if he saw the interviewer he would kill him as he had asked if he was an independent and only gave the interview because of this).  Joe was mainly hanging outside talking to the kids while Paul and the other guys were sitting in the 'snug' at the front of the pub struming and singing guitars.
May 9 T		York, Ripon & St Johns College
		At about 7pm a gang of people (I would say 100 plus) with the 5 Clash walked through the streets of York with the band Strumming Spanish style songs leading them to Ripon & St Johns College - like pied pipers!  It was amazing!
May 11 S		Greys Monument, Newcastle
		i saw joe and paul and the other guys playing at greys monument in the centre of newcastle one afternoon...i guess it was the same day they were in gateshead too...1985... ...from what i remember joe just kind of appeared and said "we are the clash" and they started playing... ...a large crowd quickly gathered and the police turned up and duly got "on their back" and moved them on - they went about 30 yards off in the direction of the central station they started playing again...by which time i couldn`t see them any more in the melee that quickly developed...
May 11 S		The Station Pub, Gateshead, Newcastle (aft)
		Acoustic Daze CD and Back to Basics LP
May 11 S		Gollums Bar, Mowbray Park Hotel, Sunderland
		On the saturday night,they played a set at Gollums bar, before the Drum Club set. The lads had spent the two hours previous to Gollums drinking in THE SALEM bar, Hendon. Recording Exists.
May 11 S		Genevieves function room of The Mayfair. Sunderland
		Many years of DJing and promoting later Joe turned up with the new gang at my Indie club in Sunderland - busking tour. People always get the name wrong. This was the second busk of the night. Previously done at Gollums a bar associated within the Mowbray Park hotel S'land. Sunderland Mayfair  - in the Genevieves function room which was named as THE DRUM CLUB for my indie nights. Joe talked to me about perhaps going to Glasgow next. Could I see him ok for some expenses. It was the best 30 quid I've ever given away.
May 13 M		Edinburgh Princess Street (afternoon)
		the clash played in princes street edinburgh in the afternoon and then played at la sorbonne at night where they announced the gig at coasters the next night
May 13 M		Edinburgh, La Sorbonne
May 14 T		Edinburgh Princess Street (afternoon)
		the band played in the centre of Edinburgh in Princes Street (the main Street)at the corner of The Mound where there is a speakers corner, where basically you can get up and spout off as long as your not offensive.Well he said that The Clash played there before the Coasters gig. They played quite a few numbers before heading off to Coasters with a large following running after them, as they are only about a mile apart.
May 14 T		Coasters, Edinburgh
		Clouds was the upstairs part of Coasters (now called the Cavendish) where strummer played again with the clash busking in 1985 and with LRW in 1988 - Coasters itself is pretty small and both the upstairs rooms are tiny.
May 16 T		The Rock Garden in Glasgow
		From memory I am sure that on the 1985 Busking Tour they also played "The Rock Garden" in Glasgow on the afternoon of the 16th May. I was too slow in getting down there but someone from the "Bicycle Thieves", a local Glasgow Band, tipped me off about "Dukes" for later that night.
May 16 T		Glasgow University evening- the cul de sac bar
		cancelled due to crowd congestion
May 16 T		Mayfair Reggae Disco early evening
		I'm pretty sure that on the Clash busking tour after the Cul de Sac they played a reggae disco called the Mayfair later in the evening, anyone else ever tell you that? I was at the Vics Cafe show next day and was told then by someone
May 16 T		Glasgow - Dukes Bar evening
May 17 F		Glasgow Art College - Vics Cafe 12 noon
		rumours of Carlisle, Liverpool and Birmingham
May 17 F		Glasgow The Fixx Pub on Miller Street
		A photo of which reappeared in a Scottish obituary in Dec 2002.

Mar 20		Rennes Salles Omnisports with 3 other bands
Jun 29		Copenhagen, Denmark
		...Roskilde Festival
Jul 13		Guenho, France
		...Rockscene Festival
Aug 27		Athens, Greece
		The Clash headline the Greek Music Festival in front of 40,000 fans
Sep 13		Paris - Le Zenith
		cancelled
Oct 3		Scandinavium Gothenburg
		cancelled
Oct 4		Stockholm Isstadion
		cancelled
Oct 5		Olympen Lund
		cancelled
		According to a Swedish article the tour was cancelled due to Mick & Topper claims they had rights to the name The Clash, so if Joe & Paul played these gigs they had to share the money the made on these gigs with Mick & Topper!

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