The 40 greatest concerts in Boston history: 9

The Clash | Harvard Square Theatre | February 16, 1979
By PHOENIX STAFF  |  October 25, 2006

concerts_9

Is this how the new wave ends: Not with a bang but with a Clash. By Ariel Swartley

clash
The Clash, way back when
The English press had declared punk rock all but dead and gone by 1979. But parts of America were warming up to the Clash, our appetites having been whetted since their first import singles started filtering across the Atlantic in 1977. So when Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon, and Topper Headon took the stage at the Harvard Square Theatre (no, it wasn’t a multiplex back then) and began their set with a well aimed “I’m So Bored With the USA,” they more than hit their mark. Talk about an audience ready to be preached to! We, too, were bored — not by the surfeit of killers on TV that bugged Strummer, but by a country mired in musical mediocrity. Give us those angry, harsh chords! We were up on our feet and on the seats immediately. When they invited us into “Janie Jones World” — a “getting-stoned world” — we followed happily. When they brought us to Jamaica for the class clash that was Junior Murvin’s “Police & Thieves,” we were glad to suck in the riddims and witness the imagined strife. When Topper hit the cannon-like drums and flashing lights for “Tommy Gun,” the place simply exploded. The Clash’s statement of purpose: “We’re a garage band/We come from garageland.” They made that garage the most happening of havens. Punk rock had truly arrived in Boston.
403938373635343332313029282726
252423222120191817161514131211
10987654321
<< Pearl Jam U2 >>

Were you there? Wish you were? Seen better? Tell us about it below.

  Topics: Live Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music,  More more >
| More


Most Popular
ARTICLES BY PHOENIX STAFF
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   MICHAUD FOR GOVERNOR  |  November 03, 2014
    However you’ve been following the race for Governor this election season, you’ve been hearing it from all sides, so we’ll make this one brief. We urge you to vote for Michael Michaud.
  •   ADVANCED BEAUTY LESSONS  |  November 03, 2014
    Described as a “body-positive visibility project,” Portland’s Jack Tar 207 is all about representation. Models are encouraged to bring their own clothing and personal belongings to the shoot, which owner-designer LK Weiss says brings out “a level of confidence that many people don’t feel in front of a camera.”
  •   LITERALLY LGBT  |  October 31, 2014
    A community-compiled list of important GBLTQ works through the years.  
  •   DEAR PROVIDENCE PHOENIX...  |  October 15, 2014
    Some made us chuckle, others made us choke up.
  •   BACK TO REALITY  |  September 18, 2014
    If you’re a student in southern Maine and are at all interested in arts and humanities, and have a budget of exactly $10 to spend on any one event, there’s a lot in your favor.

 See all articles by: PHOENIX STAFF