There were other, earlier key gigs that feature in the punk rock creation myth.... the Pistols at the Marquee in February 1976 'Don't look over your shoulder, but the Sex Pistols are coming', the Lesser Free Trade Hall gigs in June and July which carried the punk torch that ignited Manchester, The Black Swan in Sheffield on 4th July with the Pistols and The Clash, not forgetting the Screen on the Green gathering in Islington in August. The list is quite a long one.... the bans had yet to arrive!
However, the Daddy of all of those seminal early gigs has to be the two night 'Punk Rock Festival' hosted by Oxford Street's 100 Club. Other gigs to date had paired two or even three of these 'new music' bands, but until the 100 Club event no gig had pretty much gathered together under one roof all of the punk talent as it existed in the Autumn of 1976. There is of course a notable exception, but bear in mind that this event occurred just a few weeks after the trouble flared at Dingwall's.
The line up ran as follows:
Monday 20th SeptemberSex Pistols
The Clash
Siouxsie (billed as Suzie) and the Banshees
Subway Sect
Tuesday 21st SeptemberThe Damned
Buzzcocks
Chris Spedding & The Vibrators
Stinky Toys
At the 50th anniversary gig a couple of weeks ago, during the John McKay's Reactor set, Jen (the JMR singer) asked whether there was anyone in the audience who had been there back in 1976. A couple of people shouted yes (and it wasn't TV Smith or Marco who shouted... I believe that Gaye was also in the venue... she didn't should either). They were very lucky.
Witnesses to these two legendary nights are few, the venue is small with a capacity of about 400 tops. However, despite the primitive (not to mention bulky) nature of audio recording equipment that was available in the mid-'70s, at least five of the bands on the bill had their sets recorded by members of the audience. The Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Banshees and The Vibrators were captured on tape for posterity.
Admittedly, all of those recordings fall some way short of pristine. Can you imagine it, bodies launching in all directions, the heat generated by 400 bodies in a confined basement space in what was the hottest UK summer on record (air conditioning was something to only be experience by the millennial generation much later!). These conditions are not compatible with good sound capture. On top of it all there is the unusual configuration of the venue, the stage is long and shallow such that the band occupy a small part of the stage around the central part of the venue. Oh, and the supporting pillars don't help either. Another 'Who: Live At Leeds' was never on the cards!
With all of that said, these gigs were worth recording. I mean this was the Banshees first ever gig... and the only one with that line up (Sioux, Severin, Pirroni and Vicious).
In preparation for the posts that will follow, I looked to hunt down some contemporary reviews of the gig and found one from Sounds written by Giovanni Dadomo. New Musical Express seemed to miss out on this one, whilst Caroline Coon wrote an extensive piece for Melody Maker (but I don't have it unfortunately).
It is clear from his review that Dadomo was bitterly disillusioned by the scene, or more accurately, the violence that it attracted, to the extent that the music did not feature in his copy. Indeed, the Festival gained infamy, it being marred by an incident in which a girl was blinded in one eye after a glass, believed to have been thrown by Sid Vicious, shattered against one of the aforementioned pillars. Vicious was subsequently arrested and punk bands were banned from playing the venue, even before Dadomo's article reached the printers.
Sounds (2nd October 1976)
High dummy count flunks punks Punk Rock FestivalLondon
By far and away the most discordant sounds to be heard during the 100 Club's two day 'Punk Rock' festival last week were the crunch of bone on bone and the clatter of broken glass. Violence, in other words, was the hideous keynote.
Monday's flow of events was interrupted about half-way through when simultaneous brawls broke out on both sides of the stage. Things were quickly brought under control – however and had it stopped there – with the major casualties being a broken table and a score or so of beer mugs - one could have
dismissed the night's least enjoyable spectacle as unfortunate and almost inevitable at an event where lots of kids drink a little too much in a cramped and darkened room. No fun, to be sure, but hardly unique.
Unfortunately, this was not to be, Tuesday bringing with it an even nastier outbreak of violence which resulted in at least three people receiving hospital treatment and a number arrests. A side effect of the two nights' events was that the club's directors have now banned groups like the Pistols from ever
playing the 100 again, therefore reducing the number of central London venues available by some hundred percent.
A great pity, right? But then who can blame them really – like attracts like and the chances of such incidents ultimately resulting in a fatality must have been a major factor in the club's decision. Result? Everybody loses club, bands, and audiences.
So, who's to blame and, even more important, how can such unpleasant events be avoided in future?
Considering that their set on Monday night was exemplary in its professionalism, it, seems almost unfair to lay most of the blame at the Pistols' door. Unfortunately, it happens to be true that most of the band's current notoriety stems directly from their image as young villains, something their PR has exploited to the hilt (consider only the staged punch-up photo which appeared on the cover of 'Melody
Maker' a few weeks back). Almost inevitable therefore that they should attract all manner of fringe psychopathics and that this idiot minority (like those people who've made insecurity an integral part of the live reggae scene) should screw things up for everybody.
What it boils down to is this: it's all very well to preach the causes of nihilism and anarchy and wear armbands -marked 'chaos' as long as all it is is the latest fad. Trouble with 'anarchy' though is it's no hula hoop – it hits back. I'm sure John Rotten no more relishes the thought of having his head split open at his next gig than I do. But the terrifying truth of it is that right now it's a highly likely probability for both of us.
My apologies therefore to all the people who played good rock 'n' roll those two nights (and I'd include the Pistols alongside Chris Spedding, The Vibrators, Damned and Clash) but the truth of the matter is I just don't feel up to reporting it. Because all I can think about is a girl with an eyeful of broken glass. A tragedy is what it Is, a fucking tragedy.
Christ knows if it'll help by saying this but I'm sure the pressure would cool considerably (and remember - the bands are in as much danger as those people on the floor) if the aura of aimless violence surrounding the Pistols and, their followers were eased out. Maybe they could concentrate their energies on something constructive – like fucking or destroying the BBC, for example. Because if all the indignation about the mess the world's in only results in some poor chick getting her eye chopped up then count me out, I just don't want to know any more.
And I know I'm not the only one. - GIOVANNI DADOMO.·
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