Wednesday 23 November 2011

Rétro: The Clash in France


With the word that French actress Julie Delpy is planning to make a biopic of Joe Strummer from the Clash, I thought it as good an excuse as any to run some historic footage of the Clash playing in France.

As original pioneers of the punk movement, the Clash were there at the very beginning, and that included events like the 100 Club punk festival in '76, when they played the day before France's Stinky Toys made their historic show.

The band played the Mont-de-Marsan European Punk festival in '77, an event organised by Marc Zermati, a hugely influential figure in the development of punk in France and its subsequent influence over bands from the UK and beyond.

It was the second time the event had been held, the previous year it had featured Bijou, Il Biarits, Shakin' Street and the Damned, whose appearance at the event was only their fifth gig.

The event was held the following year in the town's bullring in August 1977, this time the line up features the Damned and the Clash, as well as Eddie and the Hot Rods and - much further down the bill - The Police.

There's footage of the Damned from the show, but I've not been able to track down any video from the Clash, although audio recordings circulate and there was a bootleg LP of their set issued.

This clip is from French TV in 1977, with a very young Clash showing their style.

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