laugardagur, janúar 10, 2009

Bands on Stage in Iceland - Part 2: The Clash

On 21. June 1980 The Clash gave a concert @ Laugardalshöllin Sports Hall, Reykjavik, Iceland. Here is backstage report I found online:

The concert was on June 21st 1980 in the Laugardalshöllin sports hall like most major concerts in Iceland. It was part of the Icelandic Arts Festival which is still held biannually. The hall was full, about 5000 people. The warmup band was Utangardsmenn ("The Outsiders") who were very big at the time. The band I play in now (not then), Fræbbblarnir, was supposed to play too, but at the last moment, the organisers decided they weren't "politically relevant" enough. Fuckers.
I went backstage to meet them. There was a queue a mile long for autographs. The first thing I saw was Joe, signing tits, arms, tickets and whatever like he was on an assembly line. "You look knackered, mate", I said. "You speak English?" he said. "Thank god. Sit down and have a cigarette. I'm not signing any more."
So we sat there for about half an hour, chatting about the Icelandic music scene and whatnot, sharing his cigarettes, beer and whisky, until it was time for the Clash vs. road crew football (soccer) game, an after-concert fixture. I sat on the sidelines and drank whisky with Mikey Dread who was the soundman for the gig, I believe. Now, the band were pretty uniformly useless at football, especially Mick, who pranced around in high heeled, white cowboy boots and fell over a lot. The band went on to beat the roadies for the first time in living memory, so I was well chuffed.
Source:
http://homepage.mac.com/blackmarketclash/Bands/Clash/recordings/1980/Clash%20in%20Hamburg%20LP/Clash%20in%20Hamburg.html
On the Fræbbblarnir Website:
The Clash @ Reykjavik Arts Festival
June 1980
When it became clear that no "big" name band was coming to the Reykjavik Arts Festival - we talked to Einar Örn and asked him if he could talk to Marcus and in turn get us in contact with PIL in order to get them here. Didn't turn out as we hoped for, but Einar, full of energy, managed to contact Clash. We wanted to be a support band. The Outsiders also wanted to support them. Great! Let both bands play. The Arts Festival agreed. Then it dawned upon them that we were not as hip as they thought. No socially aware lyrics. Not little, well behave commies like all aggressive pop bands were supposed to be. They decided to cut us out. Bastards. Clash coming to play and the door slammed in our face. All because of some political culture snob. Or lack of it. I didn't even go to the concert.
Source:
www.fraebbblarnir.com/saga-enska.htm

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