The Clash Newcastle Mayfair June 12th 1980
Support Joe Ely
(And a trip to the City Hall to see Rush)
This was one of those nights were I was torn between two gigs. Rush were playing at Newcastle City Hall and The Clash were playing at Newcastle Mayfair on the same night. I already had a ticket for Rush, I was going with a group of mates, and the gig was sold out, when The Clash gig was announced. What a dilemma for me! I hadn’t missed a Newcastle gig by either band; what could I do? I decided to buy a ticket for The Clash and try and times things so I would see both bands. Now on the rare occasions I have tried to do this, it usually hasn’t worked out very well, and I’ve ended up not enjoying either gig that much. So on the night of the gig(s) I went along to the City Hall with my mates to see Rush. This was the Permanent Waves tour, and my mates were big Rush fans who couldn’t believe that I would leave the gig early to see The Clash. But thats exactly what I did. 
The norm at The Mayfair was for the band to take the stage around 10pm at that time, so I watched around one hour of The Rush gig then drove down the road to the Mayfair to see The Clash. By then I had missed support act Joe Ely. In fact I arrived in the venue just as The Clash had started the first song of the night. I always find is strange entering a gig late. Its like coming into a party uninvited when everyone is already drunk. Picture this. I enter a packed ballroom, The Clash are playing Safe European Home, and the place is going nuts. I stood on the balcony and wandered around the place, taking it all in. The Clash played much longer that night than the previous times I’d seen them. Of course by 1980, they had a much larger repertoire of songs to draw from. They were great as usual, but I didn’t see as much passion and energy as at the Newcastle Poly gig a couple of years before. I thought the gig dragged at times, but picked up towards the end, and the place went nuts when they finished with White Riot. So my aim of taking in two gigs on the same night sort of worked, although I didn’t see that much of Rush, and couldn’t really get into their set as my mind was more focussed on getting my timings right in order to catch The Clash. Setlist: Safe European Home; Jimmy Jazz; Revolution Rock; The Guns of Brixton; Train in Vain; London Calling; Spanish Bombs; (White Man) In Hammersmith Palais; Somebody Got Murdered; Koka Kola; I Fought the Law; Jail Guitar Doors; Hit the Road Jack; Police and Thieves; Clampdown; Stay Free; English Civil War; I’m So Bored With the U.S.A.; Complete Control; Armagideon Time; Tommy Gun; London’s Burning; Capital Radio; What’s My Name; Garageland; White Riot.
17 Jul
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by adam finnigan on July 16, 2020 at 2:09 pm
was there, superb gig, 1 and only time I saw the clash, they’d overtaken the who and the stones as the worlds greatest rock n roll band & I remember the place going nuts to complete control – C O N, CONTROL! shout out to Joe Ely as well, honky tonk masquerade was/is a great album, and a favourite at the time; btw, I actually saw rush the following night at the city hall, or at least I thought I did, but by what youre saying it was the same night, must be getting my years mixed up
Posted by vintagerock on July 16, 2020 at 3:05 pm
Hi Adam
Yes Rush played 2 nights; unfortunately I had tickets for the 1st night so I tried to squeeze both acts into one night and sort of succeeded.
The Clash were superb
Happy days Peter
Posted by adam finnigan on July 16, 2020 at 2:14 pm
just googled it, rush played 2 nights, excellent, I’m not going mad, lol
Posted by Adam Finnigan on July 16, 2020 at 5:07 pm
indeed they were, great blog mate, not lived in the north east for many years now but I think we went to a lot of the same shows way back in the jurassic era lol, great stuff
Posted by vintagerock on July 16, 2020 at 5:32 pm
Happy days Adam where did all the time go? Peter
Posted by Adam Finnigan on July 16, 2020 at 10:19 pm
couldn’t agree more Peter, I moved from Newcastle to Brighton nearly 30 years ago but I still get back to ‘the toon’ every now and then to see family & friends, I can’t believe they got rid of the mayfair, didn’t anyone get a petition together lol, Friday night was a classic, I can’t even remember all the bands I saw over the years in the 70’s and early 80’s, but it was an amazing night out, do you remember barbecue express on Percy street? sausage & chips, pie & chips or chicken & chips…amazing variety lol…but that’s where we used to head for scran post ballroom; great days!!
Posted by vintagerock on July 17, 2020 at 11:51 am
Hi Adam the Mayfair is sadly missed. So many great bands passed through those doors happy days Peter