1978 was the year that Punk broke at
the Reading Rock Festival, with The Jam, Sham 69, Penetration, Radio
Stars, Patti Smith and TRB playing across the weekend. Chelsea
played on the Sunday (27th Aug) although Friday was billed as 'Punk Night' which was when The Jam had problems with their sound and trashed some equipment,
skinheads attacked hippies and trouble flared during Sham 69's set.
A 45 minute film; The Kids are United, or Kids Like Me and You as
it's sometimes called was made of some of the Fridays Punk night
proceedings, it's quite obscure and I've not come across a copy
before, although there are some clips of The Jam, Penetration and
Sham 69 from the festival on YouTube. Anyway back to Chelsea, can't
remember where I got this recording from, but respect to whoever,
dunno if it's the complete set, cos it's only six songs long. The
quality is not that great, can't hear Gene's vocals too well, but it
aint that bad, and it is what it is, which is a piece of punk
history. Get a bit here!
In the 1980s I had a copy of the video. I think it was from a BBC tv broadcast. It was mostly about Sham. I don't remember Chelsea or Jam being in the video. It's been a long time since I've seen it, though.
ReplyDeleteChelsea aren't on that video Bat. Sham and Penetration and I think The Jam were on the video. I've got it somewhere here.
ReplyDeleteCheers for this one Nuzz. Great band,shame about the football team of the same name!