Joe Strummer's Clash City Shocker

VH1.com
By C. Bottomley
6/2000

If you were hoping to witness a Clash reunion sometime this millennia, it's not going to happen, at least this month. Joe Strummer has pulled out of a tribute concert to the punk poet Ian Dury that would have seen him perform on the same bill as Mick Jones and Nick "Topper" Headon. Strummer was worried he would have been railroaded into playing with Jones, Headon, and Paul Simonon as the Clash for the first time in 18 years.

"It's a delicate situation," said Strummer's manager. "The last thing [Joe] wants to do is offend the memory of Ian Dury or offend the charity. His concern was to raise money for cancer. He never planned for all this fuss."

Those who purchased tickets for the June 16 concert at London's Brixton Academy will still see Jones and Headon perform. However, the two are unlikely to play together. Mickey Gallagher, a keyboardist with Dury's band the Blockheads, told the Web site www.blockheads.co.uk that Jones would sing "I'm Partial to Your Abracadabra" from his 1977 album New Boots and Panties!!

The concert, Gallagher said, "will involve the Blockheads as a house band for singers such as Robbie Williams to sing 'Sweet Gene Vincent' and 'You're the Why' [the last song Ian wrote and the one the band sang at his funeral service], Mick Jones of the Clash singing 'I'm Partial to your Abracadabra,' [and] Suggs of Madness will do 'My Old Man.'"

Other performers slated for the concert are Neneh Cherry, Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, Saffron of Republica, and Wreckless Eric, a new wave icon who was a friend of Dury's and performed with the Blockheads as the Captains of Industry. No confirmation was given as to whether Paul Simonon will appear. However, a Clash spokesperson said Simonon was the Clash member closest to Dury.

Proceeds from the concert will go to Cancer BACUP, which distributes information about the disease to cancer patients and prepares them for medical treatment.

Robbie Williams, best known in the U.S. for his ballad "Angels," has also agreed to take over from Dury as an ambassador for UNICEF. The announcement was made during a charity dinner in London. "I can't take Ian's place - nobody could," said Williams, "but I am going to try my best and just be me." Williams had accompanied Dury on a UNICEF mission to Mozambique.

"During my last trip I met so many kids who gave me reason to smile," Williams continued. "Now, through UNICEF, I want to be able to give them something to smile about too."

Gallagher also told the Blockheads Web site, "There is a tribute album more or less in the same vein on the cards for September called 'Brand New Boots and Panties,' which will have contributions on it from Robbie Williams, Paul McCartney, Neneh Cherry, Madness, Billy Bragg, [comedian] Keith Allen, and more."

Dury, a leading pub rocker who hit the English charts with songs like "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" and "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll," lost a long fight with cancer in March.

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