The Clash On The Danforth: 40 Years Later

From Alone and Gone author Nick Smash...

It seems hard to believe but The Clash played their first concert in Toronto at The Rex Danforth Theatre 40 years ago next month.

During the month of February, The Toronto Public Library at Pape and Danforth will be hosting a photographic exhibition celebrating this hugely important event in Toronto's music history. The exhibition will be featuring some of the large format posters as displayed in 'Toronto Calling', the 2010 exhibition curated by Nick and Simon White at Steamwhistle Brewery. 1979 was a good year for fans of The Clash living in Toronto as they played 2 gigs while at the peak of their career. The first was at The Rex on February 20th and the second at The O'Keefe Centre  on September 26th.

CLASH ON THE DANFORTH AT THE LIBRARY will be a multi media format exhibition using large format photos, collage type posters, original artifacts, video screen photos and old school cassette tapes. I'll be getting back behind the lectern and pontificating about how great these gigs were and what they meant to their fans as the punk scene was changing. The opening night will be Friday (February 1) at The Public Library (701 Pape Avenue – just south of Danforth) from 7pm to 8pm.  Copies of "Alone And Gone" and "What You Don't Want Is What You Get" will be available.

Listen to The Clash's performance at The Rex in 1979 below.