When the Clash walked onstage in Trinity’s grandiose Exam Hall for two explosive gigs in October 1977, it was a clash between a traditional institution and everything anti-institutional that punk embodied. Punk rockers spoke excitedly of the event afterwards and attendees remembered it fondly, but the media struggled to make sense of the scene. 

Punk rock music emerged in America in the early and mid-1970s and quickly made its way across the pond to England. Musically, it rejected the existing trajectory of rock and roll that relied heavily on technical ability and sonic experimentation. In contrast to progressive rock, punk rock took a do-it-yourself approach. If you have something to say, play – not the other way around. Lyrically, it reflected the social malaise and restlessness of the ‘70s. It targeted all forms of oppression and authority using highly specific references to people, places, and events. Arising from urban, mostly working-class London youth, bands like the Sex Pistols came to embody the values and rejection of values associated with punk. 

The Sex Pistols proved highly influential to other up-and-coming musicians, including the soon-to-be members of the Clash. The Clash only played their first gig in July 1976 but, from then on, they rapidly made a name for themselves with fast-paced, aggressive playing and lyrics that called out systemic injustice and encouraged direct action. Punk rock concerts were often disorderly, reflecting the brash nature of the music. As a result, many bands were barred from playing certain venues (only seven out of twenty-one gigs of the Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy’ tour went ahead as planned). Having supported the Pistols, the Clash set out on their own tour in 1977, which included a major gig in London’s Rainbow Theatre that erupted into a small riot. 

If 1976 was Year Zero, 1977 was Year One. Punk rock, to the dismay of the media, found unprecedented popularity and gained a cult following. The Sex Pistols’ anti-monarchist single ‘God Save the Queen’ was released to coincide with Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee but was subsequently banned by the BBC and RTÉ for its offensive lyrics. At the same time, both the Sex Pistols and the Clash signed major record deals. 1977 was thus a balancing act: the Clash had to ride the wave of momentum but remain authentic to their roots. 

In the autumn of 1977, the Clash embarked on the ‘Out of Control’ tour to mark the release of their debut album. Struggling to book venues in England, the band instead turned to Ireland. Belfast would be the first stop, then Dublin. Punk was fast and fleeting and had largely passed by Ireland until this point; few bands had been able to capitalise on the success of their English counterparts.
Nevertheless, punk rock found a receptive audience in Ireland. It adapted to suit the Irish context and became a unifying force amidst sectarian division, the ultimate act of defiance. By 1977, armed conflict had already lasted for a decade in Northern Ireland, and it had seeped into the music scene two years earlier when the UVF targeted musicians in the Miami Showband Massacre. Afterwards, few international bands were keen to play in Ireland, making the Clash’s visit all the more important. 

The Belfast concert was scheduled for October 20th in Ulster Hall. Newspapers framed it as a test of the movement’s strength. Tickets did not initially sell out, but anticipation was high – so high that the insurance company decided to pull out just as the crew had begun to set up equipment. While the insurance company cited outstanding fees, the band dismissed this as pure nonsense. More plausibly, they feared the event would erupt into violence. This it did, as punks staged a riot in the street, landing them on the front page of The Belfast Newsletter the next day.  A riot was not unusual for a punk rock concert or in the context of The Troubles, but it was an expression of a particular kind of youth disaffection. 

After the disappointment in Belfast, the Clash were happy to play in Dublin the next day. The College authorities, having read about the riot from the day before, did not want a repeat on campus, but the Students’ Union organising the event would not buckle under pressure. For £1.50 (equivalent to £12 today), a thousand students flocked to the Exam Hall to see the Clash play two sets with support from the Count Bishops. The gig marked the first time an international punk band played in Ireland. After overcoming the first hurdle of ensuring that they would be allowed to play, the gig proceeded without major commotion and left a lasting impression on the Irish punk scene. In the audience were members of U2, who would go on to reference the experience in later songs as having profoundly affected them.
Reading reviews of the gig reveals a generational clash. Critics observed from afar and analysed the whole ordeal as a visual spectacle. The irony of the setting did not go unnoticed, and they looked on in horror as students from the respectable Trinity College let loose for an exhilarating few hours. They unanimously agreed that punk rock was a fad that would soon go out of fashion like previous, tangentially-related subcultural movements. There was no substance to it; it had everything to do with appearance. In trying to make sense of the movement’s growing popularity, they acknowledged its revolutionary undertones and calls for social change but concluded that lyrics were only “supposedly political”. 

Outside traditional media, punks had begun to produce their own news outlets, DIY-style. Fanzines like the English Sniffin’ Glue and the Irish Heat Magazine were scrapbooks of photographs, cutouts, and hand-written articles with no regard to conventional grammar. In their own words, the Clash concert came at a crucial moment in time for Irish punks. Joe Strummer’s rapport with the crowd was a form of acceptance and a confirmation that Ireland was part of the greater punk rock scene. The gig brought people together, revealing the strength of the movement. Later, Strummer said of his time in Ireland that “between the bombings and shootings, the religious hatred and the settling of old scores, punk gave everybody a chance to LIVE for one glorious, burning moment”. 

As much as they rejected the notion, punk was gradually subsumed into the mainstream, and the conditions of 1977 that prompted the gig were never replicated. TCDSU went on to book both the Stranglers and the Buzzcocks, but it was the Clash who paved the way. In the following years, the Clash found greater commercial success in America and beyond, and punk rock as a whole began to incorporate more polished elements, transforming into new genres of music that drew heavily on both its ethos and sound but did not pack quite the same punch. It is difficult to imagine a band like the Clash playing in the Exam Hall today. Alternative music is no longer an alternative, and with T-Ball tickets selling for nearly €100, the point of concerts no longer seems to be to defy and disrupt. All is entertainment.