A music fan has laid out his plans commemorate an infamous Bury St Edmunds punk gig, which saw live music banned in the town for nearly 20 years.
Paul Johnson hopes to set up a pop culture and heritage festival titled ‘This Town’ designed to introduce new generations to Suffolk’s musical history and the hits of yesteryear.
The focal point of the festival will be a multimedia event marking the time The Clash came to Bury on July 14, 1978.
Paul Johnson is on a mission to ensure The Clash’s 1978 gig in Bury St Edmunds is not forgotten. Picture: Mark Westley
A poster with a QR code will allow the user to view content relating to the gig when scanned.
Mr Johnson is in talks with The Corn Exchange, now Wetherspoons – where the gig took place – to display the poster.
However, Mr Johnson is planning a string of other events as part of the festival, pencilled in for June.
How the Bury Free Press covered the aftermath of The Clash Gig in 1978
He told SuffolkNews of his ambition to recreate the popular ‘Camden Crawl’ in Bury, described as a cross between a pub crawl and a music festival.
Venues would host shows, events, nights out and family fun days over the course of a few weeks.
Mr Johnson said events would keep with a retro theme ranging ‘from rock to rave’, highlighting pop culture from the 1950s to the early 2000s.
Mr Johnson said: “Our plans are to make this its own thing, not exactly the same as the Camden Crawl, we want it to be unique.
Another concept for how the poster could look. Picture: Paul Johnson
“The important thing is ‘This Town’ could be any town – this isn’t just about Bury and we’re eager to bring this to any place that wants to get involved.
“It’s a celebration of our history and heritage and our pop culture. I want to make a people’s festival and offer something for everyone.
“There’s a lot of social history locally that’s worth knowing, so hopefully it will be informative and entertaining.”
One of the concepts for how the poster could look. Picture: Paul Johnson
The Clash’s show in 1978 has gone down in local history.
It was so rowdy, with punk rockers being accused of damage to property, drunkenness and public urination, that live music was banned in Bury until 1997.
Mr Johnson hopes to work with West Suffolk Council, Our Bury St Edmunds Business Improvement District (BID) and Greene King to make this dream a reality.
In addition, Mr Johnson hopes to organise a screening of The 2 Tone Story by Pauline Black, lead singer of ska band the Selecter, at Abbeygate Cinema, and expressed an ambition to host smaller events at Waterstones.
Mr Johnson said he was keen that these events would not cross over with the school holidays or the summer blockbuster season for cinemas.
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