The Clash’s First Toronto Show at the Rex Danforth

On February 20, 1979, The Clash made their Toronto debut at the theatre then known as the Rex Danforth. The building is now the Danforth Music Hall, tying an early Canadian date to a room Toronto audiences still use.

Photographers Nick and Simon White documented the performance. Their images later formed part of a retrospective that returned attention to the band’s first visit. Contemporary memories and the surviving photographs keep the event anchored to this particular theatre.

It was the Clash’s first Toronto show, not their first Canadian appearance: the North American tour had begun in Vancouver. Keeping that distinction gives the Danforth its precise place in the story, as the room where Toronto first saw the band.

Explore The Danforth Music Hall on CouchLot.

Sources: coremagazines.com; file.garden.