6th January 1979
All Mod Cons wins Best Album, The Jam are second Best British Band in the music press awards
9th January 1977
Recording session at RAK Studio London.
Songs recorded are Strange Town, The Butterfly Collector & Simon.
16th February 1979
Reading University
The Jam play a low key warm up gig prior to the small European tour. The gig was recorded by polydor for future release but only Standards saw the light of day on Dig The New Breed. The full gig was finally released in the Fire & Skill live box set.
20th February 1979
Start of a 9 date European Tour.
Berlin, Hamburg, Wiesbaden, Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Brussels,
6th March 1979
Ancienne Belguique -Brussels
The tour ended in Brussels and all that remained to be done before the band headed home was a taping of a TV appearance in Munich.
9th March 1979
Release of The Jams 7th single Strange Town / The Butterfly Collector.
It reaches no_15 in the UK chart.
15th March 1979
The Jam appear on Top Of The Pops to Play Strange Town
5th April 1979
The Jam appear on Top Of The Pops to Play Strange Town watch here.
6th April 1979
The Jam head off to North America / Canada for their 3rd over seas tour to promote All Mod Cons.
The venues were medium sized theatres with a capacity ranging from 1000 to 3000. The previous gigs had been much better in Toronto and Boston so they chose to start the tour from there. Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, New York, Cleveland, Detroit, Oakland, San Fancisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver.
7th April 1979
The band spend 2 full days rehearsing at The Rex Theatre Toronto.
9th April 1979
The band are interviewed at their hotel by The Toronto Globe &Mail
10th April 1979
The Rex Theatre Toronto Canada - First night of the tour.
12th April 1979
Paradise Theater - Boston
Promotion for this show was a taped interview for WTBS radio and a live interview for WBCN radio direct from the venue.
13th April 1979
Tower Theater - Philadelphia
The band visit 2 more radio stations for interviews
21st April 1979
California University - Los Angeles
The best audience reaction so far. The crowd smash up the seats and through them onto the stage.
4th May 1979
Sheffield University
The start of the fourth major UK tour. Originally to be called The Jam EM In Tour but went out as The Jam Pact tour taking on 15 dates in Sheffield, Newcastle, Salford, London, Loughborough, Exeter, Liverpool, Glasgow, Bristol, Birmingham & Portsmouth. All dates sold out weeks before the tour began.
18th May 1979
Strathclyde University
Unlike the previous shows on the tour this night was less than perfect. Plagued by sound problems and fighting within the crowd. The band were forced to stop during the fourth number, Its Too Bad , when a bottle was thrown at Bruce who angrily ordered security to "Get him out before I fucking come down there and sort him out" which was greeted by a hugh cheer from the crowd. Weller chips in If you want to throw bottles go out side and throw them, who then led the band back in to the middle either rather than starting the song from the beginning. Through out the gig the audience continued to cause concern while the band continually asked for their co operation to no avail.
19th May 1979
Strathclyde University
The sound problems from the second night have been sorted out and most of the audience behave.
The only event worth mentioning is the pyrotechnics used at the end of A Bomb to simulate a mock explosion had been overloaded and blew Rick clean of his seat, much to the amusement of Weller & Foxton.
21st May 1979
Colston Hall - Bristol
The troublesome explosive effects that closed each show were still causing problems. The band returned for an extra encore after the APOCALYPSE to a wall of smoke and you could not see the person standing next to you.
24th May 1979
The Guildhall - Portsmouth
The final gig of the tour and the band are on top form. Weller was caught off guard and embarrassed when the crowd sang Happy Birthday to him. The audiance were treated to three encores which included In The City.
June 1979
Paul Weller & girl Friend Gill Price take a holiday at Selsy Bay Caravan park. Due to the constant rain PW spent most of the time writing songs with his acoustic guitar. He allegedly wrote Eton Rifles, Saturdays Kids, Burning Sky, Thick As Thieves & Wasteland.
9th June 1979
The Jam headline at The Arts Festival in Saddleworth/Oldham.
The gig was in a large marquee so the explosive effects were placed outside for safety reason and to compensate for the distance between the stage and explosives the pyrotechnics increased the charge. As the band climaxed their set with the A-P-O-C-A-L-Y-P-S-E - APOCALYPSE !! The surrounding area of Saddleworth was treated to an almighty explosive din causing numerous complaints and visits from the emergency services, fearing the worse.
16th June 1979
The band attend the opening of Steve Brookes Music Shop.
19th June 1979
A one off session at The Townhouse Studios London to record Smithers Jones. The band version that appears on the B Side of When Your Young. That evening Rick drums at a Merton Parkas gig at Ronnie Scott's.
29th June 1979
A session at The Townhouse Studios London. Best Of Both Worlds was recorded
The song wasn't released until its inclusion on Direction Reaction Creation.
July 1979
Paul Weller records demos of the Eton Rifles & Saturdays Kids .
Both of these appeared on The Jam album Extras that was released in April 1992.
30th July 1979
A one off session at The Townhouse Studios to record When Your Young.
15th August 1979
The start of the recording sessions for their 4th Album Setting Sons.
The following songs are recorded. The Eton Rifles, See Saw, Wastland & Saturdays Kids.
17th August 1979
Release of The Jams 8th Single When Your Young / Smithers Jones.
It reached no_17 in the UK Charts.
20th August 1979
The Setting Sons sessions continue at The Townhous Studios.
Little Boy Soldiers is recorded.
1st September 1979
The band travel to Manchester to record 2 songs for a new music show called Something Else
5th September 1979
The Setting Sons sessions continue at The Townhouse Studios.
Thick As Thieves & Burning Sky are recorded.
20th September 1979
TV Broadcast of Something Else.
They perform When Your Young & the Eton Rifles watch here / here
1st October 1979
Demo Session at The Townhouse Studio London.
Girl On The Phone & Private Hell are demoed.
8th October 1979
The Setting Sons sessions continue at The Townhouse Studios.
Girl On The Phone is recorded.
10th October 1979
The Final Setting Sons sessions at The Townhouse Studios.
Private Hell & Love Is Like A (Heatwave) are recorded.
26th October 1979
The release of the Jams 9th Single The Eton Rifles / See Saw.
Reaching no_3 in the UK Charts. There highest position so far.
27th October 1979
A full page advert is displayed in the NME The Eton Rifles.
It also included tour dates and notification of a new album.
1st November 1979
The Jam appear on Top Of The Pops to play The Eton Rifles.
2nd November 1979 AM
The Jam record their 2nd session for John Peel at the BBC Maida Vale Studios.
When Your Young, The Eton Rifles, Saturdays Kids & Thick As Thieves.
Available on The Jam at The BBC 3 cd Box set listen here.
2nd November 1979 PM
The Marquee - London
After a 5 month break from performing live the band perform a secret gig under the name of Johns Boys to preview new songs to be released on their next album Setting Sons. Despite the under cover name word soon got out and the show sold out leaving hundreds of fans hanging outside around the venue which caused some fighting with the local Punks & Skins.
3rd November 1979
The Nashville - London
The second "secret" gig performed to another full house. There is some confusion over the band name on this occasion, some say it was The Eton Rifles while others claim it was La Confiture. Most fans were
left searching for Johns Boys. This caused less crowd congestion outside of the gig which passed without any trouble. The Jam also were also interviewed in the day for Rock On Radio.
5th November 1979
Eton Rifles is Played on the John Peel Show.
15th November 1979
The Jam appear on Top Of The Pops to play The Eton Rifles watch here
16th November 1979
The Jam appear on Capital Radio to talk about their Setting Sons album.
The Jams 4th Album Setting Sons is released reaching no_4 in the UK Charts.
17th November 1979
Aylesbury Friars
An unpublished date not advertised on The Setting Sons tour. A final rehearsal for the tour ahead.
18th November 1979
The start of The Setting Sons tour, 27 dates.
Poole, Manchester, Wolverhampton, Southampton, Birmingham, Stoke,
Bridlington, Deeside, Lancaster, Cardiff (cancelled) London, Newcastle, Glasgow,
Dundee, Edinburgh, Leeds, Blackburn, Cardiff(cancelled), Brighton, Portsmouth,
Leicester, Bath.
20th November 1979
The first of 2 nights at Manchester Apollo.
Day one is spent doing interviews at the Piccadilly Hotel . The 2nd day was spent signing autographs at the local Virgin record store.
22nd November 1979
Wolverhampton Civic Hall.
The band spend the afternoon at the local HMV record store signing copies of Setting Sons.
29th November 1979
Deeside Leisure Centre - Radio Interview on Radio Merseyside.
2nd December 1979
1st of three nights at The Rainbow.
The original tour ads had Cardiff for this date but the gig was rescheduled for 13th December.
3rd December 1979
A day signing autographs at Kensingtons Virgin record store and the 2nd night at The Rainbow.
4th December 1979
Its the last night at The Rainbow, so lets make it a good un for The Jam.
The famous show that was recorded and broadcast on The BBC. It also features on several bootleg albums and was finally released on the live at The BBC CD. Although the official recordings omit Billy Hunt and Little Boy Soldiers which were performed on the night and are present on the Polydor master.
6th December 1979
First of two nights at the Newcastle City Hall.
The band are interviewed at their hotel (Swallow Hotel) and then another interview at Radio Newcastle then onto Look Hear record store for signings.
8th December 1979
Glasgow Apollo
An afternoon signing session at Bruce's Records before the gig.
10th December 1979
The Odeon Edinburgh - Interview on Radio Forth
The Jam end they year with 2 gigs at The Pavilion in Bath on 20th & 21st December
