1st January 1981
The band appear on a New Yeas Day Special of Top Of The Pops.
They perform Going Underground watch here.
10th January 1981
The Jam feature on the front page of Record Mirror after sweeping the polls in their Rock & Pop awards.
14th February 1981
The Cricketers Woking - Billed as The Jam Roadcrew
50p entrance fee donated to local charities. Unsure of who was playing, fans turned out hoping to see a performance by The Jam. The bands Road Crew did perform a short set and the overcrowded venues atmosphere of tension and anticipation turned into excitement as The Jam turned up albeit quite drunk and performed a comical five song set. It was a lively evening with Bruce being dragged across the bar and being informed he wouldn't look good on TOTP with a back eye, meanwhile Ricks car was being stripped of anything removable by fans wanting a keep sake which included the number plates and wing mirrors.
16th February 1981
Woking YMCA - The second fund raiser to feature The Jam playing to just 200 fans.
17th February 1981
Sheerwater Youth Club - The last of the three Woking fundraisers saw the band play to a much smaller audience. With these three dates under their belts the band booked a further three low key dates to act as a warm up for the forthcoming European tour. These dates were 21st Norwich Uni, 22nd Nottingham Uni, 23rd Crawley Leisure Centre.
24th February 1981
At the British Rock & Pop awards The Jam win.
PW refused to get up leaving Bruce & Rick to collect their award without him.
26th February 1981
Extension of the European Sound Affects tour with an extra 13 dates kicks of in Paris at The Pavilion Baltard. Around 500 English fans travel with the band on coaches on the cross channel ferry which was organised by John Weller, arriving around 10pm with fans heading off to find accommodation the band booked into the Meridien Hotel. The day of the gig has a hectic scheduled with photo shoots, and radio interviews. During the afternoon a large number of English Fans and French Skinheads managed to get into the venue for the soundcheck and due to the adverse weather they were aloud to remain inside until the gig started. This caused tensions and lots of fights erupted. By the time the band arrived on stage the tension was at boiling point and the gig was interrupted several times with Weller calling the French , Animals and tied a Union Jack to his mic stand. At the end of the gig the English fans are advised to stay in the venue. The band stayed and ensured all the fans safely made it onto their coaches for the trip home.
6th March 1981
Mixing business with pleasure the band enjoy a sight seeing trip in Hamburg before performing in Hannover, Hamburg and Berlin.
8th March 1981
The Metropole Berlin. Before the show the band are interviewed for British Forces Radio.
16th March 1981
Studio 44 - Rouen France. The final date of the European tour was not without incident. A handful of English fan who had traveled from Amsterdam received a beating from the French locals but this time help was on hand from tour manager Kenny Wheeler who almost single handily took all the French out. The gig was by far the best of the tour and the band performed three encores.
April 1981
The Band record Funeral Pyre & Disguises at Phonogram Studios London. Disguises is a Who cover.
22nd April 1981
PW is interview by Paulo Hewitt for Melody Maker magazine.
23rd April 1981
The band film the video for Funeral Pyre in Woking.
25th April 1981
The band rehearse for their Liverpool unemployment charity gig.
27th April 1981
The Royal Court Liverpool. The Jam perform a one off Benefit concert for Liverpools Unemployed.
This gig marked the start of The Jam supporting a number of causes including CND and Right To Work Marches.
13th May 1981
Aichi Kinro Kaikan - Nagoya The Jams second visit begins in this downtown theatre which was full but only held 500 people. They performed at 7.30pm. The 4 date tour was asked for personally by the band just 10 months after their first visit.
20th May 1981
5th Tour of America & Canada. 6 dates.
Montreal, Toronto, New York, Boston
23rd May 1981
The Concert Hall Toronto.
A throwback to the nightclub days of 1977 as the The Jam play to a dangerously overcrowded hall.
A brief but well written review in the Toronto Mail describes a vintage Jam performance.
26th May 1981
The Ritz New York.
After flying to NYC and settling in at The Plaza Hotel they hold a two hour press conference during the afternoon. The gig kicks off just before midnight.
27th May 1981
The Jam are interview and play live on New York's Tomorrow Show.
Funeral Pyre & Pretty Green Interview / Funeral Pyre / Pretty Green
29th May 1981
Release of The Jams 12th Single Funeral Pyre/Disguises
It reaches no_4 in the UK Charts.
10th June 1981
Grona Lund Stockholm. The band perform to several thousand in a amusement part.
12th June 1981
Borlanger Sweden. The second of the two Swedish dates in the city of Borlanger and not Varnbol as originally planned.
17th June 1981
The Rainbow London.
The start of a mini tour originally intended to take in seaside towns and promoted under the banner of The Bucket and Spade tour.
30th June 1981
Magnum Leisure Centre. A switch of venues from the Pier Ballroom.
July 81
The band book into Poloydor Studios. They record a Small Faces cover of Get Yourself Together.
4th July 1981
Market Hall Carlisle.
Following their performance a number of fans gather outside the Crest Hotel hoping to get a glimps of the band but they were advised by the road crew that the band were elsewhere attending a party. In reality the band were asleep in bed as Paul Weller stated when questioned by a fan on a radio one phone in that was broadcast on October 25th.
8th July 1981
Guildford Civic Hall.
The end of another successful tour finishing conveniently close to home although PW was not completely happy as he explained in a fan club letter. "It will be great to play some new songs that was missing from the Summer 81 fun tour (WHAT FUN?) tour.
10th July 1981
The Jam record a session for Radio One's Peter Powell.
The band take a four month break from touring for holidays and to record new material.
August 81
The band book into Air Studios London. They demo Not Far At All / We've Only Just Started.
19th August 1981
The Jam book into Air Studios London and record Absolute Beginners, Tales From The Riverbank & Every Little Bit Hurts.
31st August 1981
The band attend a photo shoot for Absolute Beginners in Chiswick Park.
The photographer was a fan Derek D'Souza (get his JAM book here)
5th October 1981
PW is interviewed and The Jam perform 3 songs on Swedish TV.
Absolute Beginners, Tales From the Riverbank & Funeral Pyre Watch here
October 81
The band book into Air Studios. Circus and Ghosts are recorded.
14th October 1981
Paul Weller launches his own record label. Respond Records.
16th October 1981
Release of The Jams 13th Single, Absolute Beginners, Tales From The Riverbank
It reaches no_4 in the UK Chart.
22nd October 1981
The Jam appear on Top Of The Pops. They perform Absolute Beginners watch here.
23rd October 1981
The Rainbow London.
A guest appearance interrupting their break from live work at a CND benefit.
The set featured Sweet Soul Music and Sandy Shaw's Long Live Love.
24th October 1981
Finsbury Park London.
The Jam demonstrated publicly their support for the CND movement performing two sets from the back of a wagon. Some footage can be seen here
25th October 1981
The Jam perform & are interviewed on BBC B15 Radio
Absolute Beginners, Tales From The Riverbank, Funeral Pyre, Sweet Soul Music.
November 1981
The Jam book into Air Studios. They record Happy Together.
1st November 1981
PW is interviewed on Capital Radio
7th November 1981
The band are interviewed on Saturday morning children's TV programme Tiswas
21st November 1981
PW features on BBC Radio 1's My top 12
23rd November 1981
The band book into Polydor Studios London .They record a demo version of Precious.
30th November 1981
PW takes part in the Poetry Olympics.
December 81
The band record A Town Called Malice At The Air Studios.
The Jam advertise four pre Christmas shows
19th December 1981
The Jam perform for fan club members only at Golders Green Hippodrome.
The gig was recorded by BBC and broadcast in February 1982
CHRISTMAS 1981
Over the Xmas break PW writes more numbers for The Gift Album.
The Jam also make a clean sweep in the NME readers awards for 1981.
