Watch Sex Pistols with Frank Carter pay tribute to Blondie’s Clem Burke: “Tonight is for Clem and for friendship”

Sex Pistols and Frank Carter have used their show in Sydney to pay tribute to Blondie drummer, Clem Burke. Find footage below.

It comes after news of the artist’s death was shared on Monday (April 7) via a statement from his bandmates frontwoman Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. In their tribute, they described the sticksman as the “heartbeat” of the group, and revealed that he died aged 70 following a battle with cancer.

From there, countless tributes began to flood in from fans and fellow artists, including moving responses shared by Tim Burgess, Dave Davies, Johnny Marr and more.

Last night (April 8), Sex Pistols took to the stage with Frank Carter, and dedicated the set to Burke, who was a close friend of the band for many years.

“Good evening Sydney,” the frontman said at the beginning of the show. “Very quickly I just want to take a moment to dedicate this show to an amazing man and a friend of the lads, Clem Burke. An incredible drummer who sadly passed away yesterday.”

He continued: “Tonight is for Clem and it’s for friendship.”

The footage was shared by the band’s bassist Glen Matlock – who had worked alongside Burke for many years as a member of Blondie.

As well as the footage from the gig, Matlock also shared an image of the two of them together and paid his respects following news of the death.

“Such a sad news couple of days. What a drummer, what a friend, what a guy. Will miss you big time mate,” he wrote in the caption.

Burke joined the line-up for Blondie in 1975, and was credited with keeping the group together after they considered disbanding following the departure of original bassist Fred Smith.

While he was most widely known for his work with the band, he did go on to work with many more massive names in the industry while Blondie were on hiatus between 1982 and 1997. This included temporarily joining the Ramones under the name Elvis Ramone, acting as drummer for The Romantics between 1990 and 2004, and playing alongside Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Pete Townshend and Eurythmics.

Both Burke and Matlock worked together in the line-up for Iggy Pop, and in 2011 they teamed up again to form a band called The International Swingers. The line-up also featured James Stevenson from Chelsea, Generation X and Gene Loves Jezebel, and Gary Twinn from Supernaut and Twenty Flight Rockers.

Back in 2023, Matlock caught up with NME backstage at Glastonbury to recall his time working with the iconic drummer and how he came to collaborate with Blondie for the first time.

I think I met them first when I did a for-one-night-only gig with Sid Vicious at the Electric Ballroom in ‘78 or ‘79,” he said. “Blondie turned up as a band, and I think that’s when I met Clem [Burke] and Debbie [Harry] for the first time.

“What I thought was quite sweet about them was that when bands go on tour and have a night off, everyone tends to filter off somewhere – but they always seemed to be out and about as a band. I thought that was good.”

He also said he decided to get back with Blondie when received an unexpected phone call from drummer Clem Burke.

“I was in the middle of doing my risotto, it was nearly ready, then the phone rang, I had a mate round so stirred it for me,” said Matlock. “I told Clem, ‘My risotto is nearly ready and you’re spoiling it, so get on with it’.

“He said, ‘We need a bass player’, I said, ‘I thought you got one’, he said, ‘It’s not working out, can you come over?’ I thought he meant in a couple of months but he said, ‘No, next week’. I said, ‘Ah, let me think’.

“I did overnight and I knew I should. I’ve worked with Clem on loads of things over the years – some alright, some a bit hair-brained – but we play well together and I love Blondie’s material. They’ve got a great body of work and they always seem to push the envelope somehow, slightly. They also have good basslines.”

The post Watch Sex Pistols with Frank Carter pay tribute to Blondie’s Clem Burke: “Tonight is for Clem and for friendship” appeared first on NME.