THIS DAY IN NEW YORK HISTORY
On October 12 and 13, 1982, the Clash opened for The Who at Shea Stadium. The Clash were touring support of their album Combat Rock. “Right away when we heard we were going to play there we thought
about the Beatles at Shea,” guitarist Mick Jones told the Associated Press.
“Everybody knew about it.” The band played fourteen songs in the rain:
London Calling
Police On My Back
The Guns of Brixton
Tommy Gun
Magnificent 7
Armagideon Time
Rock The Casbah
Train In Vain
Career Opportunities
Spanish Bombs
Clampdown
English Civil War
Should I Stay Or Should I Go
I Fought The Law
I didn’t see the Shea Stadium shows, but I did see the band about a month earlier at Pier 84. It was an amazing show, and when the rain began to fall — hard — at the end of the show, it seemed only to energize the band. There’s an account of that gig online here, along with descriptions of existing bootlegs of the show.
Meanwhile, the second Shea Stadium show has just been released on CD. According to Rolling Stone‘s review of the album, “the album captures a rousing, crystalline-sounding Clash show.” You can find out more about The Clash Live at Shea Stadium via this YouTube video:
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