Friday Clash at Shea

Coinciding with the end of Shea Stadium (and yet another Mets season), there's one shiny memory bit that's surfaced. This week, Epic released "The Clash: Live at Shea Stadium," the recordings of the 1982 concert where they opened for the Who.

In this AP story, Mick Jones and Paul Simonon recall their meetup with the headliners slightly differently:

Clash bassist Paul Simonon recalled the Who's Pete Townshend coming into the dressing room to kick a soccer ball around, but Roger Daltrey "wouldn't talk to us."

Jones is more gracious in his memory, saying he "adored" the Who and was honored to play on the same bill.

"There was a certain element of passing on the baton," he said. "They were on one of their farewell tours and we were an up-and-coming group. We came from the same area of London so we felt there was some kind of a bond. That was probably why we were asked to do it."

One speculation about why the show was recorded in the first place is that the band was filming the video for "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" (for the record, one of my least favorite Clash songs).

Doesn't make a lot of sense, but while I wait to get the record (even in these peanut-butter-and-tortilla times) here is the video in question, with footage of the band arriving in the grotty parking lot and a live version of the song. Ah, Queens. Ah, Shea.

Comments

[Kiko Jones]

I'm not ashamed to admit I've always loved this song--and the video--although at that frenetic pace much of the tune's vibe is squeezed out.

Sadly, this was the beginning of the end for The Clash: Jones' firing, the Cut The Crap album, and the band's dissolution came shortly thereafter.

I think it was upstate NY indie rockers Too Much Joy--the same ones who were jailed for performing a cover of Two Live Crew's Nasty As They Wanna Be album onstage in FL--who had a lyric that stated "Every band must be shot/before they make their Combat Rock" but they had no idea Cut The Crap was on the horizon. Ha!

Hopefully Live at Shea Stadium will be a worthy document of a band still at the height of their powers but veering closer and closer to the edge of collapse.