[Today's album, as drawn randomly from the hat, was supposed to be another album but as HERC researched that record, he realized tomorrow would be a much better day to feature it as the last Album A Day for the foreseeable future. He reached back into the hat and came up with today's featured disc.]
There had been teasing glimpses into the legendary and much bootlegged 1982 concert captured on today's album before it's official release in 2008. A couple of the performances had been featured on the live compilation From Here To Eternity and the official video for "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" was filmed there at Shea Stadium as The Clash opened for The Who on a pair of rainy October nights in 1982.
But none of that had prepared HERC for what he first heard when he pressed Play. It was as if he was at the show albeit dry and warm but drenched in the music. It is one of HERC's very few regrets that he never had the opportunity to see The Clash live.
Arguably just past the apex of their creative and performing powers, The Clash stormed the stage that night, and as the show progressed, the largely disinterested growing crowd continued to come through the gates, there to see the headliners on their Farewell Tour. In the grand scheme of things, it could have been a symbolic passing of the torch from one of the greatest live bands of all time to the only band that mattered. It is indeed a cruel twist of irony that the so-called Farewell Tour turned out to be the first of several such treks, with The Who continuing to tour while The Clash imploded barely 18 months after this historical performance.
The complete performance from the second night on Wednesday, October 13, 1982, was brilliantly recorded and then remastered for this release - HERC admits it sounds a little too polished; not as rough and edgy as an Eighties punk concert probably should sound though the CD does lack dynamic range. (The vinyl version improves upon the sound quality.) But taken as released, Live At Shea Stadium is easily one of the Top 5 live albums HERC has ever laid his ears on, a timeless and monumental tribute to the magnificent band The Clash.
Listen to The Clash Live At Shea Stadium
on Apple Music
on Spotify
on YouTube
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