Supported byThe English Beat

updated 8 March 2007
updated 30 Dec 2008 - added punters comments
updated 5 Jan 2010 - added Boston tapes
updated 12 April 2011 - added better version of Boston Tapes
updated June 2024 added reviews and other bits

Audio 1 - soundboard recording

Original audio – flawed soundboard – flat - sound 3 – 86.36min - unknown gen? - tracks 22, ... misses Garageland.

Audio 2 - Wolfgangs Vault - Soundboard

Wolfgangs Concert Vault – Sound 4+ - 93.27mins – tracks 22
misses English Civil War

Audio to follow

Audio 3 - From Here To Eternity

FHTE – Pro Sound 5 - 20min - tracks 5

The From Here to Eternity tracks are; Clash City Rockers, White Man in Hammersmith Palais, London Calling, Magnificent 7, Know Your Rights. Two tracks were also used from the following night gig.

Audio 4 - Boston Tapes

13 tracks from the 7th - Sound 5 (best)

Audio to follow

Audio 5 - bootlegs

Boston Tapes LP - Pro Sound  5 – 38.45 min.– tracks 11 -
edit on Garageland

Boston Tapes CD – Pro Sound 5  - 46.29 min. -  tracks 13

CBS Live tapes

Quote,

"Eventually, via Jeff Jones at Legacy in New York, I contacted Bruce Dickinson who'd worked at CBS in the 1970s and 80s and was a fan of the band. He knew of a company in the States who specialised in archiving live radio tapes. They had two nights of the Clash at Bonds on Broadway and two nights in Boston."

A very good sounding recording that however suffers distortion which reduces its quality. It sounds as though it may have originated from the same source as FHTE, the official live CD.

Sound quality, source

The oldest source is of the whole gig from an assumed flawed soundboard recording and has a flat but decent sound and probably an analogue copy or two off the master. It does contain the only correct start to the gig (see below).  

The Boston Tapes CD has pristine pro recorded hifi sound and from the quality of the mix it is assumed the 13 songs were mixed by Bill Price for the band to make their final selection for FHTE. However, it excludes 3 songs that were used on FHTE. The Boston Tapes LP has slightly lesser sound and includes 11 songs running straight from The Call Up to an edited Garageland.

Comparison of the 2 songs included on both shows them to be almost identical except FHTE mix has a more pronounced bass.

The Wolfgang Concert Vault is mp3 sourced and is stereo hifi quality but raw and not pro-mixed with Terry’s drums a dull thud thud and generally the sound lacks spark.

Tickets

Pass

Wolfgang's Vault edits the start

The whole gig can be created from the best sources. Strangely the Wolfgang source edits the Morricone intro and adds in Joe’s “We’re The Clash, we come from England” from the next night’s show! The older source has all the intro and Joe’s actual words at the start, “Good evening and welcome, you people down here, wet paint, don’t touch its wet paint, wet paint! ..now Mr Mick Jones over here” The band then kick into an excellent London Calling in perfect  pro-sound quality on FHTE. Can only assume the Wolfgang Vault people edited out Joe’s concern for the audience; a warning about wet paint being considered not very rock’n’roll!

This London Calling was chosen from admittedly limited options by Bill Price and the band and it doesn’t disappoint. A comparison with the flatter duller Wolfgang source is revealing showing the significant benefit of a pro mixed sound full of great stereo detail and clarity. It’s for 1982 a fast, tight and urgent performance which sounds terrific. “..and you can’t win em all!” sings Joe working impressively through his range of vocal chops on the song. Mick’s lead guitar is strong and to the fore but it lacks his backing vocals and his solo is underwhelming, certainly better performances of the song previously but the sound quality assists and it’s undoubtedly hugely enjoyable. 

FHTE includes Joe’s’s intro to Know Your Rights, “It’s quite nice to be in a human kind of situation for a change [referring to the recent ice hockey stadium shows] and we’re hoping to enjoy ourselves making this public service announcement with guitar!”  Again, a very fine tight version which sounds terrific and is probably the best sounding live version. It could swing more but that’s not going to happen with Terry whose thump,thump heavy rock beat is mixed expertly (sounds significantly poorer on the Vault version). Joe’s in fine voice adding “these are your rights good citizens and it has been suggested citizens in some quarters that these are not enough!”

“White Man in the Palais dans Hammersmith” shouts Joe adding a French word for good measure! The third in a row version chosen for FHTE and again it’s clear why, a terrific performance. These 3 tracks alone confirming The Clash were far from a spent force with Terry (and also with relations between Mick and Joe/Paul by now very strained) at the end of this long scheduled tour. It benefits too from Mick’s backing vocals and it swings too, Joe in great voice “last train to Skaville” with a terrific extended ending coda exhibiting both Mick and Joes musical ‘chops’. “Why don’t you go down to Hammersmith tonight sounds like it could be alright, I went down, I went down looking for a rhythm, looking for a rhythm”

“Good evening Senor and Senoritas” Joe introduces the band and Rock The Casbah in Strummer Spanish. The best source is the Wolfgang Vault and the sound quality dips as a result but still hifi stereo quality, lacks the punch and detail of the pro sound mix and Terry’s drumming sounds more thump, thump, but it’s still a fine energetic performance with Paul adding backing vocals.

“Mr Paul Simonon with the Guns of Brixton” (WV). Mick’s effects and Paul scratching out the rhythm on Joe’s guitar to the fore. Always interesting live, the song allowing the band to stretch out musically, certainly not an exceptional performance but very enjoyable. Into Police On My Back (WV) another strong energetic performance, Mick’s voice a little buried in the mix. Drop down section again the highlight with the audience clapping along as Mick and the band bring it back up again for the final chorus.

With barely a pause its “Don’t you ever stop..” and the band crash into a strong Magnificent Seven (FHTE & Boston Tapes). Mick’s guitar sound on this leg of the tour is not his best and there are certainly many better versions but the sound quality is superb and it’s hugely enjoyable. “News flash coming over the wire, news flash from the Clash… don’t you stand there going to sleep! I know this song is 20 minutes, I know this song is fuckin’ long! Where is Magnificence? they said it was out there somewhere out on the road, … you get born, go back to school and don’t ask for any of this magnificence, but sir! Oh sir can you help me, make me feel that I’m alive. Hey who are you trying to kid, don’t you go looking for that kid, don’t you know that making sense is strictly out of order, truly reserved for the upper class!” Another Joe free-wheeling adlib, maybe not his most coherent but great fun!

“May I introduce Mr Terry Chimes on the drum kit, yeah swing it baby!” and the band bang out an excellent Janie Jones (Boston tapes) with Joe in great voice but backing vocals too far back. Straight into Career Opportunities (WV), with a “Falklands” reference followed by Train In Vain (WV) both fine but unexceptional.

“OK let’s turn the light on Mr Foster, so I can see the whites of their eyes. How many people here went to the Coliseum in Cape Cod, it sounds better in here doesn’t it, yeah I don’t know why we went  to the hockey rink anyway, how many times have we played in this hall? Anybody know? no more than twice?, I’m not even sure myself so this is the 3^rd , I don’t know why but certainly Boston is one of the better places for us in America [big cheer] I hope you realise in England  they hate us for going to America, they really think we stink a big one! I tell you they think we all have condominiums on the west coast and the east coast and in Miami, I don’t know, yah! Let’s play.. This is Radio Clash!” (WV)

A highlight; Joe wails mid song, plenty of effects, Joe and Mick’s vocal interplay is great and  Joe raps  near end as music drops down “to the left to the right, to the left to the right go back to urban Nam , do not stop , do not pass go, do not collect 200! [getting in a Monopoly reference!] Get on your back, get on your pack, get on down that road, this way, which way do they go – they all go to urban Vietnam!

Sound quality now great through to the end of the gig and The Call Up (BT) sounds terrific.  Mick’s guitar intro is great, as is the vocal interplay, Mick plays fast and loose with the solo brilliantly. Terry’s drumming sounds great here, production assisted but right on the money. It drops down for the recall part then Joe adlibs “E-i-iaddi-o what are we fighting for, well we just had Hovis and jam butties for tea, first time I had butter in my whole life! E-i-iaddi-o what are we fighting for” – leaving the audience wondering what Hovis and jam butties are!

The band then blast into a brilliant sounding Brand New Cadillac (BT) with great Mick fills, Joe’s impassioned vocals and the band really drive it along. Straight into an if anything more terrific  Somebody Got Murdered  (BT) with a great crescendo intro  as Mick conjures up another terrific variation, Terry’s drumming lacks some invention but again Mick & Joes vocal (and guitar) interplay sounds brilliant and contrasting, fast , frenetic, exhilarating as Joe barks over the final coda. Without time to take a breath it’s into a fine I Fought The Law (BT) with some brief sound issues.

“1-2, 1-2-3” shouts Mick at the start of the main set final song Clampdown (FT), here in all its sonic glory! An exceptional performance, sounds terrific, fast, frantic, frenetic on the edge; the Clash and the Opheum is burning. But later Joe sounds tired, there’s not enough reaction from the audience and there’s an instrumental section due as we know from the press review that Springa, singer with the Boston hardcore punk band SS Decontrol, attempted to jump on stage and knocked Joe’s microphone stand into his chest. A security man jumped into the crowd and Strummer quickly followed, looking for the culprit.

The recording captures the audience’s cheers as this happens and then as an exasperated fired up Joe returns shouts in desperation “begging to be melted down! ..yeah real tired of fucking around, well – l’m getting tired of flogging my arsehole, that down and down shit? yeah I need some  kind of authority? reaction, some kind of bullshit confirmation?? Let there be fucking drums! Joe roars and Terry obliges “Lord have mercy on us, yeah let us sing the gospel, until it breaks over?? let us sing the gospel!” Joe utterly involved, a cry of desperation and release of the frustration of the long tour. Whatever the causes, it’s a riveting performance.

The Wolfgang Vault source continues through the audience clapping cheering for more till the first encore begins with Armagideon Time (BT). Terry and Paul lead it off, then Mick’s guitar and effects, perfect sound; a long intro Terry tries out his range of percussion licks and Joe sounds focussed in a fine performance just lacking Strummer adlibs and Terry’s thump dominates, it needs more light and shade to be exceptional.

The twin guitar attack sounds great on Should I Stay or Should I Go, the performance from the 8^th though chosen for FHTE. Into I’m So Bored With The USA; a disappointing rather limp version. The short 1^st encore continues on WV with the audience shouts and claps for more before a fine sounding if unexceptional Straight To Hell; an extended Terry intro and Mick plays variations on his guitar lines, the solo though discordant and uninspired. The 8^th chosen for FHTE but Clash City Rockers was chosen. Not frequently played on this tour it seems to fire Mick and Joe up with great vocal and backing vocals; a highlight of the encores, urgent,  fast with Mick’s solo excellent. The gig ends on a high (but not with White Riot featuring regularly at this stage of the tour) with a driving passionate Garageland (BT) with Mick and Joe sharing vocals. “Thank you very much” says Joe as the band leave stage. 

The encores do not match the intensity of most of the main set; the press arguably right at least about the encores, although the aural evidence from the main set surely proves the detractors of this performance wrong. Hugely enjoyable and essential especially the pro-recorded songs. 

Half-speed Clash go through the motions at Orpheum

82 09 10 The Boston Globe Fri (Rev 7th Bost)

Clash: Sizzling, eloquent

The Boston Herald
Larry Katz

the balcony because was bouncing

David Subka [Boston] Think it was 82. We saw them at the Cape Cod Coliseum too. The roadies on the stage were pointing at the balcony because it was bouncing from everyone dancing. Good old Orpheum!

Robert Vosgien I was there, front row...getting spit on by Joe. Terry Crimes was the drummer.

We scalped dancefloor tickets for face

rydertix - I saw the earlier this tour (and on other tours) and the Providence show kicked ass.  Convinced my roomate to go to this show and we scalped dancefloor tickets for face and thought we were in for a treat. 

We both thought that the band was too drugged out and that the show was not great. It's shown up in bootlegs and a few songs from that (or the next) night on their live CD but in person, 10 feet from the stage, it wasn't a great concert. 

I've said for many years that my best concert of all time, out of the huge number I've seen, was the Clash and the worst concert, a few weeks later at the Orpheum, was also the Clash.

Boston Globe Review - Jim Sullivan

September 10, 1982

Half-speed Clash go through the motions at orpheum\ the clash - in concert at the Orpheum Theater, Tuesday night.

Author(s): JIM SULLIVAN Date:
September 10, 1982 Page: ?????
Section: ARTS/ FILMS

Tickets were being scalped outside the Orpheum for as much as $75 each. Inside, the atmosphere was charged with anticipation. Although the Clash, one of England's seminal punk rock bands, played three recent dates at Cape Cod and one at Providence, this was their first Boston appearance in two years.

Last time they tore down the house, making good on the oft stated claim that they were the rock 'n' roll band that mattered most. But at their second Cape Cod show they seemed tired, lacking both the aggression and the passion that drove them in the beginning.

Tuesday night at the Orpheum was Cape Cod redux. It was a better set than the Cape show - better sound, better choice of material ("Clash City Rockers," "Clampdown"), better use of video slides - but the intensity level wavered throughout. By the time they got to "Should I Stay or Should I Go?," a virtual rewrite of their first American hit single "Train in Vain," the feeling was that something had gone, sadly, awry. The band that once ripped into every song as if the weight of the world rested on the result, went through the motions.

Although it was satisfying to hear early ravers such as "Janie Jones," "Career Opportunities" and "Garageland," it was disturbing to hear their energy dissipated. The most charged moment came during the final pre-encore song, "Clampdown," as Springa, singer with the Boston hardcore punk band SS Decontrol, attempted to jump on stage and knocked singer/guitarist Joe Strummer's microphone stand into his chest. A security man jumped into the crowdand Strummer quickly followed, looking for the culprit. The other three Clashmen - guitarist Mick Jones, bassist Paul Simonon and drummer Terry Chimes - hung back, found a groove and waited for Strummer to make it back on stage. However dubious or ironic Strummer's motivation, it made the song's climax - "You grow up and and you calm down!/And you're working for the Clampdown!" - extra strong.

Tuesday's show was the next-to-last gig on the Clash's present North American tour, and, to be fair, some reports on what appears to be an erratic tour have been glowing. But this was my second night of the Clash at half speed and, to borrow a line from the Clash's "Safe European Home," "Don't want to go back there again."

The Clash are back on the road next month. They'll be playing at least four stadium dates (including New York's Shea Oct. 13 and 14) with the Who. "It should be quite interesting," said Kosmo Vinyl, Clash aide-de-camp. "The last group we supported was the Sex Pistols. I don't think it'll be quite the same."

Did you go? Comments, info welcome...

Info, articles, reviews, comments or photos welcome.
Please email blackmarketclash

They were truly The Only Band That Mattered.

Jeff : Attached you'll find a scan of the August 7th 1982 Orpheum Theater show review from The Boston Herald. Larry Katz got everything that Jim Sullivan of The Globe missed.
 
A few reflections from that period:
 
I was in high school at the time; it was the summer between my junior and senior years - 17 years old - The Clash provided the soundtrack.
 
We did the Cape Cod Coliseum road trip in August; fourteen of us loaded up two vehicles and headed "down the Cape" from just north of Boston. We had no place to stay; just a bunch of tickets to see The Clash (we eventually slept in the foundation of some not-yet-built house by some pond off some dirt road). That weekend was one huge party. We were all dressed in fatigues and had our group photo taken several times in the parking lot pre-show. Inside, on the floor, it was bedlam - survival of the fittest. Evert ticket was general admission. There was a constant flow of displacement, front to back, as concert goers escaped the crush and heat in front of the stage, and sought refuge in the open areas at the back of the floor, allowing others to fill in the gaps. We were riding a relentless wave of sweat and Busch Beer, moving toward the music. On-stage, the band was a glorious galvanic organism, and I viewed them with awe through a tangle of raised fists, and a haze of marajuana smoke.
 
The Orpheum was a little different in that we had assigned seats. I was able to concentrate completely on what was happening on stage without paying attention to what was going on in the audience around me. Nearly twenty-five years, and over 300 concerts later, The Clash at The Orpheum in 1982 is still the greatest single live music experience of my life. They were truly The Only Band That Mattered.
 
One thing I always remember about The Clash is that they always RAN to the stage. I may be wrong, but that is how I remember them, which, in my mind, is all that matters. It was like they were literally on fire and the only way to extinguish the flames was to deliver their message. They played as if they knew their time was short, and if they didn't get to the stage fast, someone might take the stage away. And as a fan you had to be ready to run with them or you were going to lag behind, and miss something special. I don't see bands don't run to the stage anymore.
 
I remember seeing The Stones at The Orpheum in September 2002 with my younger brother. There were a couple guys sitting behind us, they were a little older, and after Buddy Guy's opening set we got to talking about bands we had seen at The Orpheum. It was like a high-stakes poker game where you reveal one card at a time. I knew I had a great hand; Keith Richards, J Geils Band, Joe Jackson, Warren Zevon, Tom Waits. I waited till the end to lay down my trump card; when I mentioned The Clash, one of them said, "You saw The Clash !!?" I get that all the time. We were about to see The World's Greatest Rock n Roll Band at their first theater show on the Forty Licks Tour, and this guy wanted to hear about The Only Band That Matters.
 
One of my closest friends has been in a rock and roll coma for about the last fifteen years. Like so many people, he began to shut it down as the age of thirty approached. It's sad because he's my friend-the one who got me to The Orpheum in 1982, and because I can see him struggling to come out of his musical blackout (he's constantly asking me if rock n roll is dead). In November 1999, Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros played The Roxy in Boston. I went to my friend's bedside, held his hand, and whispered that Joe was coming...his eyelids began to flutter and his fingers closed tighlty around mine. For almost two hours, I saw my friend flying around The Roxy; jumping; dancing; singing; sweating; yelling, "THIS IS FUCKING UNBELIEVABLE!!!" Only Joe could do that. The spell lasted for about a week. Eventually my friend lapsed back into his deep musical stupor. I visit him whenever I download a great Clash show, and whenever a DVD resurfaces from the vaults. Some people say I should leave him be, others say to pull the plug. But it's worth it to see him revived for these short periods; he's my friend, and he got me to The Orpheum in '82.
 
London Calling has been my favorite album for twenty-seven years. It has held that distinction, without challenge, since its release. I recently conducted a poll of co-workers and friends of the twenty-five albums you would save if your house were on fire and you only had time to grab twenty-five CDs, Lps, cassettes etc (the key caveat being that the albums that you leave behind can NEVER be replaced). Twenty two people responded and London Calling (12) edged Born to Run (11) for the most-mentioned title. London Calling was also listed as number one on six ballots-the next highest was three (Born to Run).
 
When Joe Strummer died in December 2002 my phone rang off-the-hook. It was as if my only cool uncle had passed away and everybody was reaching out to make sure I didn't lose it. I almost called in sick to work on the 23rd. It was difficult. It still is. I miss Joe Strummer.
 
-Jeff

I found your website and it is great.

I have to say 2 things about the 1982 tour.  I was at the Sept. 7, 1982 show at the Orpheum and I actually agreed with the Globe review -- I thought they were tired and didn't have the same energy as other times I saw the Clash. 

I had just seen them August 28 in Providence and that was, and still is, the greatest show I have ever seen (beating an amazing show at Bond's NYC).  They had the crowd of 10,000 as one and played with such energy it was amazing. I wish somebody else had written down and posted the set list.

My roomate at the time wasn't into the Clash and I convinced him to go to the Orpheum show.  We scalped some dance floor tix for face value (to this day, I have no clue how we got the best tix in the theatre by just showing up and lucking into somebody selling), so we were 3rd standing row from the band. 

Seemed evident early on that they were tired (at the time I commented to my roomate that they seemed drunk or wasted) and it wasn't the same energy level.  The confrontation between Strummer and the stage jumper was unnerving and seemed to further sap the bands spirit.  Really, in my opinion, the Boston Globe reviewer was correct.  Sadly, that was my last Clash concert, but, in my mind, the Providence show was really the last time I saw the real Clash, the only band that mattered. Bob R < >

Setlist

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

London Calling 3:27 Know Your Rights 4:01 White Man in Hammersmith Palais 4:23 Rock The Casbah 3:37 The Guns of Brixton 4:45 Police On My Back 3:22 The Magnificent Seven 6:06 Janie Jones 2:24 Career Opportunities 2:04 Train In Vain 4:33 This is Radio Clash 4:33 The Call Up 4:49 Brand New Cadillac 1:55 Somebody Got Murdered 3:50 English Civil War I Fought The Law 2:38 Clampdown 4:24 Armagideon Time 5:16 Should I Stay or Should I Go 2:49 I'm So Bored With U.S.A. 2:39 Straight to Hell 6:45 Clash City Rockers 3:29 Garageland 3:29

Boston Tapes compliation

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13	London Calling 3:16 Janie Jones 2:15 The Call Up 4:47 Brand New Cadillac 1:54 Somebody Got Murdered 3:42 I Fought Low 2:36 Clampdown 4:23 Armagedion Time 4:59 Should I Stay Or Shoud I Go 2:47 I'm So Bored With The U.S.A 2:28 Straight To Hell 6:24 Clash City Rockers 3:26 Garageland 3:07