The Who, The Clash, T-Bone Burnett

updated 9 jan 2010 -added photos
updated 18 May 2010 -added punters comments
updated December 2022 - added new master tape
updated June 2024 added tickets, reviews and advert, article

Audio 1

Sound 4 - 50min - low? - 16 tracks

Audio to follow

Sound quality

A recent new low gen tape with a good sound (below). All the elements come through well if a fraction subdued from this recording.

Like all outside gigs there is an emphasis on the low and high ends with a slight outside swirling effect on the sound.

There is no distortion though. A nice range and good clarity particularly the vocals. The lead, bass and drums all come over well and overall it is quite good. and very enjoyable.

Audio 2

Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum
Oakland, California
JEMS Master Tape

This file set features Jared Houser’s fabulous 1982 recording of The Clash, performing in Oakland, California, one of eight shows opening for The Who. Transferred to digital from his master cassette tape for the first time, the music reminds me of a highly anticipated Saturday afternoon and everything that happened afterward.

It was, in a word, the beginning: the day I met Jared and AMorg, heard The Clash and The Who perform live for the first time, and first saw someone make a field recording.

Standing beside Jared in shallow left-center field, I watched as he set up. I was instantly curious about how it all worked, impressed in particular by his brand-new Sony D6: this was the age of the Walkman, and that deck was tops. Naturally, my mind wandered to how I might get a copy of Jared's tape.

I was a newly-minted collector, having gotten my first tape a few months prior — a 2nd or 3rd gen. from Persic’s capture of Bruce Springsteen, performing on October 27, 1980, across the way at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

In a stroke of luck, my copy of The Clash tape came from AMorg. Nevermind that it was 2nd gen. — I didn't know much about all that anyway. It sounded great and added to my growing collection.

Not long after, she suggested that I get in touch with a fellow she knew who was also into live tapes, and, in early ’83, BK and I began to correspond. When the stars aligned, JEMS took shape, and here we are today. (Full disclosure: I am not an official member. Rather, I am JEMS-adjacent, a watchful ally who recalls being in the same room with all of them on many occasions.)

To mark the 40th anniversary of the music and a moment where a key piece of the puzzle fell into place, we reached for Jared’s master — stored, perhaps fittingly, with his master Who tapes. This was, after all, the tour where Pete Townshend was passing the torch to the young punks.

The Clash was enjoying commercial and pop culture success: the LP "Combat Rock" had spawned three singles, and its videos were all over MTV. Adolescents mimicked Joe Strummer’s mohawk. But tension within the band saw Terry Chimes replacing Topper Headon (Chimes left after the band’s final 1982 date); by early ’83, Mick Jones would be out, too. Which still makes no sense.

It was a farewell tour, alright. For The Clash.

Whatever the turmoil, the music played and recorded in Oakland sounds great, with a set list designed to get the job done in just under 50 minutes. Gears shift as the band slips seamlessly into a reggae beat for “Armagideon Time,” then back into “Magnificent Seven”; otherwise, the band plays a whistle-stop through upbeat numbers, whether hits of the day or rockers from previous LPs.

Though I came to appreciate The Clash a great deal, I didn't know much about the band at the time. Its set was straightforward and got the blood pumping. Did its well-earned cred exceed its capabilities as a live band? Maybe. Was the playing solid? No question. Exciting? For sure. But punk is an ethos, and I have always favored studio recordings (like its 1977 debut) over ones of its stage shows.

Preparing Jared’s tape has caused me to reconsider that. What I hear now, like guitar interplay between Mick Jones and Joe Strummer, and Terry Chimes’s drumming, is first-rate and original. If The Clash had gotten better as a live act, Oakland really was the place to be on this day.

Jared’s recording is excellent: after exuberant cheering during the opening remarks, the ambiance settles nicely, contributing to a super-fine capture. That’s advantageous, as the other seven Clash appearances with The Who were a mixed bag sonically, due to relatively poor acoustics of places like the Pontiac Silverdome or the Kingdome. Jared’s mono capture in Oakland gains from BK’s studious transfer and mastering, making it sound more like stereo.

Today, with the focus on tape conservation and file sharing, I’m motivated by two things: first, the idea that from the time you began to read this note, the music in this file set will have traveled to multiple countries around the world. Before that? Perhaps its only place was on Jared's master.

Second, I am mindful of some 14-year-old kid out there somewhere, much like myself in 1982. I hope this recording reaches them, and others, too, for a long time to come.

Thanks to my friends at JEMS, AMorg, Dr. Billy, and fellow enthusiasts. Here’s to 40 years of friendship, road trips, countless trades, many good memes (Mr. Slate!), an enduring commitment to taping, and to Jared and Stan, wherever the music reaches them.

Share it freely, and for free!

- slipkid68

Misdated recordings

BMC- tapes titled the 25th October are misdated

Ned : The Clash DID NOT support The Who at the Oakland Coliseum ARENA (the smaller enclosed venue next to the larger Coliseum STADIUM used on Oct. 23 1982) on Oct. 25 1982.

I attended both shows and have circulated my recordings of both. I'm absolutely certain. We were very disappointed the Clash only played at the larger outside show. Ned Hoey

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Brent : What a trip. I was front row about five feet over from Joe's mike stand.. I thought I was going to get crushed to death by all the people surging forward when they started playing. I finally gave up and moved back about 20 feet during Spanish Bombs. This was my first Clash show (I would later learn also my last). I had just graduated highshool a few months earlier. It was definitely a life changing event. To this day, I still get emotional when I listen to I Fought the Law.

I have told my wife about this concert about a million times. I bought Shea Stadium the day it came out. It is close, but it sure would be cool to have the real thing.

From: Brent & Christy Weber < >

Photos

Photo by Michael Zagaris at Oakland Coliseum on October 23, 1982

Setlist

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16	London Calling Police on My Back Guns of Brixton Janie Jones Spanish Bombs Magnificent 7 Part 1 Armagideon Time Magnificent 7 part 2 Rock the Casbah Train In Vain Tommy Gun English Civil War Clampdown Brand New Cadilac Should I Stay I Fought The Law