Clash's new lineup debuts at Hofstra

Newsday Suffolk Edition
The Top Of the Week
Sun Apr 8 1984


See text below

New line-up worked extremely well

Hofstra snippet from some 'zine.

Extremely loud

Andy Lazar Saw them on that tour in Long Island. They were extremely loud and imploding at that point, Still a worthwhile show.

Stony Brook Press: HOFTSRA REVIEW

Stony Brook Press
April 19, 1984

14 April 1984

One of the best concert production experiences of my life

Holly Meyers

Photo by me, Spring 1984, after The Clash show at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. This was the post-Mick Jones version of the band. I was working follow spot for the Hofstra University concert crew, and got to chase the very energetic new guitarist with a ball of light! One of the best concert production experiences of my life. Oh, and - we're breathing at 10am & 10pm EDT today! See you soon.

Brilliant

Evan Eft - Facebook

Funny to have stumbled upon some random guy who experienced this show in much the same way that I did. I was 13 years old when I saw The Clash at this very show in April 1984.  Thanks, Mom and Dad, for getting me there and back.

The guy who wrote this article didn't get it all right. He said there was no opening band, but there was. A band called Pale Face. They were introduced as the moment we'd all been waiting for.

Pressure Drop: The Clash at Hofstra University

October 5, 2014
By Matt Fogelson, In Liner Notes

Image Credit: Bob Gruen

When I was in eighth grade, my friends and I went to see the Clash play the gym at Hoftra University on Long Island (Mick Jones had just left the band which probably explained the lackluster choice of venue). The mother of a friend gave the six of us a ride to the show from Manhattan and instructed us in no uncertain terms to meet back at the car at 11:00 PM. I can still hear that command, which seemed reasonable at the time, ringing in my ears three decades later.

Inside the gym there was a barricade dividing the floor into two sections, with the good seats up front, and a standing room section, where we were, behind. We were standing around for about an hour waiting for the show to start at 9:00.  Finally 9:00 came – and went. And so did 9:30. We stood behind that barricade, waiting. And waiting. And the clock kept ticking. There was no opening band to help pass the time. I kept looking at my watch which now said 10:00. I began to wonder if the concert would start before we had to go back to the car.

And then the lights went out and a human surge pushed us forward past the barricade. In the crush, I got separated from my friends and ended up in the third row as the curtain drew back and Joe Strummer jumped off the drum kit sporting a white three-piece suit and orange Mohawk, pounding out the opening chords to “London Calling.” It was euphoria. I was seeing the Clash from the third row – are you kidding?

I can’t remember what song they played next, but I do remember – vividly – glancing at my watch during it. It was 10:30 and I needed to be back at the car in 30 minutes! Seriously? That would have allowed me to see maybe three songs given the long walk to the parking lot. To drive all the way to Long Island and stand around for hours just to leave the show after three songs seemed absurd. I assumed that none of my friends would bolt the show so early. But on the other hand, my friend’s mother was very clear that we had to be back at 11:00. And what if she left without me? I equivocated (briefly), but ultimately decided to stay for the rest of the concert – encores included.

I finally returned to the car around 12:30 in the morning. Everyone was already piled in the station wagon. They had been there since 11:00, as instructed. They were stewing. And the mom was hysterical, worried that I had been trampled to death.

To this day I still struggle with what I did. Looking back, I recognize that my selfishness was of epic proportion. I made a conscious decision to break the rules, to put my desires above everything else, and to disregard how my actions impacted others. It may be the only decision I have made in my life that checked all three of those boxes at the same time.

I have tried to understand what it was about that night – and only that night – that liberated me to make the decision I did, that freed me from the strictures of my straight-laced, rules-oriented upbringing. The answer I keep coming back to is simple: it was the power of the Clash’s music. The music created an alternate universe in which there were no rules, nobody else existed except Joe Strummer, and seeing the Clash was all that mattered. That alternate universe is the power of rock ‘n’ roll.

A Clash with new authority

Newsday Suffolk Edition
Mon Apr 16 1984

Clash is a smash

Chronicle

Presure Drop

5 Oct 2014
The Clash at Hofstra University

And then the lights went out and a human surge pushed us forward past the barricade. In the crush, I got separated from my friends and ended up in the third row as the curtain drew back and Joe Strummer jumped off the drum kit sporting a white three-piece suit and orange Mohawk, pounding out the opening chords to “London Calling.” It was euphoria. I was seeing the Clash from the third row - are you kidding?

Archived PDF

The Clash at Hofstra University in New York

Revolution Rock
23 February 2018

Photos by Eddie Malluk.

Archived PDF

When worlds collide — Sinatra fans, Clash fans share the street in 1984

By Chris Foran of the Journal Sentinel
Milwaukee-Wisconsin Jounal
15 Oct 2015

On a spring night in Milwaukee, the pop-music equivalents of matter and antimatter met — without explosion or incident.

On May 14, 1984, Frank Sinatra, the 69-year-old Chairman of the Board, was making a rare Milwaukee concert appearance before 10,728 at the Arena (now UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena). Next door, the British punk legends the Clash, were making a rare stop in town, too, playing before 3,625 fans at the Auditorium (now the Milwaukee Theatre).

Chris Knowles - The Essential Clash Bootleg Bible includes this gig

This show is on cassette only, but you’ll never hear a more intense Clash concert in your life.

The show was delayed because of the usual Fire marshal hassles but Joe and his boys came out swinging and didn’t let up until they had barreled through the entire set like a rocket-fueled Sherman tank.

Pete Howard’s drumming can be heard literally shaking the rafters of the gymnasium this show was played in, and Joe’s shamanic frenzy almost takes on a life of its own.

The show is so short (70-something mins.) because every song was played at nearly double speed. This is the sound of pure adrenaline. ‘Career’ has to be heard to be believed.

The Clash Official | Facebook

1. The Clash - Long Island 1984
2. Profile - Long Island 1984
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4. The Clash - Hofstra 1984
5. Profile - Hofstra 1984
6. Groups - Hofstra 1984

Photos

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