Combat Rock Tour

Supported by Rooster & The Red Tops

updated 7 July 2008 - added punters comments (Deborah)
updated 12 April 2011 - added full review

Audio 1 -
audience - unknown gen. - Sound 3 - 96min - tracks 23

Car Jamming

Recordings circulate of the first 9 shows of the 23 shows on the ‘North American Campaign’ tour (15 recordings out of 23). Although it appears at least 2 audience recordings were made of the Atlanta gig, the only one in circulation is an unknown number of copies off the master and is one of the poorest from this tour. A shame as the master recording was obviously of good quality although somewhat distant from the stage.

Sound mainly left channel until Magnificent Seven after which it improves, having more detail but is still flat, lacking range and vocals in particular are distant. 

After the 3 nights at Asbury Park, New Jersey the tour headed to the South and a gig at the sold out 4,600 seat Fox Theatre in Atlanta. An event memorable for the performance (by most accounts), demonstrators and gun-toting Police outside and bizarrely a troop of dancers on stage as the band performed!

Unfortunately the stories behind the gig are more interesting than the only recording in circulation which is well below average making this an in-essential bootleg (unless an upgrade surfaces.)

Four recollections below tell the story:

James Mann writing an obituary for Joe at recalled;

James: I saw The Clash for the second time on the Combat Rock tour, when perhaps, in retrospect, the bloom was starting to fade on their rose. The initial adrenalin rush of punk had, by 1982, started to pause and catch its breath. The Pistols were long gone, The Jam, Buzzcocks, The Damned, and the dozens of other five-minute miracles had either broken up or gotten fat. But here were The Clash, still fighting the good fight and miracles of miracles, with a song on the charts. "Rock The Casbah" was a favorite in those early days of MTV, and dammit, maybe it wasn't a continuation of the righteous anger of "White Riot" or "Clash City Rockers," but it was catchy as hell. J

Joe Strummer and Mick Jones had learned early on that to survive was to evolve. They weren't the same people who had made such a furious noise on their debut, or the snarling popsters of their masterpiece London Calling, but The Clash circa 1982 was still a formidable rock and roll band, and on that night at Atlanta's Fox Theatre, they fucking slayed.

But as impressive as the music was that night -- and it still ranks high in my list of best shows -- two things have stayed in my mind from that night. For some reason, the band had enlisted (or been taken captive by) a troop of dancers, who flitted around the stage in a dervish, making a surreal statement at a punk rock show. At one point a dancer fluttered his hands in Strummer's face, and the  oh so tough punk rocker for a brief moment dropped the snarl and laughed. It was that humanity that connected The Clash to their listeners. As they always said, yes, they were a political band, but it was "personal politics," always in small letters, always about the person. They cared.

Leaving the show that night, we walked onto Peachtree Street, Atlanta's main thoroughfare, and into a riot. Or at least, as close as sleepy, apathetic Atlanta gets to a riot, anyway. Skinheads on one side of the street, shouting curses at a group on the other side of the road. A few bottles were smashed, and my friend and I attempted to shelter his little sister from the hooves of policemen's horses, and I realized at the time that something like this, if we survived, was certainly different than most shows we had been to. Something happened -- something brought about, in some fashion, by the music of Joe Strummer and The Clash. That was Joe Strummer's gift. Things happened. It was intoxicating, heady.’

The account below sheds lights on who and how the dance troupe came to perform onstage with The Clash;

" an Atlanta rockabilly band called Rooster & The Red Tops opened. The band got into town a day or so early and attended a local club called 688 where a dance troupe called the Section 8 dancers were performing to Clash tunes. 

I had horrible balcony seats. I know of two different tapes. I think the one you have may be the worser sounding of the two. After the show, there was a mini "riot" out front. Some folks from a pro-American local punk band were protesting the appearance and got into a scrape with leaving concertgoers. The police riot squads and SWAT teams got called in and went to town on the fans. A girl from my high school was minding her own business and got hit with a billyclub. We went out a side door so we missed all the "fun" and thus I can only report third hand. The show was kind of a letdown as the Clash were my absolute favorites. One of only two shows I ever camped out for tickets for (the 84 show being the other one.) I nearly slept through a final exam the next day!"

Debora: I have a ticket autographed by the band. I actually got these signatures while visiting with the Clash after the concert while there was a “riot” going on outside.  I was outside, around the corner from the main entrance to the Fox Theatre, standing by what I hoped was the “stage” door, when it opened and one of the members of the band asked what was going on.  When he found out about all the police, he invited me in.  After spending some time with the band, we all walked up the street to the 688 Club at 688 Spring Street.  It was a memorable evening!
from Debora

“The best live show I ever saw was The Clash’s Combat Rock tour date at The Fox in Atlanta. It probably was not their best show…but for me it was everything. Hell I got mugged getting the 3^rd row tickets..totally worth it! There was even a riot after the show between the maoist and the reaganites. What a great time!”

The ‘riot’ was the main topic of a piece in Sounds (UK music press) with the headline Clash City Rotters but presumably they had meant it to be Rioters.  

It said an organised gang described as neo-Nazis (by CBS and local press) tried to stop the Atlanta show demonstrating outside and “hassling concert goers and threatening violence. Police broke up the demonstration and arrested 14 people. Atlanta local press rather predictably led with “Punk rock riot” headlines the next day. The Clash were reportedly uninvolved in any way but this did not stop Joe telling Sounds Dave McCullough in a later piece; “They pulled the police guns out on us in Atlanta”. In reality from the different accounts it looks like local Atlanta political groups took the opportunity of having The Clash in town to stage demos outside the theatre, although there probably were punk rock purists protesting about the band selling out as they would experience elsewhere on the tour. The Police then made a meal of breaking up what must have been the relatively small number of people involved. The band were not involved with Communist or other far left groups and in comments on the tour disassociated themselves from them. 

David Fricke article interestingly included a rumour that Topper would be returning soon.

The recording reveals plenty of commitment from the band throughout the gig with Joe (and Mick) belting out the lyrics to both London Calling and then Clash City Rockers, unusually second in the set. 

“Good evening would you please welcome Mr Terry Chimes on the drums”  Then slam into Safe European Home lots of echo on Mick’s backing vocals. This triple attack of the first songs goes down a storm with the sell-out Fox audience.

Guns of Brixton has some inventive lead from Mick. Train In Vain OK but the poor sound makes Car Jamming a musical sludge. Fortunately before Magnificent Seven the right channel comes in fully and the sound quality goes up a notch. Pumped up Joe and Mick are in fine voice. Vocals are now higher and clearer in the mix with the band now able to use the best quality PA’s etc. The band’s playing though lacks finesse (Terry’s unable to make the band swing in the way Topper excelled). Mick adds light funky guitar licks but its not effective, Joe barks “magnificence” but sadly its not! The band are OK with the straight rock songs but struggle on the looser funkier material. 

“I’d like to introduce Section 8 of the ? “ is Joe’s unclear intro to an echo heavy Know Your Rights. Sounds slow and heavy with no great adlibs like the last night at Asbury. Mick adds some guitar effects to an OK Ghetto Defendant to little benefit.

An edit restarts abruptly into the start of a pumped up Janie Jones; Mick screaming out the “let them know“s. Should I Stay or Should I Go is played now as the less interesting shortened album version and with Joe’s Strum-ish backing vocals.. 

The second CD begins with Rock The Casbah then Spanish Bombs both fine if unexceptional. Mick then picks out yet another variation on the very long intro here to Somebody Got Murdered, the effect somewhat ruined by Terry coming in too early! Mick’s vocals are committed but the sound is too distant and flat to be enjoyable.

Radio Clash is again strong; the band stretch out and improvise a little before a final chorus. Brand New Cadillac then into the final song of the main set Clampdown; Joe’s adlibs unclear and the song is not extended like the best performances.

An edit goes into start of Armagideon Time, best sound now on a good performance but Terry’s heavy handed playing lacks subtlety. Mick then belts out Police On My Back.  Mick’s playing on Straight To Hell is an improvement on some of the Asbury performances and Joe’s vocals are again strong.

Jimmy Jazz next; usually a highlight but although the band try to stretch out it lacks a strong Strummer adlib and Mick’s playing is not inspired. Then straight into a pumped up Garageland and the show ends with I Fought The Law (the sound poorer and distorted) . The audience demand more loudly but on this tour it’s generally shorter sets and less encores.

Did you go? What do you remember?
Info, articles, reviews, comments or photos welcome.
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One of the most unique and magnificent venue The Clash ever played. Opened on Christmas Day in 1929 it was a beautifully outlandish, opulent, grandiose monument to the heady excesses of the pre-crash 1920's, a mosque-like structure complete with minarets, onion domes, and an interior decor which was even more lavish than its facade.[see photos]

A unique and magnificent venue; the “Fabulous Fox" is one of the most ornate and largest movie palaces remaining in the United States. Although still trying to get seat-less venues at least in part, the band had now outgrown smaller Atlanta venues and the huge 4,678 seater Fox was sold out for The Clash. It’s not clear whether a deal was struck to remove the front rows of seats. 

Entering the huge auditorium, an early reviewer for the Atlanta Journal described "a picturesque and almost disturbing grandeur beyond imagination. Visitors encounter an indoor Arabian courtyard with a sky full of flickering stars and magically drifting clouds; a spectacular striped canopy overhanging the balcony; stage curtains depicting mosques and Moorish rulers in hand sewn sequins and rhinestones." Puts Brixton Fair Deal/Academy’s exotic interior firmly in the shade!

Under strong management The Fox prospered as one of Atlanta's finest movie houses from the 1940's through the 1960's. The time of the movie palace finally ran out around 1973. A four-year "Save The Fox" fundraising campaign secured a National Historic Landmark designation and the theatre survived as a multi-purpose performing arts centre. An army of volunteers went to work cleaning the interiors for the first benefit concert. The Clash ticket price included 25C for restoration.