Live at Bond's Casino
Encyclopedia
The Clash played a series of 17 concerts at Bond's International Casino in New York City
in May and June 1981 in support of their album Sandinista!
. Due to their wide publicity, the concerts became an important moment in the history of the band. Some of the nights were professionally recorded either for CBS records or for FM broadcast. The 9 June performance appears on countless bootleg records and several songs have appeared on From Here to Eternity: Live
or other official Clash releases.
The site of the concerts was formerly Bonds department store which had been converted into a large second-floor hall. Promoters kept the name because there was a large Bonds sign on the outside of the building. As The Clash
had not yet broken out into mass popularity, eight shows were originally scheduled: May 28, 29, 30, 31 and June 1, 2, 3, and 5, 1981. However, given the venue's legal capacity limit of 3500, the series was blatantly oversold right from the first night, leading fire marshals for the New York Fire Department to cancel the Saturday, May 30 performance. In response, the band condemned the brazen greed of the promoters while demonstrating unprecedented integrity to each and every ticketholder by doubling the original booking with a total of 17 dates extending through June.
Strict interpretation of the fire laws meant that audiences were relatively small and resulting in a sense of intimacy between the band and the audience. Audience members clambered onto the stage to join in singalongs. New York musicians, including Pearl Harbor, assisted and overseen by Andy Dunkley, provided disc jockey
services as the audience entered and gathered.
The concert captures The Clash
on the cusp between being a cult band and their short-lived major market penetration. As always with The Clash, ticket prices were set relatively low.
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in May and June 1981 in support of their album Sandinista!
Sandinista!
Sandinista! is the fourth studio album by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was released on 12 December 1980 as a triple album containing 36 tracks, with 6 songs on each side...
. Due to their wide publicity, the concerts became an important moment in the history of the band. Some of the nights were professionally recorded either for CBS records or for FM broadcast. The 9 June performance appears on countless bootleg records and several songs have appeared on From Here to Eternity: Live
From Here to Eternity: Live
From Here to Eternity: Live is a live album by English punk rock band The Clash. It was released on 4 October 1999. The songs were recorded at different shows. Some of the recordings featured also appear in the movie Rude Boy...
or other official Clash releases.
The site of the concerts was formerly Bonds department store which had been converted into a large second-floor hall. Promoters kept the name because there was a large Bonds sign on the outside of the building. As The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
had not yet broken out into mass popularity, eight shows were originally scheduled: May 28, 29, 30, 31 and June 1, 2, 3, and 5, 1981. However, given the venue's legal capacity limit of 3500, the series was blatantly oversold right from the first night, leading fire marshals for the New York Fire Department to cancel the Saturday, May 30 performance. In response, the band condemned the brazen greed of the promoters while demonstrating unprecedented integrity to each and every ticketholder by doubling the original booking with a total of 17 dates extending through June.
Strict interpretation of the fire laws meant that audiences were relatively small and resulting in a sense of intimacy between the band and the audience. Audience members clambered onto the stage to join in singalongs. New York musicians, including Pearl Harbor, assisted and overseen by Andy Dunkley, provided disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
services as the audience entered and gathered.
The concert captures The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
on the cusp between being a cult band and their short-lived major market penetration. As always with The Clash, ticket prices were set relatively low.
June 9th setlist
- "London CallingLondon Calling (song)"London Calling" is a song by the British punk rock band The Clash. It was released as a single from the band's 1979 double album London Calling...
" - "Safe European Home"
- "The Leader"
- "Train in VainTrain in Vain"Train in Vain" is a song by the British punk rock band The Clash. It was released as the third and final single from their third album, London Calling...
" - "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" In Hammersmith Palais" is a song by The Clash, self produced and first released as a 7" single, backed with the track "The Prisoner", in June 1978....
" - "This Is Radio ClashThis Is Radio Clash"This Is Radio Clash" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash. The single was released in 1981 and was never released on any of their studio albums, though it was included in the track listing of their compilations: The Singles, The Story of the Clash, Volume 1, Singles Box, The Singles ...
" - "Corner Soul"
- "Guns of BrixtonThe Guns of Brixton"The Guns of Brixton" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash. It was written and sung by bassist Paul Simonon, who grew up in Brixton, south London...
" - "The Call UpThe Call Up"The Call Up" is a song by English punk rock group The Clash. It was released as the first single from the band's fourth album, Sandinista!...
" - "BankrobberBankrobber"Bankrobber" is a song, and single by The Clash. The song was not released on any of their studio albums, instead appearing on their compilation Black Market Clash...
" - "Complete ControlComplete Control"Complete Control" is a song by The Clash, released as a 7" single and featured on the U.S. release of their debut album.The song is often cited as one of punk's greatest singles, and is a fiery polemic on record companies, managers and the state of punk music itself, the motivation for the song...
" - "Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)"
- "Ivan Meets GI Joe"
- "Charlie Don't Surf"
- "The Magnificent SevenThe Magnificent Seven (song)"The Magnificent Seven" is a song and single by the English punk rock band The Clash. It was the third single from their fourth album Sandinista!. It reached number 34 on the UK Singles Chart....
" - "Broadway"
- "Somebody Got Murdered"
- "Police & ThievesPolice and Thieves"Police and Thieves" is a well-known reggae song, first recorded in the Jamaican reggae style by the falsetto singer Junior Murvin in 1976 , and one year later in a punk-reggae version by The Clash. Murvin's first commentary was "They have destroyed Jah work!".The song was written by Murvin and the...
" - "ClampdownClampdownStrummer, like Simonon, spent time on the dole, but Strummer did not come from a lower-class family. In the same interview with the LA Times Strummer said,...
" - "One More Time"
- "Brand New CadillacBrand New Cadillac"Brand New Cadillac" is a 1959 12-bar blues song by Vince Taylor, and was originally released as a B-side. Featured musicians on the released recording were: Joe Moretti , Lou Brian , Brian Locking and Brian Bennett ....
" - "The Street Parade"
- "Janie JonesJanie Jones (song)"Janie Jones" is a song by the Clash on their eponymous debut album. The subject of the song, Janie Jones, was a famous madam in London during the 1970s and had been a pop singer during the 1960s....
" - "Washington BulletsWashington Bullets (song)"Washington Bullets" is a song from The Clash's 1980 album Sandinista!. A politically charged song, it is a simplified version of Latin American history from the 1959 Cuban Revolution to the Nicaraguan Sandinistas of the 1980s, with mention of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Soviet-Afghan War, the...
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