The Only Live Album that Matters

I am fundamentally opposed to seeing music performed in sports venues. The sound quality always sucks, the jerk-to-not-jerk ratio is unacceptable and the venues themselves are way, way too big. I've felt this way for a long time and I more or less swore off of arena/stadium shows in college.

I say more or less, because up until December 22, 2002, there was one circumstance in which I would not only go to a stadium show, but camp out to get front-row seats. But when Joe Strummer died, the possibility of a proper Clash reunion vanished, and so too did the likelihood that I'd ever again willingly see a jumbo-venue concert.

One thing I dislike almost as much as concerts in giant sports venues is live albums. Live albums provide all the downsides of live musical performance -- poor sound, mistakes, ragged vocals -- while offering none of the energy and sense of community that make concerts worth attending in the first place. This probably explains why it took me so long to pick up a copy of The Clash Live at Shea Stadium.

Live at Shea Stadium

The Clash

I finally righted this wrong on on Thursday, and I can say without exception that it is the best live album I've ever heard. The set list is spot on, they sound amazing and the album reminds me of why the Clash will likely always remain my favorite band. As always with Clash performances, the songs take on a greater urgency live. Sloppier, certainly, but also faster and more aggressive. The intensity and vigor of the show is particularly remarkable since this was a band not at its peak, but rather nearing its end.

I'm sure that my blind and incessant Clash boosterism is beyond tiresome to everyone but me, but I still highly recommend this album to anyone who likes the band and its music. It also wouldn't be a bad theraputic purchase for those tin-eared, deluded souls, who "don't understand what the big deal is" about the Clash. Though, I'm not so sure that those people are worth saving.