The Clash - Hong Kong 1982 (2024)

In December 1981, the Clash released ‘This Is Radio Clash’ as a single; it charted at number 47 in the UK Singles Chart. In September ‘81, the band had begun work on their fifth album Combat Rock, which Glyn Johns produced and which was released in May 1982. In the UK, the first single ‘Know Your Rights’ reached number 43. The lead single in the US was ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’, which was released in June 1982 and received significant airplay on Album-oriented rock stations. The follow-up single ‘Rock the Casbah’ was composed by Topper Headon, who performed the percussion, piano and bass on the track. It became the band's biggest US hit, charting at number eight, while the album reached number two in the UK and number seven in the US. In January 1982, the Clash travelled east to play a short tour of Japan. Featuring eight shows beginning in Tokyo on January 24th, the band, always popular in the country, played a successful mini-tour, and following their jaunt there, they moved onto New Zealand, and then Australia, where they played another 14 dates.

On their way back to the UK, the Clash stopped off at Hong Kong, where they performed one night at the Academic Community Hall in Kowloon, on 25th February. In 1982, Hong Kong was still a colony of the British Empire (albeit the last existing dependency of any significance at this time) and thus it enjoyed the freedoms of, say, neighbours Japan. However, while the latter territory hosted regular concerts, it was virtually unheard of for rock and pop acts to perform in HK, despite having a population of 7 million+ residents. The show was a resounding success, although listening back to the tapes today, one is surprised to find the Chinese audience being a somewhat raucous crowd, with Joe Strummer regularly admonishing members of such for ‘gobbing’, fighting and performing other examples of bad-behaviour, almost unheard of at shows hosted by their South East Asian neighbours.

Tracklist
Disc: 1
1 London Calling
2 Washington Bullets
3 Tommy Gun
4 The Guns of Brixton
5 Train in Vain
6 Know Your Rights
7 The Magnificent Seven
8 Ivan Meets G.I. Joe
9 (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais
10 Wrong 'Em Boyo
11 Koka Kola
12 Broadway
13 I Fought the Law
14 Career Opportunities
15 Janie Jones
16 The Call Up
17 Brand New Cadillac
18 Somebody Got Murdered
19 Clampdown
Disc: 2
1 Charlie Don't Surf
2 Police and Thieves
3 Stay Free
4 Armagideon Time
5 Safe European Home
6 Jimmy Jazz
7 Complete Control
8 English Civil War
9 Police On My Back
10 Garageland
11 Clash City Rockers
12 Spanish Bombs
13 I'm So Bored With the U.S.A.
14 London's Burning
15 Bankrobber