Impossible Mission Tour
updated 14 December 2004
updated 8 July 2008 - added poster
updated 28 Dec 2008 - added Joe photo and ticket & info on venue
photo courtesy of Juergen Weykenat
cdr - - edited - Sound 3 - time 81min - 1gen - tracks 22
A master audience recording circulates from this concert but it was recorded on some fairly primitive equipment and the sound quality is not good. As there are much better sounding recordings from this tour, this is not an essential bootleg.
It is worth having though for a good performance (Joe is in fine form) and for the first recorded live performance of The Call Up. Unusually The Clash played just one encore, albeit an extended one.
Venue
The Eissporthalle was yet another large ice hockey stadium that The Clash played on this tour. Led Zeppelin and Lou Reed had played there earlier.
The master audience recording in circulation has a thin and very low volume sound. Some fairly basic recording equipment was obviously used, as there is little range of sound with bass there but only just. The sound is all in a narrow mid-top end band.
There is though decent clarity and little distortion. Vocals come through best, but drums and both guitars are also clearly heard. It is definitely not a poor recording; just an average one, and this tour is well represented by a number of good to very good recordings. If this were from the UK leg of the 16 Tons tour this would be one of the better recordings!
The recording tape is incomplete the taper not capturing the first three tracks - London Calling, Safe European Home and most of The Leader.
The taper confirmed that this was due to his error. John Shipley lists a 110 min version, so it's possible that tapes are trading from more than one source.
Even if the enjoyment of this concert is limited by the sound, there is much to enjoy in the performance, particularly from Joe who is in fine form throughout.
The recording begins with the Morricone intro music but an edit as a result of an admitted error by the paper then goes straight into the end of The Leader. “Murder, murder, murder!” shouts Joe in a suitably blood curdling cry before a fine Somebody Got Murdered. Joe adlibs over the ending of White Man in Hammersmith Palais and it’s the German army waiting outside weighing 15 hundred tons.
There is no apparent anger directed at the band as in Germany, the previous year although Joe before Lightning Strikes has a go at one heckler, “You’re out of date, mate. You’re behind the time Ryan. You’re out of line, Clive because it goes now…” Joe then makes a fairly miserable attempt at imitating the rhythm human boom box style!
Joe adds some “Woahs” over Mick’s gentle intro to Complete Control, which then kicks into a fine performance, which is not lacking in fire and intensity like some of the earlier performances of the song on this tour.
Before Ivan Meets GI Joe, Joe addresses some more hecklers “Please welcome Topper Headon..It’s not that bad!” An extended This Is Radio Clash is a highlight with Joe in great vocal form. Presumably directing himself at the hecklers he intros Charlie Don’t Surf with “I’ve heard it all before, and I’ve been to Stockholm and I’ve been to Gothenburg” He then with good recall lists most of the cities on the tour, Lille, Bordeaux, Lisbon, San Sebastian, Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Hamburg, and then screams “but now I’m here in Berlin!” The crowd roar and Joe adlibs a plenty on Charlie Don’t Surf, ending it with “Where’s the surf board, Charlie”
Magnificent Seven is another highlight, getting an extended treatment partly because Joe sings over the bridge, so the band repeat a section. An edit near the end of Bankrobber cuts off and goes into Wrong ‘Em Boyo. Topper plays a little drum solo intro then the band blast into Career Opportunities and the energy levels continue at peak on a fine Clampdown with Joe apparently adlibbing about soldiers raping a woman.
The audience sound lively and appreciative so it’s a mystery why The Clash unusually play only one encore, albeit a 6 song one. Armagideon Time runs for the first time into One More Time and then they blast through Brand New Cadillac and Janie Jones. Joe then appears to say “Gute nacht” but Topper has other ideas and beats out an intro to The Call Up.
The first hearing live of their single which was presumably not played that often due to difficulty in translating it from studio to the stage. Its live performances though in 81 and 82 were always very enjoyable and tonight’s sounds polished and tight. A strum of Joe’s guitar and a blast of Berlin’s Burning brings the recording and presumably the concert to a close.
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London Calling, |
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White Man in Hammersmith Palais
Any further info / reviews
appreciated
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Barcelona, Spain |
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Madrid, Real Madrid basketball stadium | |
| Gig reviewed in Record Mirror 9 May 81. Gig played in front of 7,000 | ||
| Apr 30 | |
Cascais, Portugal |
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Lisbon? | |
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Velodromo de Anoeta, San Sebastian, Spain |
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Bordeaux, France | |
| Joe IDs this date and gig the following night in Lyon before the first track | ||
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Palais des Sports, Lyon, France |
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Palais de Beaulieu, Lausanne, Switzerland | |
| May 7 | |
Zurich [venue unknown] |
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Hippodrome de Pantin, Paris, France |
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Palais St. Sauveur, Lille, France |
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| In 1981 the gigs at Lille and Amsterdam were supported by the Belle Stars (they were travelling on the tour coach which we bummed a ride on!), I think they did most of those European dates. J Heath | ||
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Japp Edenhall, Amsterdam, Holland |
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| In 1981 the gigs at Lille and Amsterdam were supported by the Belle Stars (they were travelling on the tour coach which we bummed a ride on!), I think they did most of those European dates. J Heath | ||
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Forest National, Brussels. |
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| Support act included The Belle Stars and Vic Goddard & Subway Sect. Thx for info. Entry 300 BEF (£5.00) |
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Musikhalle, Hamburg, West Germany |
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Idrottshuset, Copenhagen, Denmark |
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The Scandinavium, Gothenburgh, Sweden |
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Isstadion, Stockholm, Sweden |
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Eissporthalle, (West) Berlin |
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Circus Krone, Munich, West Germany |
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Velodromo Vigorelli, Milan, Italy |
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| May 22 | |
San Remo |
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Stadio Comunale, Florence, Italy |
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| May | Rome - cancelled | |
| the proposed Rome concert never came together- problems with Bernie | ||
| The Bullring, Milan?? |
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| Usually Londonderry boot LP. Probably did not take place. | ||
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