Making of a Moment – Rotterdam, NLD 3/6/1992

Last week on the podcast, we finished off our Holland 1992 run of shows with Rotterdam 3/6/92. This show has been overshadowed by some other classic shows of the time (see: the last two weeks of podcasts), but has some great moments in its own right. I left off the I’ve Got A Feeling shenanigans last week, but this week they crept in at #3. NSFW content incoming, brace yourself.

Moment # 3

Ed comes out to take a polaroid after Leash and a short jam, and seems to have no idea that Mike has disrobed completely. Stone points over at him, laughing, but Ed doesn’t notice until he looks over to start the song. Play the video and right away, you’ll hear him say “Jesus!”and giggle as he sings the first line of the song. One of the roadies snaps a photo in Mike’s direction, Stone’s cracking up, and our intrepid videographer pans over to Mike, in nothing but his birthday suit. Ed makes another crack after the “feeling I can’t hide” line, adding “he can’t hide it either!” and hijinks ensue. Let’s all take a second and be glad that Mike is clean and sober now, and can look back on these years and laugh. The closest we’ve come to this is a glimpse of Stone’s breast in Charlotte in 2013. A bygone era. Stick around until the end of the video to see the band check out one at a time, leaving Ed alone, and the PA immediately start to play Nirvana after the show ends.

Moment #2

A very cool Straight To Hell acapella tease from Ed (one of the best latter-day Clash songs, in my opinion) intros State of Love and Trust here, Ed yelps into the mic and then starts thrashing around, one of the main things I took away from this show is that Ed legitimately looks like he loves all of these songs, he looks like any one of us when this song starts, dancing and going nuts. It’s endearing to see him earnest, not yet jaded, full of energy. SOLAT was on my list last week, and here it is again. At 16:40, Mike comes over and leans on Ed, and they support each other for a good 10 seconds or so before Mike pulls away and rocks out on Stone’s side. That’s Round 1. Round 2 begins at 17:35, when Ed runs over and grabs Mike, swinging him around. Mike starts the solo and they’re acting like young rhinos gnashing their horns together, neither giving an inch, Mike not missing a note. Ed’s working on a wrestling move at 18:00, trying to get some leverage, but Mike gets out of it and heads back to the relative safety of his side. You can see he’s screaming the lyrics along with Ed. The final 20 seconds are furious, like they’re all racing to finish the song first but it’s a dead heat.

Moment #1

My #1 moment this week is Deep. Another song that I don’t think about that often, and not one I usually go back to, so when it gets the #1 spot you know it’s something special. Once again, Ed is a ball of energy before he starts singing. During the second verse, he’s holding back, not screaming, just speak-singing, letting the tension build. At 34:30, he collapses to the floor, it takes the camera a second or two to find him. Continuing the song, he rolls over the monitors to the edge of the stage for the “on the edge…” lines. Mike comes over to the center of the stage, standing over him for a second, and then aggressively swats the mic stand away with his guitar. Ed reemerges upright temporarily for the chorus before flailing backwards and falling over again. Deep is at its best when it can hold that tension throughout the song, almost to the point of making you uncomfortable, and then release it all during the last few seconds, in that descent into madness that all of the great early ‘90’s versions have. This one gets weird, swirling guitars, Stone channeling some Sonic Youth, Ed howling mercilessly. And then it’s over, leaving no trace.

Thanks for reading this! Check back next week, we have a pretty big show coming up for you guys, I don’t think it’ll be hard to find something to talk about. Excuse me while I grab this Sharpie, I’ve got something important to write on my arm…