KINGS OF NEW YORK
BOND International Casino had seen better days. Initially, a New York dining club during its ’30s pomp, it had since undergone a series of low-rent makeovers. After sitting vacant for several years during the late ’70s, it reopened as a nightclub and music venue – a garish multi-storey disco located in the grit of Times Square. But during three thrilling weeks in summer 1981, Bond’s was the hottest place in New York. It was from here that The Clash pulled off their most audacious coup. “They just took over New York, which is some feat,” recalls DJ and filmmaker Don Letts. “And they did it with style. It was fucking unreal.”
After releasing in December 1980, The Clash spent a couple of months touring Europe the following spring. Management then took the unusual step of focusing the American leg of the tour exclusively on New York, booking eight dates at Bond’s that eventually turned into 17 shows – a residency lasting almost three weeks. To hell with the traditional tours – as Joe Strummer put it, this would be “the mountain
