Coming through in the Clutch
For the first time, a blog post will go with the my default icon.
So this past Wednesday, Sce and I (And a couple friends from work) went to see Clutch play at the house of blues. I was totally stoked, as most of you know that I am a fiend for Clutch. I had never seen them live, so this was a highly anticipated show for me.
The show was really good, except for a couple things. First the good:
They rocked hard. Clutch throws down a FAT groove, and they played a bunch of songs that were so new, they had no lyrics or vocals - just big, chunky jams. They played a bunch of my favorite songs, including "Dragonfly," "Burning Beard" (the icon on this post comes from the video for that song), and two all-time favorites, "Profits of Doom" and "The Mob Goes Wild." I sang myself hoarse on both of those tracks, which they played back-to-back, just like on the album.
The crowd was great, too. A pit got going when they started into 'You can't stop progress,' but people were mostly cool, and only one guy was really blitzed out of his mind and not being considerate. All the people in the pit looked out for each other, and most did their best not to smash into people at the front of the stage.
Set List (sort of) with Album titles:
3 or 4 new jams
3 or 4 songs from one of the few albums of theirs that I don't own - Jam Room.
Dragonfly - The Elephant Riders
The Yeti - The Elephant Riders
Burning Beard - Robot Hive/Exodus
Profits of Doom - Blast Tyrant
The Mob Goes Wild - Blast Tyrant
The House that Peterbilt - Clutch
Texan book of the dead - Clutch
Pure Rock Fury - Pure Rock Fury
You Can't Stop Progress/Power Player - From Beale St. To Oblivion
Child of the City - From Beale St. To Oblivion
the negatives for the show were that I would have preferred some different songs. I was almost shocked that they didn't play 'Electric Worry' off the new album, and I would dearly have loved to hear 'The Incomparable Mr. Flannery,' and 'Subtle Hustle.' That's a small peeve.
They ended at 10:55, and went offstage with the lights going down. The crowd naturally began chanting, "Clutch! Clutch! Clutch!" to pump up for the encore.
Then, the lights came up. Some guy with a fishing hat and a white T-shirt came out, did the "cut it" gesture with his hand at his throat (I think he was telling the soundboard guy to shut down), and the curtains closed. I and a lot of people were left wondering, "WTF just happened?"
I'm conflicted. I just learned last night that they did play an encore in L.A. the following night, and apparently there is some discussion on a message board that people felt the San Diego crowd sucked. That is 100% bullshit - everybody there was rocking out, singing along, and professing their fandom to the band. If the band really thinks that crowd was bad, then I find myself disappointed in the band. They have a cult following, they're a niche artist who (so I'm told) have built their following based on touring and rewarding the fans with excellent shows. How we got screwed, I cannot figure out. And the show was really great, it just ended really abruptly - and by the way, The Yeti is not what I would call an ideal show-closer, being one of the downtempo, odd-time-signatured selections from The Elephant Riders.
So they ended on a down note, gave no indication that they were tired and didn't have the energy for an encore, and then bailed. As much as I like the band, right now, I kinda feel like it was a weak way to treat the fans. And by the way, they don't make it out to the West Coast all that much, so they run the risk of alienating fans with shows like this. I really want to be overjoyed about the show, but the sudden stop kinda made that impossible. It left a bad taste, and that is disappointing.
Yes, I am a nerd about Clutch. Deal.
Ooh, forgot one plus, I got some good photos:
Gettin' ready!
Neil Fallon sermonizes from the Book of Fender.
Jean-Paul Gaster solos. The man is metronomic.
Tim Sult was on it all night.
Neil Fallon prepares to bring more of the awesome science.
So this past Wednesday, Sce and I (And a couple friends from work) went to see Clutch play at the house of blues. I was totally stoked, as most of you know that I am a fiend for Clutch. I had never seen them live, so this was a highly anticipated show for me.
The show was really good, except for a couple things. First the good:
They rocked hard. Clutch throws down a FAT groove, and they played a bunch of songs that were so new, they had no lyrics or vocals - just big, chunky jams. They played a bunch of my favorite songs, including "Dragonfly," "Burning Beard" (the icon on this post comes from the video for that song), and two all-time favorites, "Profits of Doom" and "The Mob Goes Wild." I sang myself hoarse on both of those tracks, which they played back-to-back, just like on the album.
The crowd was great, too. A pit got going when they started into 'You can't stop progress,' but people were mostly cool, and only one guy was really blitzed out of his mind and not being considerate. All the people in the pit looked out for each other, and most did their best not to smash into people at the front of the stage.
Set List (sort of) with Album titles:
3 or 4 new jams
3 or 4 songs from one of the few albums of theirs that I don't own - Jam Room.
Dragonfly - The Elephant Riders
The Yeti - The Elephant Riders
Burning Beard - Robot Hive/Exodus
Profits of Doom - Blast Tyrant
The Mob Goes Wild - Blast Tyrant
The House that Peterbilt - Clutch
Texan book of the dead - Clutch
Pure Rock Fury - Pure Rock Fury
You Can't Stop Progress/Power Player - From Beale St. To Oblivion
Child of the City - From Beale St. To Oblivion
the negatives for the show were that I would have preferred some different songs. I was almost shocked that they didn't play 'Electric Worry' off the new album, and I would dearly have loved to hear 'The Incomparable Mr. Flannery,' and 'Subtle Hustle.' That's a small peeve.
They ended at 10:55, and went offstage with the lights going down. The crowd naturally began chanting, "Clutch! Clutch! Clutch!" to pump up for the encore.
Then, the lights came up. Some guy with a fishing hat and a white T-shirt came out, did the "cut it" gesture with his hand at his throat (I think he was telling the soundboard guy to shut down), and the curtains closed. I and a lot of people were left wondering, "WTF just happened?"
I'm conflicted. I just learned last night that they did play an encore in L.A. the following night, and apparently there is some discussion on a message board that people felt the San Diego crowd sucked. That is 100% bullshit - everybody there was rocking out, singing along, and professing their fandom to the band. If the band really thinks that crowd was bad, then I find myself disappointed in the band. They have a cult following, they're a niche artist who (so I'm told) have built their following based on touring and rewarding the fans with excellent shows. How we got screwed, I cannot figure out. And the show was really great, it just ended really abruptly - and by the way, The Yeti is not what I would call an ideal show-closer, being one of the downtempo, odd-time-signatured selections from The Elephant Riders.
So they ended on a down note, gave no indication that they were tired and didn't have the energy for an encore, and then bailed. As much as I like the band, right now, I kinda feel like it was a weak way to treat the fans. And by the way, they don't make it out to the West Coast all that much, so they run the risk of alienating fans with shows like this. I really want to be overjoyed about the show, but the sudden stop kinda made that impossible. It left a bad taste, and that is disappointing.
Yes, I am a nerd about Clutch. Deal.
Ooh, forgot one plus, I got some good photos:
Gettin' ready!
Neil Fallon sermonizes from the Book of Fender.
Jean-Paul Gaster solos. The man is metronomic.
Tim Sult was on it all night.
Neil Fallon prepares to bring more of the awesome science.