Man, core CLUTCH fans are f’ing serious about this band. Now, I am a fan in the definition of I love their music and have for a good 15 years or so but these core fans cannot be beat! I love to see how fans react not only to new music, but to live shows of their Most Favorite of Favorites. And I don’t know what it is about Dallas music fans, but those core fans of any band, seem to reside here.
Last night, these were the fans that came out to see CLUTCH at Gas Monkey Live along with TYLER BRANDT & THE SHAKEDOWN and SEVENDUST. At first glance, someone might think this billing was a bit odd. However, if you look a little deeper any fan can see the correlation that wafts between all three bands. All three of them are insanely talented, most would agree, right? But I’m focusing my attention on CLUTCH for this piece because, well, this four-piece has a mastery of music that supersedes most. If you’re looking for a complete review on all three bands, just head over to my Facebook page to find the Tour Review and where it was published because I really loved this tour and all of the performances I saw last night!
Alright, let’s get down to business with our buddies in CLUTCH. There’s no doubt that this band has one helluva reputation within rock as being one of the best American Rock Bands. As players, they’ve been individually recognized as well as collectively for the releases of the past eleven records. Book Of Bad Decisions might surpass the first eleven though, maybe. For me, it does because it brings an element in rock music back into the spotlight and I didn’t realize this until I saw the band live.
Coming on stage as the band fires up their instruments, NEIL FALLON walks up, snags his mic and griping it firmly in his fist he starts to sing. Moving from left to right, addressing the crowd like a barker selling bottled up miracles from the back of a wagon. Only, the audience doesn’t care really about the effects of the elixir, they just want to hear what NEIL has to say. They love how he says it and along with the backing from the band they listen intently to Gimme The Keys. Even though Book Of Bad Decisions has only been out since September 7th, everyone at least five rows back knew every word and sings along.
CLUTCH conjures the attention of the audience with TIM‘s thick and muddy guitar parts, the highly charged thump and peals of JEAN-PAUL’s drumming that are fused with the gurgling lows of DAN‘s bass, a foundation is created for the characters and storylines that reside in every song. American Rock used to be great at telling stories but has fallen short over the last couple of decades. Rock music seems to be poised at how an artist processes the content of a musician’s emotions or other what the other characters of a story have done instead of simply telling the story as a means of processing life experiences. Well, except CLUTCH. They are beasts at creating epic tales within the measures of their music and they have one of the best spinners of the proverbial yarn at the helm, NEIL FALLON.
“Book of Bad Decisions” just redefined the American Rock album not only with the music but with wildly vivid and alluring tales perfectly performed by a boisterous raconteur. NEIL is a master with persona in songs like Emily Dickinson and In Walks Barbarella, both songs were played last night, which made me extremely happy! They’re both great songs and the band performed them even better live!
CLUTCH plays their set loud, and from start to finish including encores, play for well over an hour and fifteen minutes, keeping the audience engaged and connected. Focusing on their current record, they played several songs from Book of Bad Decisions with their staples intermixed. With relatively no blabber between songs is one of the reasons I love CLUTCH’S live show and I’m betting it is the reason other fans love the show too. Going to a rock show is where fans want to rock out. Speaking for myself, I want my ears to be full of music from the band and I don’t want to be subjected to unwarranted political opinions (I will however listen to them in a song though. Unless the song sucks and of course, then I’m not going to listen much at all).
As a part of the narrative in their songs, CLUTCH not only gives out just the right amount of information for the audience to draw their own visualizations about the characters NEIL is singing about, but live the various parts that make up the scenery for some of these tales is intensified and amplified.
And let’s be honest, if you come from or around my generation, going to a rock show now is quite different from how it used to be. In my twenties going to see a national band was about partying and letting loose because bands did not tour like they do now. Even before adulthood, signed bands would tour once a record cycle and that was it. And they wouldn’t put out a record every year, sometimes it was two or three years for that new record. It was an event that you bought tickets months in advance for, you even camped outside for a place in line to buy those tickets. Concerts were almost like festivals because they didn’t happen that often. And when you were at these concerts, the feelings were that much stronger, people were amped up, hopped up, and ready to rock out!!
Only now, not only do we get to see CLUTCH once or twice a year if you’re lucky enough to see them at a festival, but we get great music told by a master narrator of stories, but we get to have that feeling from our youth jammed into our aging selves that appreciate shows starting at 7 PM, even on weekends! Concerts like CLUTCH are the stuff that good things come from, that good things make, am I right? Hell yes, I am!
Til Next Time – MLMR – Cherri
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos by Cherri Bird
Grab tickets now and go listen to the stories from CLUTCH! You can catch CLUTCH, SEVENDUST, and TYLER BRANDT & THE SHAKEDOWN on these remaining dates:
Sept. 25 – Orlando, FL – House Of Blues
Sept. 27 – Norfolk, VA – The NorVa
Sept. 28 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
Sept. 29 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade *
Sept. 30 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life **
Oct. 2 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theater
Oct. 3 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
Oct. 5 – Boise, ID – Knitting Factory
Oct. 6 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
Oct. 7 – Seattle, WA Showbox SODO
Oct. 8 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
Oct. 9 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
Oct. 11 – San Francisco, CA – The Regency Ballroom
Oct. 12 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theater
Oct. 13 – San Bernardino, CA – Glen Helen Amphitheater w/SOAD ***
Oct. 14 – San Diego, CA – North Park/Observatory
Oct. 15 – Tempe, AZ – The Marquee
Oct. 17 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
Oct. 18 – Sauget, IL – Pop’s Nightclub
Oct. 19 – Grand Rapids, MI – 20 Monroe Live
Oct. 20 – Detroit, MI – The Filmore Detroit
Oct. 21 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
Oct. 23 – Toronto, ON – Rebel
Oct. 25 – Worcester, MA – The Palladium
Oct. 26 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
Oct. 27 – New York, NY – Irving Plaza
Oct. 28 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory
*= no Sevendust
** = festival date / Clutch and festival bill only
*** = date w/ System of a Down/ no Sevendust
