There’s not a whole lot I can say about Clutch… except that they are freaking awesome! I have followed the band fairly closely throughout their existence and always paid attention when they released a new album, but for some reason or another I never had gotten around to seeing them live. I’m not quite sure why I hadn’t, especially since I’ve heard about a million different stories about how intense and fun they are on stage. I’ve even heard stories of injury, after a good friend of mine was at the last SLC Clutch show and received a black eye and a broken tailbone from all the mayhem in the crowd. Even though he didn’t come out of the show fully intact, he still was adamant about what an insanely good concert it was.
So finally after all these years of living vicariously through everyone’s fantastic stories of what Clutch is live, I decided to experience the amazingness for myself. Isaac and I arrived to what was a completely sold out show at The Depot and when I say sold out, I mean totally sold out. The place was packed wall to wall with black t-shirts and bearded sweaty dudes. The perfect atmosphere for Clutch’s blues friendly party rock metal. We made our way through the crowed so we could get close enough to properly see and feel the hammer that was about to be dropped on us from the stage and when the band finally emerged I knew I was in for a serious treat. Neil Fallon is probably one of the most engaging front men in rock. He’s like the grand minister from groove metal hell that has been ordained to preach to the masses all that is bodacious in the world. Fallon stalked the stage back and forth dropping fiery verse after fiery verse which stoked the crowd into a bigger frenzy with every song. This is the most excited reaction I had ever seen any crowd give to a band. They were absolutely enthralled by all that Clutch was giving them.
Clutch played a solid and energetic set throughout and now that I have seen the demonous preaching that Fallon and Co. can bring. I am now converted and have become a devote follower of all that is Clutch. Now I just need to grow my beard out longer and get some more black t-shirts so I can fit in with the rest of the congregation.