It was a hot night in London. Hot enough that I walked to the Clutch gig in just my jeans and a t-shirt, expecting good things.I have never been to the Forum in London and once inside I was greeted by a large and spacious old cinema. Entering downstairs my Dad and I had a long time buying our t-shirts and then stood in our spot. By the time it got close to Clutch coming on stage, the crowd rushed forward and filled every space in the converted cinema – there was a sea of heads and I could no longer see the stage.
As the four members got down to business the crowd let out a deafening roar. Clutch begin with the title track off their latest album Earth Rocker and swiftly moved into more songs off that album: “Unto The Breech”, “Mr Freedom”, “D.C Sound Attack!” – (with a very awesome impromptu jam at the end and the cowbell was ringing my ears!) – “Book, Saddle & Go”, “Cyborg Beetle” and “Crucial Velocity” (a personal a favourite off the new album). Whilst there wasn’t much talk from Mr. Fallon, he did make a quick quip about forgetting the lyrics due to the amount of people in attendance.
Clutch who have been going for 23 years have a vast collection of songs to choose from, anything from Blast Tyrant right through to their self-titled album. The next few songs would be: “Burning Beard” (another favourite of mine), “The Regulator” (which I closed my eyes and sang along to – another stellar gem). And then two Clutch classics: “Big News I” and “Pure Rock Fury”. By this point I was hot, sweaty and tired. There were people all around me, elbow-to-blow, shoulder-to-shoulder – it was close quarters rock ‘n’ roll!
I got a quick glance towrad the end of the show to see Mr. Fallon strutting around the stage as if he owned it. The band closed off the night with more tracks from Earth Rocker: “Oh, Isabella”, “Gone Cold” (I hoped they would play this live – and they did!) and the final song “The Wolf Man Kindly Requests…” As the band left the stage Mr. Fallon thanked the crowd for coming, thanked us for a fantastic show, and promised that we would “see them again sometime”.
I don’t doubt, Mr. Fallon, I don’t doubt him at all.
Here’s a couple of clips to their Salt Lake City show earlier this year.
“Earth Rocker” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt6Hu0zfHJU
“Big News I” & “Big News II” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGlHEGzMPNU
Clutch Tour Dates here