Post Clutch Concert
August 15th, 2007
Cousin Pat accompanied me last night to the Commodore to see Clutch play. Husband would probably rather jump off the building than listen to any more Clutch, which I confess I have been playing incessantly for months now, so he stayed home. Pat got me in to Clutch in high school, probably about 12 years ago, and I’ve been a devoted fan ever since.
The show was great. In summary: the first act was really excellent. They’re a southern rock band called Backyard Tire Fire and they really got the crowd going. I know it’s not cool to like a country sound but what can I say, they’re catchy. And it’s not pop country like you get on the radio. It’s country as hard drinking good ol’ boys without a trace of femininity do it. And they were obviously super excited to be there which always helps.
The second act was pretty mediocre – I don’t even know what they are called so I shall end my discussion of them here.
Clutch was, as expected, awesome. They played my two favourite songs off the new album, and my top favourite of their entire catalogue, so the rest was gravy. I thought the harmonica was a little too low and the lead guitar guy occasionally snafu-ed a solo but the vibe was great and overall the music was exactly what you want at a live show: faithful enough to the recording to sound good and feel familiar, but gritty enough to feel real. I rocked out. And bought a t-shirt!
The only down side was the gaggle of sweaty shirtless guys who seemed to be everywhere: they’d mosh, get all slimy because they have no shirts on and the pit is super hot, and then they’d wander around wiping their sweat on innocent bystanders like yours truly. Yecch!