Clutch Shakes Foundations In San Francisco

By Avinash Mittur
(photos by April Edwards)

March 26th 2013, The Regency Ballroom, San Francisco CA: Less than a week ago, I saw Clutch over at the House of Blues in Hollywood. Thanks to some truly wonderful luck, I had the opportunity to see the band headline once again at the Regency Ballroom last Tuesday night in San Francisco. Bay area concert venues are universally fantastic compared to the places found on Sunset Boulevard, so getting to return to the Regency was a welcome treat in and of itself. This show was just as entertaining as the Hollywood date, and yet another check-mark on the list of great Clutch sets.

The lineup for this show was exactly the same as the Hollywood date. Once again, Scorpion Child began the night with their classic rock-influenced jams. With a bigger stage to move around, singer Aryn Black made sure to be a bit more mobile compared to the Hollywood date. This was fun to see, and the whole band’s performance was as strong as one from the prior date as well. Seeing the same set again made for an admittedly less exciting time, but the small but growing audience seemed to once again enjoy the set. The same could be said of Lionize, though their relative energy onstage remained the same. This was understandable given that bassist Henry Upton is the only member of the band not stuck to a microphone or stool. The crowd was even more enthusiastic for Lionize; random highly supportive shouts from the floor made the rounds often (my personal favorite, “you guys are very good!” one fan screamed at the top of his lungs).

For a second time, Orange Goblin came to raise some hell in my local area. The band changed the set up just a bit this time, choosing to open with ‘Red Tide Rising’ and close with ‘Scorpionica’. The Regency was nearly packed by the time Orange Goblin hit the stage, and singer Ben Ward couldn’t have been more ecstatic. He continually thanked the crowd for turning up, and made sure to wear a big smile for the entire forty-five minute set. Guitarist Joe Hoare also seemed just a bit more active at this date, though the headbanging that he and bassist Martyn Millard provided was just as ample as the last go-around. The high energy of Orange Goblin’s music made for a better second listen than the other opening acts, and the band was once again a stellar primer for the headliner.

Orange Goblin Set List:

1. Red Tide Rising
2. The Filthy & the Few
3. Some You Win, Some You Lose
4. Time Travelling Blues
5. Your World Will Hate This
6. Acid Trial
7. They Come Back (Harvest of Skulls)
8. Round Up the Horses
9. Scorpionica

At just about 10:15, the band that the thousand-strong audience had been waiting for finally arrived. Opening up with the high-octane rush of ‘Pure Rock Fury’, Clutch wasted no time in getting the blood flowing for this show. In fact, nothing but some of the band’s quickest and punchiest tunes made the rounds for this set. Once again, seven songs from the excellent Earth Rocker made an appearance, but I was lucky enough to hear one track I didn’t get last time, ‘Cyborg Bette’. Unfortunately, from where I was standing up in the balcony, the set somewhat suffered from a very bassy and kick drum heavy mix. It didn’t ruin the show in any way, but it downgraded what could have been a transcendent Clutch set into a merely stellar one. From where I was standing though, I finally got a good look at Tim’s feet. I now know why the guy never moves from his station; his right foot is perpetually spazzing on his wah-wah pedal. Once again Neil Fallon’s physical lunacy made up for the lack of movement from Tim and bassist Dan Maines- the guy is just damn entertaining to watch, especially during the new songs when his eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets. The bass heavy mix ended up adding a new layer of heaviness to ‘Crucial Velocity’- Tim’s guitar tone seemed to take on a much more meaty and weighted presence thanks to this particular mix. The Rocket 88 basically became a steam engine on this track.

Despite the bass-heavy sound, the set itself was astoundingly brilliant and very gutsy. No songs from The Elephant Riders, Transnational Speedway League, or Robot Hive/Exodus were played on this night- the crowd was instead treated to a very generous chunk of the ever amazing Blast Tyrant and as stated before, seven tracks from Earth Rocker. This made for a very heavy set where the bluesier aspect of Clutch’s discography was de-emphasized. San Francisco was treated to the eternally awesome ‘Subtle Hustle’ however, and those glorious two and a half minutes alone were unbelievable. Neil’s delivery of this song’s lyrics were filled with fiery intensity that fed right into the bouncing crowd. The man declared “I drive out demons! Can I hear an amen?!” and we replied with a huge wall of noise. I had earlier compared Neil Fallon to a stark raving pastor on a Sunday morning- now the guy was literally preaching to a choir. The addition of the very rare ‘Open Up the Border’ was also a great tip of the hat to hardcore Clutch fans, as was a showing of the always badass ‘Escape from the Prison Planet’. Nearly everyone in the Regency were fanatical about this band; during the encore, three full chants for the band and applauses and stomps that literally shook the venue made their rounds. While I would have liked the set to be maybe just a song or two longer, it’s hard to argue with 17 out of 18 songs of royally kickass rock music (sorry ‘50,000 Unstoppable Watts’ fans, that song’s never done it for me).

Clutch Set List:

1. Pure Rock Fury
2. Profits of Doom
3. The Mob Goes Wild
4. Earth Rocker
5. D.C. Sound Attack!
6. Escape from the Prison Planet
7. The Regulator

8. Cyborg Bette
9. Crucial Velocity
10. Subtle Hustle
11. Open Up the Border
12. 50,000 Unstoppable Watts

13. The Face
14. Gone Cold
15. Electric Worry
16. One Eye Dollar
Encore
17. Cypress Grove
18. The Wolf Man Kindly Requests…

All in all, this stop of the Earth Rocker North American tour was once again a success. I didn’t have nearly as fun a time with the first two openers for the second round, but Orange Goblin and Clutch were more than enough to deliver a grand time. The attendees of the sold out Regency Ballroom seemed to agree, comments after the show were consistently full of praise and awe. As a die-hard Clutch fan, few moments have ever been more full of joy in my life than singing the bridge of ‘Subtle Hustle’ along with 1000 other maniacs. For those unfamiliar with the track, here’s a link:

Only at a Clutch show can you shout these words loudly in public and not be ostracized. I did just that, and no one can ever take that away from me. There are few pleasures greater than a headlining show from Clutch- I can only hope that their return is imminent.

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