Clutch
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Headliner’s Music Hall/ Louisville, KY

Review by Hunter Embry, Indiana University Southeast

The aggression of a storm and economically torn community was stirred and brewed to the brim by genre-stretching hard rockers, Clutch. Two days after a major windstorm, leaving much of the city without power and less than two weeks after an ice storm that forced the city into a natural disaster area, Clutch provided a release to nearly a thousand people.

The members of Clutch began the show by playing several songs from their instrumental jam band project, The Bakerton Group. The group, which is scheduled to release the second full length, El Rojo, had a bluesy improvisational feel, with thick, lengthy drum fills, hellish guitar tones and a melting bass. The Bakerton Group, a bit more cultured than Clutch, with jazzy drums, complex harmonizing guitar parts and running bass lines, provided a nice way for it’s members to show-off it’s diverse range of influences and proved to be a killer opening act.

With singer, Neil Fallon’s grip of the vocal mic, Clutch’s set began. Fallon’s floor shaking voice, thundered from behind his long beard as he belted out the opening verse from “The Incomparable Mr. Flannery”, the riff-wild, first track from their 2005 release, Robot Hive: Exodus. As Clutch continued to stomp through their set, they played songs from 2004’s Blast Tyrant, including their hit, “The Mob Goes Wild,” in which the crowd sang along, while slamming across the floor. One would be best equipped with a mouthpiece and change of clothes if even considering getting close to the stage. Others sang from the side balcony switching their attention from the band, which was hitting on all cylinders, to the security guards that attempted to keep the wild fans under control.