Clutch at the Westcott, Year Two

                Clutch came back to town on Thursday night, so what else was I going to do?  Brandon and I headed over, and despite trying our best to be late, were right on time.  The first band we saw was called Elephant Mountain, a local Syracuse band that was actually quite good.  They had a heavy Southern Rock feeling to them, a metal Skynrd if you will, and really seemed to be having a good time on stage, enjoying the opportunity provided to them.  I would honestly see them again, and for way longer than the twenty minutes they were given here as the opener.  If you like good music in general, and especially if you’re a fan of supporting the small, local bands, I would definitely suggest finding their music on Amazon or itunes.  They even have a song dedicated to firefighters, which tickled Brandon’s fancy, being a firefighter himself, and made him a fan right away. He purchased their most recent album and after listening to it a couple times, they are really good!  They aren't the good live band but loses that magic in the studio kind of band.  Elephant Mountain brings it no matter where they are.  I plan on seeing a lot more Elephant Mountain shows in the future.

                The next band up was American Sharks.  Ho-Lee-Fuck they were terrible.  Their opening song stole the riff from “Blitzkrieg Bop” and did nothing good with it, while their second song borrowed quite liberally from Black Sabbath (“Children of the Grave” if I remember correctly) and also failed to do anything good with it.  Brandon made it through one song before leaving, and I made it through one and a half.  We stepped outside and hung out for the rest of their set, and seeing the line of people exiting the theater during that set, we weren’t the only ones that disliked their “music”.  Seriously, I’ve seen shitty cover bands with more talent than those three jokers.  The fact that Clutch picked them to travel the country as their opener makes me wonder what the fuck they were thinking.  Was a monkey with a cowbell too expensive?

                Anyway, after an extended wait (seriously, the stage was set by 940 and we were waiting until at least ten for Clutch to come on) the moment was at hand.  All of the energy and polish that I’ve come to expect from Clutch was on full display.  Neil Fallon was at his manic best, bouncing around on stage, all hand gestures and gyrations, while the band were a perfect balance of standing completely still (seriously, Mick Mars looks at these guys and wonders if they’re alive) while still injecting energy on the stage with their playing.  The technical prowess of this band is second to none, it is seriously a joy to watch the artistic mastery of these guys on their instruments.  The set itself ran for around 90 minutes, with the highlight being that they mixed it up from last year.  There were a few holdovers from that show (“Electric Worry” to close things out, as well as “Earth Rocker “ and “Cyborg Bette” from the Earth Rocker album) but a good portion of the other songs were tunes I had yet to hear live, the highlights being “DC Sound Attack” ( a personal favorite) and “The Elephant Riders”. 

                While I was not a huge fan of the long wait for Clutch to take the stage, once they got there they did not disappoint.  I have a feeling that next year if they come back I won’t make the same mistake of getting there even close to on time (unless Elephant Mountain is playing).  I would suggest going to a Clutch show if you can, the energy that they have up on the stage is unparalleled.  For those of you in Central New York, check out Elephant Mountain as well, you won’t be disappointed.