Clutch – Live at the Prince Of Wales : Gig Review

Having an awesome time at a Clutch gig is as much a certainty as Australian’s getting fatter and developing type II diabetes.

As I paced my way up to the Prince Of Wales, the observable signs that we were in fact at a Clutch gig were rife – there were beards everywhere. As a bearded man myself, I take a lot of pride in my distinguishable feature. Yet on this particular night, I’ve never felt so un-unique in my whole life. However this didn’t distract me for too long as Clutch filed out onto stage to an outpouring of cheers from the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd.

Vocalist Neil Fallon is everything you would want in a frontman. Although he doesn’t actually communicate with the audience a great deal, he manages to make up for his weaker areas with alternative methods. His preferred method of audience interaction is reached through choreographed posturing and highly intensive eye-locking with those close enough to the stage.
For the most part it’s extremely effective, and definitely adds more depth to the show. Normally when there is a distinct lack of verbalizing, the general feeling is that the band are a bit too distant. However, Neil Fallon looks as though he understands the importance of bringing people into the show with him, and it adds to the experience immeasurably.

Neil Fallon - Active frontman of Clutch

Clutch slowly warmed up, opting to sneak up on the audience with Who’s Been Talkin. It wasn’t long though until the almightily crunchy and good-time riffs kicked in with Elephant Riders. Heads began to violently rock back and forth to brilliantly melded guitar/bass/drum formations for the remainder of the night, such was the palpable presense of the riffage. The metal infused blues insanity continued with crowd favourites Abraham Lincoln, Burning Beard, Big News 1 and Big News 2, Animal Farm.

If one was to measure the success of a gig on the sweat content of the room, then this surely would have been considered one of the greatest. Many sweaty members of the crowd took it upon themselves to become more involved in the show with the now well established fist-pumping, as well as some drunken crowd surfing to make the experience that little bit more memorable.

After a brief period back stage, Clutch made their way back on stage for their obligatory encore. The final song, The Mob Goes Wild, whether it was played deliberately or not, prompted the crowd into mass hysteria with a number of fans electing to hop on stage to strut their stuff. It was all in good fan until one fan decided to grab Neil Fallon in some type of headlock, presumably it was a gesture of good will and mateship – but it didn’t look like Fallon took it that way, especially when he gave him the bird as he was escorted from the stage.

After having my first Clutch experience, it’s fair to say I was suitably impressed. I wasn’t completely blown away, yet it had left a mark. And that mark could easily have been more pronounced, given that after talking to die-hard fans the overall consensus was that poor song selection had left the night a little below par. Either way, it stands that even on a “bad” night your near certain to have a bloody good time when you see Clutch.