LIVE REVIEW: Clutch @ O2 Academy Birmingham

A freezing cold waltz through Birmingham’s Frankfurt Christmas Market isn’t enough to keep the denim-clad CLUTCH fans away from the O2 Academy, as Maryland’s hard rock heroes send us to the heat of Slaughter Beach on their first tour on these shores in nearly four years.

Before the storytelling kings can command their audience, it’s time for indie trio TIGERCUB to thaw out the frozen audience. Cherry picking choice cuts from As Blue As Indigo – last year’s triumphant return after five years in full-length wilderness – the trio stand like statues defending their small slab of stage as they chop up Nevermind-era NIRVANA lights with ROYAL BLOOD’s crowd-bothering riffs.

Unlike the duo who’ve climbed to the top, TIGERCUB the trio and their bops fail to light a fire in the crowd the same way they sound on stage. Stop Beating On My Heart (Like A Bass Drum)’s nineties-WEEZER post-grunge pomp and The Perfume Of Decay’s twisted take on MUSE should have the slimming crowd slamming around, yet they’re sauntering from side to side with their hands in their pockets or worse, they’re at the bar.

Rating: 6/10

With the crowd still frozen from head to toe, the task falls to rising 70s revivalists GREEN LUNG to warm us up for our long-haul flight to Slaughter Beach. From the court jester trumpets of their interluding intro to the spiralling, psychedelic doom-riffs of opener proper Woodland Rites, it’s clear there’s no frostbite setting in here. Like snorting coke so quick they’d make BLACK SABBATH go ‘snowblind’, they shoot up straight into the liquid keys and infectious grooves of Leaders Of The Blind. Just as superstar vocalist-in-the-making Tom Templar juts and jives his way around the stage like he’s leading an occultist sermon, the crowd worship-dances back.

The flamboyant GHOST-meets-QUEEN explosion of psych that is Graveyard Sun sends shivers down your spine as the uninitiated pick up the chorus to chant along, whilst the contagious chemistry between riffmaster Scott Black and Sonic The Hedgehog-channelling organist John Wright on the maddeningly good Reaper’s Scythe is palpable. By the time GREEN LUNG get off stage having Let The Devil In, it’s no secret they’ll be headlining 3,000 capacity rooms like this one in no time. Consider the audience warmed up and then some.

Rating: 9/10

With the feeling back in our fingers and toes, and the pints pouring like it’s a night at the darts, it’s clear the time has come for CLUTCH to take the stage. Arriving as understatedly as always, the quartet of bassist Dan Maines, drummer Jean-Paul Gaster, guitarist Tim Sult, and vocalist Neil Fallon waste no time in ripping off the Band-Aid with an opening run stacked high enough to topple the leaning tower of Pisa.

Whilst newer cuts Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone) and Nosferatu Madre show off this year’s Sunrise On Slaughter Beach’s attention to barn-stomping grooves, an early helping of fan-favourites The Mob Goes Wild, X-Ray Visions, and Firebirds! throttles the now-throbbing crowd with enough firepower to hop into hyperspace. If you thought a breather might be in order, you better start watching another band because CLUTCH are going hellbent for leather, squeezing twenty songs into a set that just about hits 90 minutes. There’s no gimmicks to get off too, no pyromania to picture, or small talk to shuffle to the bar during – this is all killer, no filler and no-frills rock and roll from a foursome on fiery form, and when they sound this good, there’s no need for anything else.

Fallon’s status as a storyteller continues tonight, as he shimmies and shakes his way across the stage, jutting his body in all manner of directions and making every member of the crowd feel like he’s singing solely to them. Even the moments he hops on the guitar throughout the set feel like special moments to savour, all down to his facial expressions and guiding gestures.

But if anything, it’s the setlist itself that truly shines tonight. Whilst you might moan there’s no The Regulator or In Walks Barbarella in sight tonight, the party-starting fuzz-rock rollercoaster of Power Player and the southern-rock shot-sinking Willie Nelson should suffice. If that’s not enough, the band bring out SPIRITUAL BEGGARS’ Per Wiberg to take the keys for a seven-song run that includes the electrifying psych of The Devil In Me – it’s first airing in 10 years – and the ultra-shiny rarity 10001110101 to truly take the cake.

An earthquake-erupting finale of super-anthems Electric Worry and The Face keep the crowd warm long into the night as they linger out into the cold streets of Birmingham. Are Clutch one of the greatest live bands we’ve got? It’s rhetorical, of course they are.

Rating: 10/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Birmingham from Serena Hill Photography here: 

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