Clutch Celebrate Christmas with Rifftastic Night at Manchester Academy [Photos]

The last Friday before Christmas, or “Mad Friday” as we like to call it in the UK, sounded like a perfect time for some Clutchmas celebrations, the now pretty much annual festive season visit from the Maryland foursome, and what, for most people, would be the final show of the year – and what a way to finish things off.

All three of the bands on the bill were incredible, starting with Norwegian riff monsters Bokassa, who as well as being masters of their own style of punk stoner rock, are also massive shit stirrers and wind-up merchants. Not only because two of them were wearing Liverpool football shirts on a Manchester stage, but for also playing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” over the speakers as they finished their set.

They acknowledged it was a joke to make it more of an uphill battle for themselves but luckily, their music and affable personalities earned them enough leeway for it not to light any fuses in the audience, seemingly getting away with it by earning the respect of the crowd. A great live band that are relentless when it comes to riffs, delivering them in all kinds of styles from straight forward and hard hitting to rhythmic and hypnotic in the style of QOTSA. They started things off with a bang.

1000Mods from Greece then took it up a notch with what can only be described as a jaw-dropping set. Heavy drums from an absolute beast behind the kit, paired with hard-hitting riffs and free-flowing guitar solos and catchy lyrics delivered with the angst of a 90s teenager.

They piqued everyone’s interest, and barring the two idiots who caused the set to be halted as they were chucked out for fighting, every single person seemed to be thoroughly enjoying them.

They’ve been a band for twenty years, yet this was the first experience of them for many of the people in the crowd, which not only highlights the importance of turning up for support acts but showcased the level of Clutch’s impeccable quality control when choosing them. They were truly incredible and meant that Clutch would have to be on their A-game to not be upstaged.

No surprises, they were.

To the customary “We Need Some Money” by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, Jean-Paul, Tim, and Dan took their places on stage (from which they didn’t move all night), leaving the thunderous-voiced Neil Fallon to roam around the stage with his trademark, slightly unhinged evangelist swagger.

The show was originally billed to be a full run through of their second album Clutch, but those plans were shelved, and it became a thrilling showcase of their whole discography yet featured the likes of “Big News I“, “Big News II“ and tumultuous “Spacegrass“ from that album. They have that big an arsenal of songs to choose from, there’s always going to be some glaring omissions, but there are always going to be some incredible treats depending on which member of the band has chosen the night’s setlist.

For this show, they included a one-two of “The Mob Goes Wild“ and “Swollen Goat“, a soulful “Regulator“ and a closing salvo of “Electric Worry“ and their stomping cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son“, leaving the crowd to Vamanos! Vamanos! Vamanos! into their Christmas breaks on a high.

Clutch are the high tide mark to which most bands should compare themselves, they never ever disappoint and make huge shows like this look effortless. No tricks or reliance on over-the-top pyro, just pure talent – but with only one UK show announced for next year, it may be a while before you get the chance to see them again.

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