During this gig, in between the bands, I was chatting to a very good friend of mine who is a Bristol based DJ, former musician and occasional contributor to this publication. He's also someone whose musical knowledge and opinion I value very, very highly.
We were discussing how refreshing it was to not see a band like the headliner in an O2 Academy especially the Bristol O2 Academy as it is one of the worst in the country. So the fact that a lot more bands now our booking the Beacon as a venue can only benefit those are us who go to gigs quite often. The Beacon is an overall a much better venue the sound is better the seating is better the ability to see is better so kudos to everyone involved in booking this over just another Academy.
Venue gripes out of the way, merch bought and settled in it was time for the music.
First up for this night of heavy rocking work Bokassa (7) a band who have quite a star studded résumé when it comes to support they've even toured a few times with the headliners I believe.
Tonight in Bristol they felt home, this was the first show in the UK on the tour and Bokassa are no strangers to these shores, having played Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea previously. So they were fully prepared for what the crowd was going to be like, in fact their front man was eulogizing over salt and chili chips and how he would be picking some up after their set.
It did seem like he would need something as he had probably gone through half a crate of White Claw before even picking up his guitar. Not that that matters as this punk metal trio always play with that little bit more of an edge when alcohol is involved as it does make up a lot of their lyrics.
Blasting through their set at speed, (probably hungry), but maybe talking a bit too much, Bokassa set got the amps nice and warmed up for what was to come.
From too much talking to a band who let their riffs do it for them. The Super Van Vacation rolled on as 1000mods (9) were clearly elated to be on the road with Clutch, their merch even said so, it was probably their highest profile set of gigs to date and a chance to impress a wider audience with their Greek stoner styling, in the same way they did to me at their brilliant Swansea show a year or so ago.
Taking most of their set from their recent record Cheat Death and their breakthrough record Super Van Vacation, they locked into Sabbath grooves (Overthrown) and Sky Valley atmospherics as propulsive QOTSA-like drive of Electric Carve made way for the woozy Road To Burn. As the room began to swell the heads nodded in unison, the entirety of Bristol in agreement that 1000mods absolutely slap live.
Venue gripes out of the way, merch bought and settled in it was time for the music.
First up for this night of heavy rocking work Bokassa (7) a band who have quite a star studded résumé when it comes to support they've even toured a few times with the headliners I believe.
Tonight in Bristol they felt home, this was the first show in the UK on the tour and Bokassa are no strangers to these shores, having played Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea previously. So they were fully prepared for what the crowd was going to be like, in fact their front man was eulogizing over salt and chili chips and how he would be picking some up after their set.
It did seem like he would need something as he had probably gone through half a crate of White Claw before even picking up his guitar. Not that that matters as this punk metal trio always play with that little bit more of an edge when alcohol is involved as it does make up a lot of their lyrics.
Blasting through their set at speed, (probably hungry), but maybe talking a bit too much, Bokassa set got the amps nice and warmed up for what was to come.
From too much talking to a band who let their riffs do it for them. The Super Van Vacation rolled on as 1000mods (9) were clearly elated to be on the road with Clutch, their merch even said so, it was probably their highest profile set of gigs to date and a chance to impress a wider audience with their Greek stoner styling, in the same way they did to me at their brilliant Swansea show a year or so ago.
Taking most of their set from their recent record Cheat Death and their breakthrough record Super Van Vacation, they locked into Sabbath grooves (Overthrown) and Sky Valley atmospherics as propulsive QOTSA-like drive of Electric Carve made way for the woozy Road To Burn. As the room began to swell the heads nodded in unison, the entirety of Bristol in agreement that 1000mods absolutely slap live.
Delivering a set that is as heavy as it melodic, you lose yourself in the likes of the percussive Götzen Hammer, the pulsating Low or go absolutely crazy to the Motorhead inspired Speedhead. By the time they cranked out the fuzzy El Rollito and their bona-fide closer Vidage, they had every single person in the room on side, rocking along to the grooves of 1000mods. This tour will be the springboard to bigger things in the UK, keep that van rolling out way!
There was some trepidation whether or not this gig would happen at all as the band cancelled their Paris show due to illness.
However this is a band who are not in the habit of letting people down and even with frontman Neil Fallon looking a little under the weather. They made sure that they were in good enough shape to give Bristol the rock and roll show but only Clutch (10) can provide.
Neil especially apologised not being his normal manic frenetic self however if you had never seen the band before you wouldn't have noticed as he still stalked the stage telling these tales like a demented storyteller, over the loud confluence of blues soul and rock and roll. His voice also seem to unaffected delivering every every track with his trademark enthusiasm and unique vocal style.
If anything the only way you would have known about the previous cancellation or illness is that Neil a few times during the set picked up a second guitar to add harmony to the songs that needed them but also probably to give himself a bit of a break. Meaning there was greater focus on the soulful guitars Tim Sult, the throb heavy bass of Dan Maines and the always technical but driven by soul drumming of Jean-Paul Gaster.
For a tour that was originally supposed to celebrate their debut album by playing in full this rapidly shifted towards your standard greatest hits show. I don't know the behind the scenes reasons for this but if I were to guess I would say it was that the enthusiasm for a first album reunion tour didn't go down as well with the relatively new classic rock based audience (blame the DJ's) that the band have found themselves in recent years.
It's the diversity of the audience too that surprises me, with stoners, metalheads, punks and unusually at rock gigs a greater balance between the genders as everyone loves shaking their thing to those sexy grooves. Of course with every setlist from Clutch, the songs played varies with a few core tracks surrounded by ones that are swapped and changed every evening.
The while say Birmingham (where the pictures were taken for this gig) got the Regulator, in Bristol we got Quick Death In Texas. What we also got were two brand new songs. Now they have been playing each of them on selected dates the clearly they thought Bristol worthy enough to play both Green Skull and Colorado Fuel And Iron, both of which tease well for a new album.
I always love to try and guess the setlist but tonight's was one of the best for me, the trio of Sunrise On Slaughter Beach, Crucial Velocity and Quick Death got everyone grooving, while the throwbacks of Worm Drink and Ghost from the Blast Tyrant album, were there for the longtime fans. The way things ebb and flow showcase Clutch as masters of their craft. The two new songs bookending X-Ray Visions and The Mob Goes Wild, as strut of Cypress Grove closed the main set.
It also seems that for the first time Clutch have settled on having one permeant encore song, which of course is Electric Worry and while the crowd was shouting "vamados, vamados" they quickly segued into Burning Beard, to send Bristol home happy. More Clutch please and thank you and more rock gigs not in the O2 Academy Bristol please.
There was some trepidation whether or not this gig would happen at all as the band cancelled their Paris show due to illness.
However this is a band who are not in the habit of letting people down and even with frontman Neil Fallon looking a little under the weather. They made sure that they were in good enough shape to give Bristol the rock and roll show but only Clutch (10) can provide.
Neil especially apologised not being his normal manic frenetic self however if you had never seen the band before you wouldn't have noticed as he still stalked the stage telling these tales like a demented storyteller, over the loud confluence of blues soul and rock and roll. His voice also seem to unaffected delivering every every track with his trademark enthusiasm and unique vocal style.
If anything the only way you would have known about the previous cancellation or illness is that Neil a few times during the set picked up a second guitar to add harmony to the songs that needed them but also probably to give himself a bit of a break. Meaning there was greater focus on the soulful guitars Tim Sult, the throb heavy bass of Dan Maines and the always technical but driven by soul drumming of Jean-Paul Gaster.
For a tour that was originally supposed to celebrate their debut album by playing in full this rapidly shifted towards your standard greatest hits show. I don't know the behind the scenes reasons for this but if I were to guess I would say it was that the enthusiasm for a first album reunion tour didn't go down as well with the relatively new classic rock based audience (blame the DJ's) that the band have found themselves in recent years.
It's the diversity of the audience too that surprises me, with stoners, metalheads, punks and unusually at rock gigs a greater balance between the genders as everyone loves shaking their thing to those sexy grooves. Of course with every setlist from Clutch, the songs played varies with a few core tracks surrounded by ones that are swapped and changed every evening.
The while say Birmingham (where the pictures were taken for this gig) got the Regulator, in Bristol we got Quick Death In Texas. What we also got were two brand new songs. Now they have been playing each of them on selected dates the clearly they thought Bristol worthy enough to play both Green Skull and Colorado Fuel And Iron, both of which tease well for a new album.
I always love to try and guess the setlist but tonight's was one of the best for me, the trio of Sunrise On Slaughter Beach, Crucial Velocity and Quick Death got everyone grooving, while the throwbacks of Worm Drink and Ghost from the Blast Tyrant album, were there for the longtime fans. The way things ebb and flow showcase Clutch as masters of their craft. The two new songs bookending X-Ray Visions and The Mob Goes Wild, as strut of Cypress Grove closed the main set.
It also seems that for the first time Clutch have settled on having one permeant encore song, which of course is Electric Worry and while the crowd was shouting "vamados, vamados" they quickly segued into Burning Beard, to send Bristol home happy. More Clutch please and thank you and more rock gigs not in the O2 Academy Bristol please.
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