Primus and Clutch teamed up for a tour together and on July 20th, 2017, they brought the fun to Michigan Lottery Theater, also known as Freedom Hill Amphitheater in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
This was one show I was looking forward to this summer as Primus is one of my favorite bands. The anticipation began early for me as I left straight from my day job to make it to the venue shortly after doors opened so that I could buy a Primus poster. Much like when I saw Primus at this same venue two years ago, they once again continued the tradition of having a unique and limited number of posters for each show during the tour. The one I bought two years had a sea-captain riding a gigantic fish on the seas of cheese, create by Zombie Yeti Studios. This time around was artwork from Zombie Yeti again and it was another cool piece of work of a mosquito drawing blood with a junior mosquito floating above mother as he enjoyed the feeding through an umbilical cord. And to make it even cooler, it’s a black light poster. Talk about groovy.
Speaking of groovy, Clutch got the show started with cheers from the crowd who was ready to hear some good groovy rock n roll. I admit I’ve not listened to Clutch a whole lot over the years. But having covered them twice now within a year, these guys are making me a fan. I’m not sure what it was, maybe it was my being out of work and able to relax and unwind, or the temperature slightly cooling down as the sun was making its way down. Or maybe it was the whiff of the happy smoke I caught every now and then. But whatever it was, Clutch was grooving and had me moving.
Most Clutch music is new to me, but I’ve heard some of it either on the radio or at clubs. Seeing the audience pump their fist and sing along,it’s easy to see how Clutch has developed a loyal fanbase. Neal Fallon on vocals and rhythm guitar, Tim Sult on lead guitar, Dan Maines on bass and Jean-Paul Gaster on drums. These guys jam with the best of them as they ride that line of aggressive, hard rock where I can easily see the crowd ready to bust some shit and break out into a mosh but the music steams and never boils over, keeping the fans on that fine edge between peace and chaos, just like watching a good suspense movie.
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Clutch is almost two years removed from having released their latest album ‘Psychic Warfare’, which they played a handful of songs from, including “Firebirds”, “Sucker for the Witch” and ending their set with “X-Ray Visions”. Their set included many other songs from their vast catalogue, “Noble Savage”, “Earth Rocker” and “Cypress Grove”, touching on many hits the fans were thirsting for. The song,“Electric Worry”,had a guest musician as Eric Oblander jammed along with his harmonica, ramping up the bluesy vibes rumbling through the air.
Clutch even played a couple new songs that I’d suspect will be on their next album. “How to Shake Hands” is catchy and instantly makes you ready to rock. The other unreleased song that I’m aware of is, “Vision Quest”, which Neal mentioned was inspired from drinking beer and listening to Black Sabbath. With these new songs, Clutch is showing no let down as they’ll be rocking great music for years to come.
As the sun settled down over the horizon, the remaining daylight ushered in Primus. I thought it odd that suddenly the seating area in front of me seemed to be filled beyond capacity. The alcohol certainly soaked many brains by this point and fans were more than ready to jam again as they tried getting up front as much as possible. Lead singer Les Claypool put his signature bass guitar on and slapped that guitar like only he knows how as Larry “Ler” LaLonde on guitar and Tim “Herb” Alexander, whom I really couldn’t see much of as he was hidden behind his drum set, began the show with “Too Many Puppies”.
The grooves produced by Primus had the crowd bumping along all night. Primus had a nice selection of songs from early material to soon to be released stuff. With crowd favorites like “My Name is Mud”, “Jerry was a Race Car Driver” which included the famous quote, “Dog will hunt!” And when Les dons the pig mask, I think everyone knows “Mr. Krinkle” will be played, having switched from playing his bass guitar to grabbing a bow to push and pull those low notes across the strings of the double bass. “Mr. Krinkle” was the first time I took notice of Primus when I was a kid. I remember seeing the music video on MTV and being perplexed at the oddity I was seeing and hearing. I hated it at first, I thought it was stupid. But the music resonated through my head long after I heard it and the images from the video replayed in my mind as well. Then eventually I began to like what I saw and heard and ended up buying the album ‘Pork Soda’. Primus was something so different that I couldn’t avoid the catchy riffs and bass slapping jams.
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Primus prides themselves on their ability to improvise and just jam out, which they displayed with a couple of songs of marathon length. They also shared a new song, ‘Seven’, which I expect will be part of the next album. I don’t recall much of the song, I know it wasn’t long, maybe about three minutes. It got lost in between other better-known songs. But it’s nice that Primus has created new material since the last time we had an original Primus album was back in 2011 with ‘Green Naugahyde’.
It was a great evening seeing and enjoying music from Clutch and Primus. And I’m sure they enjoyed the Michigan fresh air. At least according to Clutch’s Neal Fallon, who mentioned something about Baltimore and that he was being truthful when saying the Michigan air was fresh. This tour just recently got started, so if this show comes near you, then get there and witness and experience the fun live in person. Go have yourself a funky groovy time.