Story & Photographs by Diane Fleischman
The early winter temperature may have been cold Thursday night, but it was a heat scorcher inside The Sands Event Center as Clutch rocked the venue with two opening bands.
The audience warmed up to The Mike Dillon Band, who performed everything from punk to jazz influenced songs. Mike Dillon, originally from Texas, currently residing Louisiana, brought the southern heat as he won the crowd over with an extraordinary performance of the vibraphone early in the set.
Hailing from Los Angeles, The Bronx Band was next on stage, performing as Mariachi El Bronx. Mariachi music stretches further beyond music itself, it represents a social revolution, fully cast with horns, a violinist, and several guitars. The Bronx Band, punk by nature, were donned in charro suits as the enveloped the music, and had a great time in the process.
A little after ten o’clock, the crowd cheered as Clutch took the stage. Out on the road supporting the last few shows of their Psychic Warfare tour, perhaps, subtitled their “Holiday Run” shows, Clutch kicked it into overdrive as the crowd rocked hard to the beat.
Their set opened with “Cyborg Bette”, followed by “Decapitation Blues”, and things only got hotter from there. Other favorites included, “The Mob Goes Wild”, “Earth Rocker”, “Sucker for the Witch”, and “The Yedi”, as one of two songs that Mike Dillon joined Clutch onstage.
There were two songs in the encore, “Electric Worry”, and “X-Ray Visions” which left the audience satisfied, ready to face the cold night weather with a fiery blaze fueled by Clutch.
