The Suffer No Evil Tour Drops By The Palladium On April 11th

All Live Photos By George Dionne/@rockisgeorge

If you’ve read any of my show reviews this year then it wouldn’t surprise you to learn that it has been 20 years since I have seen CLUTCH live. For some reason I like to wait a couple of decades before seeing a band more than once. Truth be told, I was much younger then and willing to drive 100 miles without a second thought. Most of the coolest Heavy Metal bands play the Worcester Palladium when they come through Massachusetts. As the years went by, I moved further and further away. But I digress..

J.D. PINKUS

The name didn’t really ring a bell when I saw him advertised, but I came to find out he was the bassist in BUTTHOLE SURFERS throughout the late ‘80s and early ’90s. You don’t forget a band name like that, and I’m fairly certain if you grew up in the same time period as me, you are well familiar with their hit song “Pepper”. J.D. was also a member of the MELVINS and other groups that I’m not too familiar with.

Pinkus is a weird dude. He really is. He started the night speaking in a robotic voice that led to lyrics from “My Neck, My Back” being put on a vocal loop while he got his electric banjo ready to go. Dressed in a trucker’s cap, white t-shirt tank, blue jeans, and no shoes, J.D. went on to perform some comical tunes.

He won me over (and the crowd) before the night was over. The most impressive part of his set was his banjo playing. I have never heard a banjo make the sounds he got out of it. He played it proficiently and with ease, without missing a lyric or note. I would describe his sound as Southern Rock meets Folk meets Bluegrass. I don’t think Pinkus was promoting a particular album. The brief set was more of a collection encompassing his career. I couldn’t find the exact setlist for the night, but future performances included…

Setlist:

”Fungus Shui Trinity”
”Woke Up Dead”
”Pissin’ Dirty”
”Churn”
”I Like The Way You Have Fun”
“Everybody’s Talking’”
”Broken Days”
”Good Trouble”
”Gittin’ It”
”Bride of Crankenstein”

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY

North Carolina Sludge Metal act CORROSION OF CONFORMITY came out swinging with the powerful and thumping opener “Asleep On The Killing Floor”, from their latest album ‘Good God / Baad Man’ (REVIEW https://knac.com/albumreview-corrosionofconformity-goodgod-baadman/). This song instantly whipped the crowd into a frenzy. I had never seen COC live before this evening, and my only real exposure to them over the years was their most popular songs played on Rock Radio like “Clean My Wounds”, “Albatross”, and “Graduation Song”.

What got me back into the band was when I listened to ‘Good God / Baad Man’. A stunning double album in which every song was killer. COC brought two more songs from the album, “Baad Man” and “Gimmie Some Moore”. While these two tracks are great on recording, there’s nothing quite like a live performance to give you insight into how the band really wants to present the song.

COC was easily the loudest band of the night. Brand new drummer Nick Shabatura didn’t miss a beat, and when he hit a beat, you could feel it in your bones. While I didn’t get “Graduation Song” on this night, I did get “Albatross” and “Clean My Wounds” as a back-to-back finale. From what I understand, “Vote With A Bullet” was a popular song for COC, and the crowd around me came unglued for it. It was kind of a downer that the band was only able to play 10 songs. I hope that if they come back around they will be the headliners.

Check out our interview with guitarist Woody Weatherman HERE

Setlist:

”Asleep on the Killing Floor”
”My Grain”
”Who’s Got The Fire”
”Baad Man”
“Gimme Some Moore”
”Seven Days”
”Lose Yourself”
”Vote With a Bullet”
”Albatross”
”Clean My Wounds”

CLUTCH

Let’s revisit the last time I watched CLUTCH perform in Worcester over 20 years ago. I remember they were opening for another band who’s name escapes me now, but I did not give CLUTCH much attention or respect back then. CLUTCH has always had a sound that was a bit hard to describe, and the young me was very into what I was into, and CLUTCH wasn’t it. Over the years I grew to admire CLUTCH and their raw, undefinable sound. I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard fan, but I have made my way through the catalog and it’s all good to me.

One of the other aspects of CLUTCH that I admire is that they rarely, if ever, play the same setlist twice. I looked up the prior night’s setlist and there may have been a handful of songs that were played on both nights. CLUTCH kicked off the night with “Sucker for the Witch” and had the crowd in the palms of their hands for the entire 18 song set.

CLUTCH is a no frills band on stage with a minimal set up and presentation. This night was, as I would imagine all nights are, simply about the music. I had never seen a crowd sing every song of a band’s setlist until now. CLUTCH even pulled out two new songs from their upcoming album (expected in 2027). “The Streets Are His” and “Colorado Fuel and Iron” fit well into the CLUTCH catalog. If Neil Fallon didn’t tell me the songs were new, I would have thought they were b-sides I missed. The rest of the night spanned the band’s catalog from ‘Clutch’ (1995) to ‘Sunrise on Slaughter Beach’ (2022), with a heavy lean on material from ‘Blast Tyrant’ (2004).

Setlist:

”Sucker for the Witch”
”Animal Farm”
”Subtle Hustle”
“X-Ray Visions”
“Firebirds!”
”Slaughter Beach”
”Burning Beard”
”The Streets Are His”
”The Mob Goes Wild”
”Profits of Doom”
”Pure Rock Fury”
”Three Golden Horns”
”Crucial Velocity”
”Worm Drink”
”Colorado Fuel and Iron”
”Earth Rocker”
”Electric Worry”
”Fortunate Son”

CLUTCH Tour Dates:

04/21 – Grand Junction, CO @ Mesa Theater
04/23 – Boise, ID @ Treefort Music Hall
04/24 – Reno, NV @ Cargo Concert Hall
04/27 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
04/28 – Midland, TX @ The Horseshoe
04/29 – San Antonio, TX @ The Aztec Theatre
05/01 – Pensacola, FL @ Vinyl Music Hall
05/02 – Chattanooga, TN @ The Signal
05/03 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel

J.D. PINKUS

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY

CLUTCH