The last month in Kansas City has seen torrential rain fall like we have not seen in a long time, and Saturday, August 5, 2017, would be no different. Obviously Mother Nature had zero fucks to give that Clutch was coming to town and that they were set to play at an outdoor venue. Mother Nature may not have cared, but the folks at Crossroads KC and The Uptown Theater sure the hell did, and in less than twelve hours the venue had been changed and staffed and ready for the night ahead. Not so fast, The Crossroads KC holds about 800 more people than The Uptown, so things were not as smooth as they seemed. Unfortunately with a case like this, decisions have to be made, and butts have to get hurt. A cancelation on all comp tickets was announced, and a refund was issued to anyone one who just did not want to take the chance of getting in the door. And, obviously, anyone not getting in was offered a full refund as well. I would just like to commend and thank both venues and the wonderful staff for taking a shitty situation and making the best of it they could. It seemed to go over very smoothly with a serene and calm atmosphere; although, I can only imagine they were all shitting themselves on the inside.
As I said above, The Uptown is a smaller venue then Crossroads KC, and playing hero to a situation saw the venue bursting at the gills filled to capacity. As Clutch made it to the stage, they were greeted with an ear shattering sound of acceptance. A smiling Neil Fallon took to the mic and greeted the crowd saying, “Hey there, I see you made it!” This was obviously a reference to the weather that caused havoc over apparently everyone’s day. Opening the night with “You Can’t Stop Progress” from 2007’s From Beale Street to Oblivion, the fellas in Clutch took the capacity crowd for a ride that spanned over twenty years of just plain old dirty rock and roll. They did a tremendous job in trying to hit all the albums in their catalog, covering six of their eleven studio albums as well as a new track that they have been pulling out of their bag of tricks called “How to Shake Hands,” or at least that is what is labeled as according to the set list. When not up front contorting, squatting down in to a Sumo type stance, or just making the odd movements only Neil Fallon can make, Mr. Fallon could be seen off to the side watching his band mates with the same look as the fans in the theater. The rain may have come and tried to wash the day away, but nobody was going to let that happen! Clutch came in and put on a show for all the people that waited in the pouring ass rain for over four hours just to make sure they made it in the doors.
Photos by Amber Miller, RockRevolt photojournalist
Review by Ace Sims, RockRevolt journalist
CLUTCH
