Article & Photos by Kyle Ostrander
Brooklyn, NY – On Thursday night, Clutch and Rival Sons kicked off their Two-Headed Beast Tour in NYC. The show would prove to live up to the tour’s name, delivering monster co-headline sets from both bands.
Rivals Sons served up the first headline set of the night, with their fuzzed out sound filling all corners of the venue. The group is known for their energetic live shows, and this one was no different. The band started their set with “Mirrors” as their singer ran out barefoot to deliver his soulful vocals. They then quickly moved into “Nobody Wants to Die”, followed by “Tied Up”. Throughout the whole set their singer danced around the stage, adding in tambourine hits every now and then to accent the rest of the band’s tight playing. The bassist laid down the groove, the drummer pounded the rhythm, and the guitarist executed blues-rock riffage across a multitude of different guitars that were brought out during the set. The crowd matched the band’s energy, swaying to the music, and cheering loudly over shredding guitar solos. Rival Sons didn’t speak much on stage between songs, pausing only occasionally to provide anecdotes about their music. “We’re going to play a song now about something that’s easy in good times but hard in bad times. It’s about forgiveness” said the band before playing “Where I’ve Been.”
Closing out the show was Clutch, whose reputation for top-notch live performances had a line of fans in the band’s merch pressed excitedly right up on the barrier. As soon as the group hit their first note, singer Neil Fallon began bouncing across the stage, and didn’t stop moving the entire show. The group started their set with “Mercury”, followed right up by “Profits of Doom”, before going into “The Mob Goes Wild”. This turned out to be a very special set to open the tour. “In case you didn’t get the memo yet, we’re performing Blast Tyrant in its entirety tonight. Then we’ll give you some other special songs!” said the band. Lights of various colors engulfed the stage and highlighted the dynamics of each song perfectly. Every band member executed their parts with the precision of veteran musicians, delivering the classic Clutch sound of deep bass, driving drums, and wah-layered guitar. Fallon would frequently venture to the very edge of the stage and interact with the crowd, who often had their hands in the air singing along to every word. During the latter half of the set, fans were treated to favorites like “Spacegrass”, “A Shogun Named Marcus”, and “Electric Worry”.
The Two-Headed Best Tour continues through mid-October across the US. You can view all the upcoming dates here.