The sun is about to set and I can feel it getting a bit colder as I walk toward the Hades stage to see American rockers CLUTCH play at 21:30 CET. It’s time to put on my hoodie to keep warm (yes I’ve been to festivals before and know to always have a bagpack with extra clothes with me).
But as soon as CLUTCH enter the stage and begin to play “Ghoul Wrangler”, I can feel the heat from both the stage and the audience and the hoodie comes off.
I can’t help but start moving around and so does the crowd. Now THIS is pure, great old school rock, and the band are really getting the crowd going straight away.
The band keep the high energy going with “Noble Savage”, and I feel like I am at a smoky biker bar, listening, dancing, headbanging and stomping to some great rock. The big difference is that here at COPENHELL, I am accompanied by thousands of people and different types, not only bikers.
I really love the energy the band are sending out. These guys don’t care if they are surrounded by other much heavier bands… They are just doing their thing, and it sounds GOOD!
As I know the rest of the evening will be a lot heavier in regards to music and bands, this is a really great way to start off a huge party and getting the crowd going. Great move from the COPENHELL planners!
Singer Neil Fallons’ voice is rock solid live and he is really rocking the stage along with the band. Actually, the entire band is rock solid and that’s one of the great things about a band like CLUTCH. They give each other space and every single band member is shining. A true rock band with one common goal; to entertain their audience.
A big WOW (at least from me) comes when LAMB OF GOD singer Randy Blythe joins CLUTCH on stage to perform “Passive Restraint”. I actually cheer for a moment until I hear that this is a “no no” in my opinion. Even though I really like LAMB OF GOD, this performance and guest appearance I could do without. But many in the crowd seem to disagree with me and begin to mosh, so I guess it was a good call from the band after all.
Overall this was a really good and solid performance from very experienced musicians who are keeping themselves true to their music (if you set aside the guest performance) and they do one hell of a job doing so! Now, let’s ROCK ON!
