Having witnessed a good few mega-budget arena and stadium spectacles this year, it felt right to see the year out with something more stripped back and back to basics. No castles and cannons, no ten-foot mascots wandering around the stage, no massive walls of flame or cornea-melting explosions, no IMAX-style projection screens, and no revolving stages. In fact, when Norwegian openers Bokassa walk out, the stage is still littered with cables, various electrical items, and even the odd toolbox. If you wanted no-frills entertainment, then you’ve come to the right place. 

Frontman Jørn Kaarstad takes sarcastic swipes at a certain ticketing/promotion agency while drummer Olav Dowkes and bassist Ole Vistnes make everything look a lot easier than it actually is. Cuts like “Immortal Space Pirate,” “Mouthbreathers Inc.” and “Walker Texas Danger” are great stoner rock titles, but the best surely has to be “Bradford Death Squadron” which makes you wonder if Norwegians see the north of England as even colder and more hostile than the worst Scandinavian winter. 

With a name like 1000Mods, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were about to see a bunch of Paul Weller haircuts wearing green bomber jackets. Not a bit of it. With songs like “Electric Carve,” “Road to Burn,” “Götzen Hammer,” “Speedhead,” “Rollo” and “Vidage,” this fiercely talented Greek trio worship at the altar of Black Sabbath and Motörhead and don’t care who knows it, riff after riff delivered with high energy and fierce enthusiasm.

It’s been no secret that Clutch frontman Neil Fallon has been suffering from a cold on this tour, but aside from a bottle of throat spray at the side of the stage, you’d never even know. His voice sounds nothing short of fantastic, and his positive attitude is just as contagious as the virus he was unfortunate enough to catch. 

Having maintained the same lineup since 1991, it’s no surprise that Clutch is one of the most well-oiled machines in the business. A surgically precise four-piece who somehow simultaneously manage to make each show a laid-back jam session, there’s simply no stopping the Maryland quartet tonight. Kicking off with “Subtle Hustle” and “The Mob Goes Wild,” the crowd then goes predictably insane for a thunderous “Earth Rocker.” Older cuts like “Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks” and “Spacegrass” sit along mid-2000s tracks such as “The Regulator,” “Cypress Grove,” and “Mice and Gods” plus more recent songs like “Slaughter Beach,” “Nosferatu Madre” and (if ten to twelve years ago can be considered recent) “Crucial Velocity,” “X-Ray Visions,” “Firebirds!” and “The Face.” Newie, “The Streets are His” is an instant winner, and the band finish off with a raucous encore of “Electric Worry” and “Burning Beard.”

Fallon never stops moving and interacting with the audience, threatening a couple of times to jump into the pit to sort everyone out himself. Despite being constrained by his kit, drummer Jean-Paul Gaster is a blur of arms and legs while guitarist Tim Sult and bassist Dan Maines are the direct opposite, neither of them moving more than two paces forward from their marks for the entire evening. Just a no-nonsense heads-down-and-get-on-with-it vibe. Perfection.

Setlist (via setlist.fm)
Subtle Hustle
The Mob Goes Wild
Earth Rocker
X-Ray Visions
Firebirds!
Slaughter Beach
Crucial Velocity
Cypress Grove
Spacegrass
Nosferatu Madre
Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks
Mice and Gods
The Regulator
The Streets are His
The Face

Encore:
Electric Worry
Burning Beard

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GARY ALCOCK
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