The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Las Vegas welcomed Primus with special guests Clutch!
Clutch, a band rom Germantown, Maryland formed back in 1991 is unique in that these guys have been together since high school, and unlike most other bands of this tenure there is no turnover of members. Clutch has a musical style that blends hard rock, blues, punk, stoner and some psychedelic tossed in to create a sound that is very much their own.
Clutch kicked off the show with the in your face "Cyborg Bette" that really set the tone for their show, and had the crowd raising their arms and singing along. The lighting was dark and moody as singer Neil Fallon stalked the stage teasing the audience to get closer. The band really turned up things up on the song "Firebirds" that sent the crowd into a jumping frenzy, then turned things down with the funky / spacey beat of "Big News 1". Clutch played 16 songs this night and finished off their set with the hillbilly sounding/hint of Led Zeppelin "Gravel Road" that featured some impressive slide guitar work from guitarist Tim Sult. CLutch has built up a loyal fanbase through the years and on this night the Vegas faithful turned out in force to a packed Joint at the Hard Rock.
And now for Primus! As the lights dimmed you could hear the faint thumping sound of the unique bass playing of Les Claypool echoing through the large but intimate Joint. Claypool entered the stage as 3 large video screens behind him lit up and cartoon like images appeared. At times Claypool appears almost cartoonish himself, and the bands sound is a mix of experimental, funk and rock with a dash of Frank Zappa thrown in the mix. Primus opened the show with "Those Damned Blue Collar Tweakers" which had the crowd jumping in unison, and an eerie orange light lit up Claypool's face with the video screens constantly changing while Larry "Ler" Lalonde joined in with his own creative style of guitar playing.
Primus played "Sgt. Baker" which opens with a very jazzy groove intro before the classic thumping bass kicks in, and holding down the drums was Tim Alexander who played mostly in the dark, set back in front of the big video screens.The band played their big hits from "Wynonas Big Brown Beaver", which had the crowd jumping and singing along with the country / rocking beat of the Primus classic, to monsters hits "My Name Is Mud" and "Jerry Was A Race Car Driver", before exiting the stage to the loud chants of encore from the crowd, who was not ready to go home. The band came back out and did two more songs "The Seven" and then "Southbound Pachyderm", and once again Primus proved they can pack the Joint and keep the fans more than satisfied.
A big shout out to the Hard Rock staff for taking care of us at this show. For upcoming show info for the Joint check here at https://hardrockhotel.com/las-vegas-dine/1-overview.php