As well as being in possession of some of the best song titles in modern heavy music, Bokassa are a fantastic opening act. The Norwegian trio admit to trying to curry favour with the Birmingham crowd by mentioning how much they’d enjoyed their day off in the city, but there’s a real case for saying they should already be far more familiar to a room this size.
They should be bigger than they are. After all, this is a band that were opening for Metallica as far back as 2019. Given half an hour here, they tear through their material in front of a crowd that, you suspect, is largely unfamiliar—but that hardly matters. From the “Freelude” intro into “Last Night (Was a Real Massacre)” and “No Control”, Bokassa deal in controlled chaos.
Maximum Volume was already converted long before tonight, and this set only reinforces why. They’re a band built on mad ideas done brilliantly well, a collision of metal styles all rolling into one. Songs like “Bradford Death Squadron”, “Immortal Space Pirate” and “Walker Texas Danger” are not just ridiculous titles, but proof of a band who understand riffs, groove and personality in equal measure. Add in “Mouthbreathers Inc.” and “Vultures”, and it’s impossible not to come away converted. If this was your first encounter with Bokassa, you need to rectify that immediately.
1000mods come all the way from Greece, but their sound feels like it belongs just down the road from Birmingham. Ask them where heavy metal was invented and Tony Iommi would probably be proud of what he hears. Frankly, “1000 Riffs” might be a better band name judging by the sheer weight on display during “Electric Carve”.
This is groove-heavy, fuzz-laden rock that hits a sweet spot somewhere between Sabbath, Kyuss and early desert rock. “Road to Burn” sets the tone, while “Speedhead” injects energy into the proceedings, but it’s the guitar work that really takes over. “Overthrown”, “Rollo” and “Vidage” echo with Sabbath-sized menace, while still feeling modern and alive. By the time they end in a frenzy of riffs and lead guitar, there’s a very real argument that 1000mods might be close to the perfect support band for Clutch.
And speaking of Clutch— frontman Neil Fallon has been ill. He tells the crowd he’s on a course of steroids, prescribed by his doctor, and that he’s “not far off getting in the moshpit…” Jokes aside, if there’s any impact on his performance, it’s invisible.
As ever, no Clutch setlist is the same. Tonight begins with “Subtle Hustle” into “The Mob Goes Wild”, before a three-song run of “Earth Rocker”, “X-Ray Visions” and “Firebirds!” that neatly bridges their last decade or so. Is there a better live band anywhere? Probably not—and certainly not one quite like them.
The chemistry between the four men who have always been Clutch is unreal. Tim Sult barely looks up from his guitar, Dan Maines rarely moves from his spot, and Jean-Paul Gaster’s drumming is a silver, metronomic presence. Fallon remains the focal point, but without a trace of rock star posturing—he looks like half the crowd, and that’s part of the charm. Beardy men of a certain age hail him as our leader, and rightly so.
“Slaughter Beach” and “Crucial Velocity” hit hard, before “Spacegrass” takes things right back to the early days. Fallon threatens to get into the pit during “Nosferatu Madre”, before they reach even further into the past with “Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks”. When the crowd chants his name, Fallon admits, “Ah shucks, I’ll get a little emotional,” before picking up the guitar for “The Regulator”.
A new song, “The Streets Are His”, is introduced with a joke about it being a challenge—but jokes aside, it’s class. They close the main set with “The Face”.
The encore is both inevitable and unstoppable. “Electric Worry” detonates the room, before “Burning Beard” brings the night to a close.
And to borrow a line from “Earth Rocker”, let’s break it down to brass tacks: if you’re going to do it, do it live—or don’t do it at all. And if you’re going to do it like Clutch, don’t bother trying. No one can do it like the four men on this stage.
