We couldn’t have asked for a better night for an outdoor rock and roll concert. I’ll second what Neil Fallon of Clutch said during their set “Thank you Mother Nature!” The weather was perfect. Not too hot and the sun was out.
Vetter Stone Amphitheater is a beautiful outdoor venue in the heart of Old Town Mankato. Free parking was a very nice bonus. The staff is amazing. The sightlines are unbelievable. If you have a spot in the seated area of the bowl of the amphitheater you had a great view of the stage.
First up, we were treated to a grand performance by the phenomenal Clutch! This is a band that I heard about years ago with “Careful with the Mic” and “The Mob Goes Wild” and then I lost track of them until “Earth Rocker" was released. Since then, I’ve become a little bit of a fan. Picking up whatever CD I can find exploring their catalog. Here’s what I love about Clutch and why they’ve become a favorite of mine over the past 5 years. You know exactly what you’re going to get with Clutch and it was on fine display in Mankato. Fantastic musicianship, no b.s., just straight up rock and roll with an all in performance by the entire band. There’s no “studio trickery” and no smoke and mirrors. What you hear coming out of the P.A. is coming by the 4 guys you see on stage.
Mankato was treated to THREE new Clutch songs. There must be a new record in the works, even though one was never confirmed by the band during the performance. This is the 3rd time I’ve seen Clutch live in 2 years and it’s exciting that I’ve never seen them play the same set. The band is constantly changing the set list which leaves the fans hanging on for the ride.
Clutch’s 75 min set breezed by and could have never contained every crowd favorite. However, the set list was well balanced amongst Clutch’s vast catalog. “Electric Worry,” “X Ray Visions” and “Firebirds” came surprisingly early in the set leaving “Earth Rocker” and “The Mob Goes Wild” as excellent picks to close the set. Clutch can seriously come back anytime and they would be packing a 100% different set guaranteed to leave you wanting more!
After a quick stage change, Primus came out and the crowd erupted. Primus started off with “Those Damned Blue Collared Tweekers” and had the full visual experience. Primus never really used any overhead lights in the front of the stage as they were really only lit by the video screens and lights behind them. Which made not only getting pictures of the band difficult but when the sun went down, it was hard to see the band members.
You can tell Primus was playing to the hardcore fans. When you have a band that’s been around as long as Primus has, you have a lot of die hard fans. I’m sure it’s hard to please them all. Being someone that really only knows the “hits” and hasn’t listened to Pork Soda or Sailing the Seas of Cheese for close to two decades, their set was almost all fresh material to my ears.
I'm probably alone here but the video screens to me seemed more distracting than enhancing. But when they used their old promo video’s for “Wynonna's Big Brown Beaver” and “Mr Krinkle” that’s when it worked the best. The crowd ate up seeing those old videos play in the background once again. It was good to see Primus rip thru “My Name is Mud” and “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver” live in the flesh! It looks like the band still has as much fun playing those songs now as they probably did the when they first wrote them.
Final thought, Clutch and Primus make incredibly tight musicianship look extremely easy. When in reality that’s the farthest thing from the truth. If you missed this Primus / Clutch summer tour, feel free to kick yourself in the pants.
Thanks to Brett Zisler for taking some awesome pictures from the show! Click below to see more!
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