Download Festival 2023 – Saturday. Bringing some much-needed heavy blues boogie to the day, Clutch showed how intelligent and unfussy can be brought together in one brilliant whole. There’s something in the way they can get you to dance and think at the same time that’s incredibly heady and utterly addictive.
Whilst having to drop in Fu Manchu bass player Brad Davis last minute to replace an indisposed Dan Mains, Neil Fallon, Tim Sult and Jean-Paul Gaster managed to bring some of that good-time Clutch magic to proceedings.
With classic songs from throughout their career and an innate ability to strip back their performances, there was something earthy and honest about their set that we had not seen yet this weekend.
Fallon has the stage presence of a fiery Southern Baptist minister, an impression heightened during a furious Profits Of Doom as he reeled off Biblical books.
With the remorseless grind of Burning Beard and an ecstatically received Electric Worry, the quartet turned up the heat on the scorching afternoon another few notches.
Take Part: Are you at Download this year? Who are you looking forward to see? Want to get in touch and tell us how it’s going? Email MetalTalk Editor Steve Ritchie to tell us how it’s going for you. Download@MetalTalk.net.
Download Festival 2023 was a record breaking year.
MetalTalk Download 2023 coverage can be found at MetalTalk.net/tag/download-2023
Download 2023 will see the festival celebrate its 20th anniversary with an additional day, meaning four days of live music in total.
This year’s MetalTalk team is:
Photography:
For Download 2022, visit MetalTalk.net/tag/download-2022
