Rating: 3 Skulls
Submitted by Solomon (2/9/01, The Big Easy, Boise, ID):
This had been a big week for quality music in the City of Trees. What with guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson on Tuesday, COC on Friday, and Pantera on Saturday, we were starting to sound like an actual metropolis. The Big Easy is one of the newer, smaller venues (1,000 capacity or so) to feature live music in this area. The place is actually pretty cool, what with two floors, two bars, a restaurant, and a very decent stage complete with large video screen for the folks way in the back. Ironically, the Easy's stage backdrop is a cool painting of a nocturnal street scene in New Orleans, Mr. Keenan and crew's old stomping ground. Mr. Johnson may have wowed us with his six-string virtuosity, but tonight was a heavier event altogether.Nebula and Clutch were unfamiliar to me, and I wasn't exactly floored by their performances. Nebula opened up the event with thirty minutes of LOUD, bottom- heavy, Kyuss-inspired dirges that practically drove me out of the room. Loud is good, heavy is good, but when you reach the point of cranial implosion, it's time to check your levels. Also, I was an idiot and failed to wear protection (hearing, that is). Not bad, but if they had a better mix I probably would've given them a warmer response. Clutch was new to me, too, but I think I recognized one song from the radio way back when, the one with the "goony- goo-goo" lyric and the East Indian guitar drone part. Clutch's frontman hopped around the stage and attempted to show more enthusiasm than Nebula generated but, for me, all this was just stewing around waiting for COC to come out and take command. Nothing fancy, no flashpots, no girls in cages, just raw, Southern-styled metal that has no hip-hop but is fun to mosh to anyway. And that we did, through cuts like "Albatross" and "Vote With A Bullet." In fact, I spent more time getting kicked around (in a brotherly way) than paying attention to the band's set, which must mean I had fun, which is the point. Hell, they played well, anyway, and it was nice to see them return after their opening stint for Metallica in '97. The concert had started early to make way for dancing later on that evening and, despite a decent set, COC had to stop too soon. They'll have to come back and make the disco freaks wait until 2am.
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