My big question going into the evening was which band was I more looking forward to seeing. A no-brainer evening with Clutch and Corrosion of Conformity, plus JD Pinkus, at Starland Ballroom. First night of the tour, no less.

It’d been a couple years for me with both bands. Last I saw Clutch was Freak Valley 2023 (review here), where they played an all-timer greatest hits set, and my last C.O.C. show was Desertfest NYC 2022 (review here). It’s been business as usual for Clutch since then, touring and whathaveyou, kicking around rumors of the ‘next album’ to a point where I expected a new song or two in the set. C.O.C. on the other hand are fresh off last Friday’s release of Good God / Baad Man, on Nuclear Blast and all the according shortform video content making that apparently goes with putting out a record on that level in 2026.

I haven’t reviewed it yet, because timing, but I had it on this afternoon and in addition to being the most Nola record a band that still says they’re from North Carolina ever put out, it’s a burner with its focus where it belongs: on kicking ass. 2018’s seemingly-less-down-with-deity-goodness No Cross No Crown (review here) was a welcome return for the Pepper Keenan-fronted incarnation of the band, but was almost too much in the shadow of their classic 1990s era, where the new one lets loose a bit and is stronger for that. Of course, the intervening few years have also seen founding bassist/sometimes-vocalist Mike Dean leave the band and Bobby Landgraf (Honky, Down) take up that role (minus the founding part, anyhow) and though Stanton Moore handles drums on Good God / Baad Man — he’s in Galactic an you’ll surely recall 21 years ago when he played on C.O.C.’s In the Arms of God (discussed here), right? of course you do — for the tour the band have brought on Nick Shabatura as drummer.

Was curious for that, of course, but first up was JD Pinkus. The former Butthole Surfers bassist, Melvins alum and Honky bandmate to C.O.C.’s Landgraf took stage circa 7:30 and the place looked like it had taken off from work the next day. A Starland blowout was fresh in mind from Acid Bath, but I don’t even know if any of these bands are on TikTok, and it was an older crowd even factoring in the WSOU contingent, as that local college radio stalwart and my acknowledged undergrad alma mater was presenting the night. How rowdy would it get on a Thursday? Was this show sold out? I think it might’ve been. I’ve seen Clutch in this room before. I know that particular drunken sway from Starland Ballroom.

Pinkus wasn’t bringing that kind of party, but people were into it just the same. He stood on the stage by himself for half an hour, plus banjo, sangin’ and songin’ as one might, his experimental side coming through in effects use and the general bent-toward-shenanigans, some distortion, drone swells, loops and the like. You wouldn’t generally think of a one-instrument show as unpredictable, and at a certain level, that’s fair — he got up and he played — but while he was going you didn’t quite know what was next, and it was exciting if not overly loud. He’s someone who’s worked in and across so many styles and I guess a solo set could pretty much have been anything from him alone to a full band playing songs from his last record, 2024’s Grow a Pear. Good vibes persisted, in any case. Ended weird. I didn’t meet him, but dude seemed friendly as hell.

C.O.C. were just the thing.

Came out and hit hard, which was what I was hoping for, honestly. The set wasn’t all new or all old — there are some songs they can’t not play — but the balance was right on and even for being the first night of the tour, they were furious and grooving. Charged. “Killing Floor,” “Baad Man,” “Lose Yourself” and “Gimme Some Moore” featured from the new record, and sat well alongside “Migraine” and “Who’s Got the Fire.” If there was rust, I didn’t see it. The room was full, like, nowhere to stand, and plenty of familiar faces, but once C.O.C. got going, that was it. Clutch are Clutch, and they have Clutch songs, and that’s fortunate because there aren’t a ton of bands who could make sense going on after C.O.C. My understanding is Judas Priest held their own last Fall. “Vote With a Bullet” was rad. Some songs age into different contexts as they go. Also, Pepper Keenan has been to Starland enough times to know it’s in Slayerville.

Keenan noted they were frontloading new songs because they were “stoked on it,” which one would expect and was good to hear anyhow. “Albatross” and “Clean My Wounds” still finished out, so there you go. Like I said, songs they have to play.

Crazy to think they’ll probably be tighter three days from now, considering how sharp was the end of “Albatross,” but such is touring, or so I’m told. The screen that came down between bands, which is a thing at Starland Ballroom, stayed up as the stage was cleared and set for Clutch, and a rousing cheer went up as the Marylander groove kingpins’ banner was hoisted. The set list was right there, and I’m down for spoilers always because I hate fun, so I looked and it was gonna be a good one. Any night you get “Big News I & II” is a win.

Clutch hit the stage at 9:30 — wait, I thought the show was at Starland; now you now why I usually bold these things — preceded by their standard funky about-money intro, and the room (wherever, whenever) was ready. A slew of uptempo numbers at the start — “Earth Rocker,” “X-Ray Visions,” “Firebirds” — left you no choice but to get on board for the duration. While we’re daring toward things context and relevance, they hit into “D.C. Sound Attack” — I was there when vocalist Neil Fallon recorded that chorus — and its continued relevance is kind of a bummer when you think of Necro City as pretty much the whole country at this point. I mean, is anyone not a war criminal?

They kept momentum going with “Oregon” — deep cut; wonder if they played it because the second half sounds just like “Albatross” — and “Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone),” and it was absolutely the unflinching professionalism one has come to expect for Clutch shows. Guitarist Tim Sult, bassist Dan Maines and drummer Jean Paul Gaster were of course locked in, of course they killed it, and of course just a bit of pure unadulterated joy was brought into the world. For new material, there was what was called “Streets” on the setlist and will probably have a longer title by the time The record comes out, and they covered “Fortunate Son” and finished with “The Wolfman Kindly Requests…” in the encore. Neither of those is new, so I guess the comma is doing some heavy lifting in that sentence. Sometimes it’s like that.

“Nosferatu Madre” kind of left me cold, but “A Quick Death in Texas” is a nod, and they prefaced “Streets” with “Regulator,” which is a personal favorite. As for the new track, which may or may not be called “The Streets are His,” Fallon said from the stage that their new album is done before they hit into it, and it was a push-boogie riff that felt kin to “Firebirds” or “Crucial Velocity.” The title-cut from Sunrise on Slaughter Beach led into “Big News” and with “The Mob Goes Wild” and “A Shogun Named Marcus” back to back, it was like the encore started early. Nary a complaint was heard.

This tour doesn’t need a push from the likes of me, and if you’re reading this, I’m guessing you don’t need me to tell you to see these bands either. Cool then, I’ll just hang out and enjoy myself. I did do a bit of that at the show as well, though it was packed enough that it was hard to find a place to be. No, it’s not my first time in a Clutch crowd at Starland, but man, it gets tight in there. When that happens, I just key in on the music as best I’m able.

The night was cool but not freezing and the ride up the Parkway was Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails. The ride down had been Buzzard and Fu Manchu. Thanks to The Patient Mrs. for the time and Liz Ciavarella for the pass.

And as always, thank you for reading. More pics after the jump.

JD Pinkus

Corrosion of Conformity

Clutch

Tags: Clutch, Corrosion of Conformity

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2026 at 9:33 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.