CLUTCH bring their ‘Fortune Tellers Make a Killing Nowadays’ Tour to London’s Roundhouse

What can you expect when you walk into a stoner rock gig four days before Christmas? A sea of Santa hats above the trademark band t-shirts of course! I didn’t know whether I missed a memo, but Santa sure does seem to love some ‘Spacegrass’! The vibe at the Roundhouse was suitably jolly, with the fiercely loyal CLUTCH fanbase turning up in their Christmas hats and jumpers, snowmen onesies and an impressive collection of the band’s merch from across the years. It was also lovely to see the year in gigs off with a bunch of likeminded humans and many familiar faces, all genuinely happy to be there ‘because it’s CLUTCH!’.

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

CLUTCH – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

1000Mods – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

1000Mods – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

1000Mods – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

1000Mods – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

Bokassa – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

1000Mods – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

1000Mods – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

1000Mods – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

1000Mods – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

Bokassa – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

Bokassa – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

Bokassa – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

Bokassa – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

Bokassa – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

Bokassa – Roundhouse – Magda Campagne

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Bokassa

Norwegian stoner rockers Bokassa opened the night in style, with exceptional banter in between their songs. Wasting no time to set the tone, they opened with ‘Freelude’ and ‘Last Night (Was a Real Massacre)’, getting the audience suitably warmed up for the night ahead. When Jørn Kaarstad took a sip of his drink, someone from the audience asked whether he was on the gin, to which he playfully replied “maybe it is, maybe it’s water, or maybe it’s the discontinues Pepsi Crystal that I found at my local Sainsbury’s!”

Setting the bar high and heavy, with tempos shifts that crash into hardcore spells and masterfully executed by their drummer, excellent hooks and riffs to get your head banging, the three piece built their set around their debut Divide & Conquer from 2017 – and Jørn’s endearing comedic chops. They were full of attitude, relentless and funny. Before they closed their 30-minute set with ‘Vultures’ and ‘Last Night’, he told us about his love for (also now discontinued) Maltesers Xmas reindeer with a mint flavour, which he tried to smuggle out in indecent amounts during their last tour. If you see any of those anywhere – ship them to Norway! They played out the Zorba dance tune to welcome the next band.

1000Mods

Following from Bokassa were Greek 1000Mods, who launched into their thick, heavy, surf-infused stoner rock with a hint of grunge with no time to waste. With deeper grooves and a more introspective vibe, they got the already full Roundhouse moving. Their set list picked from both their debut Super Van Vacation (where the sense of breeziness came from) and their most recent Cheat Death, that leant into mean, almost psychedelic side of things. ‘Götzen Hammer’ hit hard in the middle of their set, which clocking at just over 30 mins certainly left the room ready for more. The bluesy ‘Low’ was a throwback to their 2014 album Vultures, and when they spoke before their closing, immense ‘Vidage’ with a brooding drum intro and a deep groove, they thanked CLUTCH, “one of the greatest rock bands of all time”, for bringing them along for this tour, and that sentiment was shared by the 1500-strong venue.

CLUTCH

I’m sure longtime fans have heard Blast Tyrant front-to-back more times than their nursery rhymes and watched the newbies lose their minds to ‘Promoter’ with only a little bit of condescension, but come on, you get a verse like “Suffering madness and the Pharoah’s plague / I, Akhenaten tell you some other day / No thank you, that’s enough for me / A little bit of Ritalin goes a long way” delivered directly to your chest by a Neil Fallon still kicking his vocal chords into absolute obedience and you don’t go feral for it? Who writes lyrics like that anymore? What do they even mean? It doesn’t matter, they’re awesome!

I don’t know what has changed, but I grew up on the perception that rockstars sing directly at you, that if you’re in that lucky worshipping front row, you might get some grace bestowed upon you as a feathered boa on shimmering shoulders in the form of a God-like frontman singing his dirtiest secrets in your face. Clutch aren’t that exactly, but Neil is not afraid to look his audience in the eye and let them sing to him and with him. Front row I was and grace I did receive, in the moments before “The Mob Goes Wild” started and I had to jump face-first into the moshpit.

When Neil said “Let’s do a song about a car out of space” and the lights in the venue turned the purple hue of the Dodge Swinger and the whole room erupted into Rouhdhouse-shattering unison:

Dodge Swinger 1973, Galaxie 5-0-0
All the way stars’ green, gotta go
Dodge Swinger 1973, top down, chassis low
Panel dim, light drive, Jesus on the dashboard

They’re a band to make lifelong fans because of this. They’re solid. Rock solid. I describe them as motorbike rock to the unconverted, the musical embodiment of that strictly American brand of coolness – big muscly guys in leather jackets on fast slick bikes, cutting through cities and intercity highways with the wind in their hair and all hell loose on their tail. You can hear the engines rev on “Earth Rocker”, it’s like… well, it’s like the Earth rocking.

CLUTCH continue their headline tour in Ireland in 2026:

2026
Mon 25th May – Dublin, The Academy
Tues 26th May – Dublin, The Academy
Wed 27th May – Belfast, The Limelight
Thur 28th May – Limerick, Dolan’s Warehouse

Tickets for all headline dates are on sale now from ClutchMerch.com.