{"id":2449160,"date":"2019-09-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=313297"},"modified":"2019-09-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T06:00:00","slug":"review-gary-clark-jr-at-belly-up-aspen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/review-gary-clark-jr-at-belly-up-aspen\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Gary Clark, Jr. at Belly Up Aspen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gary Clark, Jr. performing at Belly Up Aspen on Sept. 17.<\/strong>
Andrew Travers<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The ground literally shook in the final explosive moments of Gary Clark Jr.\u2019s sold-out show at Belly Up Aspen in mid-September as he closed with his beloved version of \u201cCome Together,\u201d blasts of air going through the crowd from the thumping speakers with bass so deep and loud it left bodies quaking.<\/p>\n

The fact that Clark has made this iconic Beatles song his own with his fiery live performances is remarkable enough. The fact that he can enthrall crowds with a straightforward guitar rock assault like this one would be enough to make him a must-see as his generation\u2019s blues torchbearer. But as this two-hour set with his four-man band proved once again, Clark can do so much more than rock.<\/p>\n

The Austin, Texas-based bluesman has made regular stops in Aspen since his local debut in 2014. He gets better, somehow, and his show more compelling with each visit \u2014 always adding new shades and colors to his explosive live performance.<\/p>\n

There are a dwindling number of guitar-based bands that are consistently as interesting and surprising as Clark. He doesn\u2019t rely on big hits to hook the crowd (this time around he didn\u2019t even play \u201cThis Land,\u201d the title song and breakout single from his new record). He doesn\u2019t do self-indulgent guitar solos to show off his virtuosity (plenty of solos on this night, yes, but always varied and in service of his band and the song, including wild freak-out jams on \u201cWhen My Train Pulls In\u201d and \u201cLow Down Rolling Stone\u201d).<\/p>\n

Clark opened with an aggressive and booming run through the straightforward rocker \u201cBright Lights,\u201d the signature song from his breakout 2012 album \u201cBlak and Blu.\u201d In the mesmerizing two hours that followed he ranged across styles and moods before returning to the bread-and-butter rock on \u201cCome Together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark can build simmering sonic tension better than just about any musician, in any genre, but he relies on that less these days. Previous shows here were filled with songs where he\u2019d steadily ratchet up the noise until letting loose in an incendiary, improvisatory climax. This time around, you could never predict where he was going.<\/p>\n

He proved a mastery of funk on \u201cGot to Get Up\u201d and of swampy fuzz rock on \u201cWhat About Us,\u201d he sang some soulful high notes in a Curtis Mayfield register on \u201cFeed the Babies,\u201d and then he dabbled in jangly surf rock for \u201cWhen I\u2019m Gone.\u201d There was a trippy space rock interlude, with assistance from keyboardist and producer Jon Deas. And a surprising high point was the peppy punk-inflected \u201cGotta Get Into Something.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time his three-song encore was over and he\u2019d torched us all with \u201cCome Together,\u201d Clark \u2014 who started the night in a denim jacket and beanie and left it in a sweat-soaked T-shirt \u2014 proved he can do just about anything he wants. And he clearly relishes the increasingly rare chance for him to play a small room like Belly Up. As he put it: \u201cI love coming up here and rocking with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

atravers@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gary Clark, Jr. performing at Belly Up Aspen on Sept. 17.Andrew Travers The ground literally shook in the final explosive moments of Gary Clark Jr.\u2019s sold-out show at Belly Up Aspen in mid-September as he closed with his beloved version of \u201cCome Together,\u201d blasts of air going through the crowd from the thumping speakers with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449160","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 09:33:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}