Clinic (Great American Music Hall, 24 October 2004)

Beer Rating: 3-4 Beers

There's something ultra gimicky about Clinic. Is it the scrub costumes that the band wears while on stage? Is it the fact that in Winchester Cathedral they barely use the snare drum? Is it the use of the xylophone in almost every other song? Or maybe it's the backing vocals that only consist of "Mmmmmm..."?

Well, whatever it is, Clinic put on a decent show at the GAMH on Sunday night to end their 2 day residency in San Francisco. As great as the GAMH is, the venue is not very technologically ready for multimedia screen effects. Clinic had great background visual effects, but the GAMH can only provide them, as a backdrop, a used white sheet that looks like it was taken out of a hotel in the Tenderloin. So, they have this HUGE projection that was trying to fit into this 5 foot long and wide blanket.

The songs they played were excellent with hits like "Walk with Thee" and some other tracks from their discography. Granted, I don't know many songs from them but I liked what I heard. My friend thought that the lead singer was hella scary with that whole scrub opening for the mouth. I thought they were scary because their use of the bass drum on every song seems to have marked the end of the world. Another reason why they were scary is because I could barely hear their lyrics.

The crowd was into it, but the showing was sparse for this Sunday night. It was an opening band vibe with the crowd.

Overall, a decent gig. Clinic, as seasoned veterans as they are, need to fine tune it some more with their songwriting and tunes.