Hm. I just got back in from the Clinic gig at the Bowery Ballroom. They did it again – another good show marred by their refusal to play any longer than 45 minutes. There were some technical difficulties throughout the set, but nothing too distracting. I was glad to hear them do “Come Into Our Room”, but it’s really too bad that they don’t even bother with “For The Wars”, “Harmony” or “The Equaliser” live. “Mr. Moonlight” was unquestionably the highlight of the night for me, and the new tune “The Magician” was solid, even if it sounded like the horns from “The Equaliser” mixed with the rhythm section of “Welcome”…

The audience was a bit obnoxious – a few too many trendy people in my vicinity talking about how Clinic were “the biggest thing at SXSW” and the kind of “hype” they are getting – ugh! I just wanted to smack them and pull my elitist super-fan shtick, say to them “Hey motherfucker, I’ve been in love with this band since before Internal Wrangler came out – go away and take yr fucking digi-camera with you!”. Honestly, I get the impression that a lot of these people don’t even like music.

The first opening act, Denali, were incredibly tedious and awful – they more or less just strung together every obnoxious major label pseudo-alternative musical cliche imaginable with their array of expensive gear. The girl singer looked like she belonged on some show on The WB or something. Just you wait. These guys are going to be huge, I bet…

[anal retentive] Clinic’s setlist: Come Into Our Room | Pet Eunoch | The Second Line | Internal Wrangler | Mr. Moonlight | The Magician | Porno | Walking With Thee | The Return of Evil Bill | Welcome | 2/4 encore: Monkey On Your Back | Cement Mixer [/anal retentive]