Clinic, the quirky 4 piece band from Liverpool known to don surgical gear onstage, played two shows at the Empty Bottle. The foursome is currently touring the US to promote their fifth album, the recently released Do It!
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Clinc
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 Entertainment
 Art
Empty Bottle
Chicago, Ill.
May 12, 2008
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Formed by frontman Ade Blackburn in 1997, the lineup includes Brian Campbell on bass, Harley on guitar and Carl Turney on drums. Clinic is one of the very few bands nowadays that can rightfully claim to have a unique sound (and look for that matter). However, in spite of having toured with major bands like Radiohead, the Flaming Lips, and having an established fanbase, Clinic has yet break big into the public eye.
Clinic provides a very characteristic sound that layers intense guitars and sinister keyboards with melodic and mournful vocals. However, these reverberations contrasted sharply with the matching Hawaiian shirts they were sporting for the show this evening. Apparently the quartet can actually be fun and not as disturbing as they certainly can sound. Either that or their surgical gear was out for sterilization.
Despite minimal audience interaction, front man Ade Blackburn managed to forewarn the crowd they would divide the concert in two parts “the new album and the fun stuff”. In keeping with their word, they played the new album tracks straight through in the same order they were recorded.
The opener “Memories” and the next song “Tomorrow” have a subtle but noticeable Beatles’ touch, which is almost endearing since both bands are from Liverpool. The tunes “The Witch” and “Shopping Bag” sounded more like the earlier songs where the band successfully fuses their repetitive punk beats and distorted keyboards. The edgy “Free Not Free” and it’s heavy metal overtones were followed by the romantic, prom-like ballad. “Emotions” featured a spacey female voice droning on about some nonsensical like instructions from an appliance manual Once the glistening strobe balls got to spinning it felt like we had crossed into a new dimension where disco and punk meet high school dance.
While singer Ade Blackburn switched back and forth from guitar to keyboard to melodica, the others remained pretty tight with their respective instruments. Clinic closed the new album part with “Coda”, another from their broad portfolio of eccentric songs. In this tune, Harley jammed a circus-like guitar solo that seemed a bit out of place with the Clinic sound. Blackburn cryptically sang “this album is a celebration of the 600 year old anniversary of the Bristol Charter”. It was arguably the best song of the night.
After their 5 second break (literally, I counted), they were back for the “fun stuff” where the anticipated early hits “Walking the Thee” and “Evil Bill” got the fans really excited and proved it was worth the wait. Clinic may have yet broken big into the music scene, yet the upside is we still get to see them perform at an intimate venue like Chicago’s Empty Bottle. Their sound can be creepy as much as their surgery masks, and may not appeal to the mainstream college kids these days. Perhaps that is the whole idea and they want to keep it that way and maybe I do too.
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