Shannon and The Clams take one night to give their home some love

There are very few bands I would take a solo trip on BART to San Jose on a Thursday night for. Scratch that–there’s definitely only one. Shannon and the Clams is by far the only band I could justify making a two-hour journey each way for the night before an exam. They’ve been at the top of all of my playlists since junior year of high school, so the least I could do was make the adventure. 

Shannon and the Clams snuck away for one night from all of their recent touring to show their old stomping grounds some love. They’ve been caught up opening on the current Greta Van Fleet tour, and once it’s done they’ll head straight off to open for the Black Keys. A few of the band members have also been working on solo projects, such as Shannon Shaw’s Shannon in Nashville (2018) and Cody Blanchard’s singles, such as “Peaches and Pieces.” With as busy as all of the Clams have been, we’re damn lucky they set aside a night for the Bay Area. 

Shannon and the Claims headlined The Ritz on October 3rd, following two openers, Swells and the Lünatics and Dinners. If I wasn’t feeling any heartache already, Swells and the Lünatics gave me a nice dosage of some with several sad love songs. They were the perfect combination of chill and groovy as the crowd was trickling in, grabbing drinks, and squishing forward for the main act.

When Dinners came on, they had me fooled for a moment. Their opening song had some country vibes, so I was prepared for an easy goin’ set to loosen everyone up before the headliner. But boy oh boy was I wrong. There may have been more gray in their beards than hair on the chests of the first band, but they showed them the hell up. Their songs were nothing but good ole garage punk, full of energy and rowdiness.

As soon as Dinners finished up and cleared the stage, the Clams themselves began setting up their gear. I’m not sure if there is anything more humble than a band that has been touring with other highly acclaimed artists to be acting as their own roadies. Nate Mahan walked on with a pink bow tie, matching itty bitty shorts, and a straw cowboy hat to completely set up his own drum kit. Will Sprott then came up in all white with a matching cape to set up his keyboards, followed by Cody Blanchard (guitarist/vocalist) in a western style suit with a long bow around his neck. 

When the lights dimmed, Shannon came on to join her Clams, and I knew my sketchy BART ride over was more than worth it. Shannon had on a little floral apron and was all clad in glitter to match her sparkly bass. They opened with a true heart melter, “Ozma,” off of their album Dreams in the Rat House (2013). This song, like so many of their others, is dreamy and whimsical, telling a funky story of love and longing, mixed with rockabilly and surf rock rhythms. The rest of their set was full of equally magical and dance-inducing songs like “If You Could Know,” “It’s Too Late,” and “Love Strike.” 

Smack-dab in the middle of “Love Strike,” Will Sprott ran off stage for no apparent reason. When the song ended, the rest of the band appeared baffled, seemingly having no clue as to why they suddenly lost their keyboardist. Cody and Shannon strummed some cute little chords to fill the silence as they chatted amongst each other, figuring out what to do. Shannon asked Cody if they should keep going, to which he responded by busting into the opening vocals of “Love Strike.” About halfway through, Will ran back on as though nothing had even happened and continued on with the rest of the show. 

For the remainder of the night, all of my anticipations went straight out the window. Anyone could sense how at home the band felt as they finally headlined their own show again in the Bay Area. They played many of their most popular numbers we had all heard a million times over, but they gave all of the songs a new sense of character. Their misfit spirit came to life through their love, sound, and style. I’ve danced to every one of their albums alone in my room too many times to count, but there was some new element to dance to that could have only been experienced live.

Article and Photos by Natalie Gott