Much to the dismay of anyone who’s ever heard them before, The Clippers played their final show last Friday at the Massasoit Elks Lodge, just a stone’s throw away from Central Square. For nearly two years, the Allston-based duo has attracted insane crowds, got signed to Topshelf Records, and, according to singer/guitarist Josh, cranked out tunes about “dating mature women and a bunch of other stuff [they’ve] never done”. It’s an understatement to say their departure will leave a huge gap in the Boston music scene. From the first note or bass drum kick, the crowd always bursts into raucous dancing, screaming the lyrics to the short-lived yet perfect songs. At this particular show, the music was awesome and the energy, unparalleled. The crowd’s fervor and the band’s passionate playing only made it harder to not be bummed hearing these songs live for the last time.
The night kicked off with a set by Lady Bones, followed by fuzzy, Western Mass. based California X, and then the menacingly sludgy Ovlov. Although the line-up was pretty solid and entertaining, it took too much time to accommodate sets for all of these bands. By the time The Clippers took the stage, security had already told the bands before to turn it down. And in true Allston fashion, the bands probably just turned them up even louder.
After a quick sentimental speech about how the duo collaborated due mostly to boredom, Josh and Al jumped right into the snappy, way-too-catchy tracks the audience had been waiting for, including “Boku & Chevre”, “Mulberry Cove” “Wildflower”, and “Fur”. As always, the crowd morphed into a grooving, electrically-charged sea of bodies threatening to swallow up the band itself or at least knock over some equipment. At times the crowd singing along drowned out Josh, and some guys made makeshift monkey bars out of the pipes above-- probably not a good idea, but hey, it’s the Clippers’ last show, right?
Just when they announced they had one more song to play, a sudden rush of security guys flooded the band’s space, yelling into the microphone that the “party was over” and hinting at the possibility of a smackdown for whoever mouthed off to them (one guy in particular, clad in a red tee emblazoned with the words “Dirty Boyz” definitely looked like he wanted to take down a few skinny Allston guys). The security’s spokesman declared that he “didn’t want to hear another tune” and lamented the “mad bodies hanging off of pipes”. Unfortunately no one gave these guys the memo that “one more song” for the Clippers would take all of forty-five seconds, but hey. The party was over. No more tunes. And just like that, the Clippers ended not with a whimper, but with a bang.
-Siobhan Robinson
