Them Clones played the first of their two sets at Blue Frog on Tuesday night. Tueday night 10:30pm crowds at Blue Frog are far different from Tuesday night 9:00pm Hard Rock Cafe crowds. The result was plenty of space and an enjoyable evening.

Them Clones have made unplugged sets their forte and Tuesday night saw them on top form despite technical glitches and an angry band member.

Head downstairs for the full review, pics and Indiecision.

Surprisingly, the gig kicked off at 10:33pm, an acceptable three minute delay compared to the usual lateness of Blue Frog gigs. The punctuality set the tone for an efficient gig by perhaps India’s best live alternative act. Them Clones have played a bunch of gigs in Mumbai this year, all leading up to their (much delayed, and much speculated about) album release on Counter Culture Records.

This particular gig was slated to be

an unplugged tribute to the Alternative Rock bands from the 90s: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Incubus, and others (with maybe an original or four thrown in - as a preview to the 2nd day!)

All artists mentioned above were covered, including U2, Lenny Kravitz and Rage Against The Machine. The performance was tight. Prithwish’s vocals are far ‘cleaner’ than some of the lead men he was covering, but the renditions were true to their originals. Far too true perhaps, with most of the songs being played as note perfect unplugged copies. One would expect a major act like Them Clones to throw in some of their own flavour to songs like ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’ and ‘Pardon Me’. Still, the crowd loved the covers and given the lack of any noticeable error, the effect was grand.

Interestingly, the band played several originals including (my new favourite) ‘Round’, ‘Zephyretta’ and ‘Sindrome’. Some of these were hurt by technical problems in the middle of the set. The delay to get this sorted was long and terribly boring, not helped by Prithwish’s lack of crowd engagement. Visibly pissed off by the problems was Joseph (guitars) and once they were fixed, Prithwish and him performed an acoustic track (apparently written when they were kids, the name of which I cannot remember at this time).

Overall, the gig was entertaining, helped by Blue Frog’s brilliant acoustics. Tonight’s set at the club will feature an all original set and if you haven’t heard Them Clones before (!) this is as good a chance as any to get to know the band’s music.

Indiecision: B+