Gallery: Gary Clark Jr. at The Eastern

Earlier this month, bluesman Gary Clark Jr. came through Atlanta to deliver a a 15-song set touched by something almighty. Clark, whose 2024 album JPEG RAW “finds little in the way of guitar heroics,” according to Paste contributor Geoffrey Himes. “A second listen reveals that his guitar is all over the place, but it has been so drenched in studio effects (buzzing, bleeping, roaring, shooting off into space) that it often sounds like another electronic keyboard in an oceanic layering of such sounds,” Himes continued in his profile on Clark. “It’s only Clark’s propulsive phrasing on the fretboard that reveals which strands in the mix originate from his primary instrument—and that instrument is swimming in a sea of exotic sounds.”

Clark’s set at the Eastern on March 4 revealed the heroics of his talents, as he turned the venue inside out with a decade-spanning setlist. Songs like “When My Train Pulls In,” “Feed the Babies,” “I Walk Alone” and “Habits” paved the way for an unforgettable encore that featured “You Saved Me” and “Funk Witch U.” Just like his catalog, Gary Clark Jr.’s live chops reveal a historical reverie, one that gives respect to rock and roll and all of its intimacies.

Check out our photos from the show, captured by our pal Donny Evans, below.