Unleashing their iconic sonic genius, Primus -- along with their much ballyhooed new drummer John Hoffman -- rattled the walls and liquor shelves of The Pinnacle in Nashville last Sunday night, July 13th.
Part carnival act, part psychedelic performance art, and a heaping helping of bone-quivering alt-rock mastery, Primus brings their bizzaro magic every time. However, the lineup most fans know and adore would be different this time around.
Towards the end of 2024, longtime drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander would abruptly call it quits, leaving Les Claypool and Larry "Ler" LaLonde to pioneer a highly publicized search for the band's next drummer, inviting anybody and everybody to submit their applications, if you will. Around 6,200 submissions and auditions took place before Hoffman was deemed the winner of such a prestigious position in February of this year.
Primus's Onward and Upward summer tour kicked off July 5th in Paso Robles, CA, and was their first (summer tour) with "Hoff" as Les affectionately refers to him.
Accompanying the band for their Nashville show was fellow California rocker Ty Segall, who along with his band greased up the crowd first. Segall is an excellent pairing with Primus, as they deliver their own brand of heavy-hitting psych garage rock.
When it was all said and done, I found Primus's set to be rather... unusual. Don't get me wrong, it was fantastic, and the dopamine receptors were at full tilt, but the fact that they didn't play a single Frizzle Fry song (much to my and others dismay) was a mild bummer. They did, however, fire off five Brown Album songs, which was an unexpected treat. They included "Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread," "Over the Falls," "Restin' Bones," "Bob's Party Time Lounge," and "Shake Hands With Beef."
They dug from less popular albums, including the second track they played, "Dirty Drowning Man," from arguably their least favored album, Anti-Pop, which featured production credits from the likes of Tom Morello, Tom Waits, Stewart Copeland, Fred Durst, and others. The trio did, however, hit the crowd with back to back mega-classics in "My Name is Mud" into "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver."
It's always fun hearing Les talk to the crowd, and at one point he went on a little spiel about how Ler is the Godfather of Death Metal. "A lot of you folks might not know this. This ain't no fake news I'm about to drop on your forehead. Larry 'Ler' LaLonde is officially a Godfather of Death Metal." With this sentiment, horns flew in the air from many a patron, as did roars of approval.
"I'm not talkin' shit. That's Larry 'Ler' LaLonde from the band Possessed, and they were the first band in the mid to late eighties to coin the term, Death Metal." At which point Ler quietly retorted, "So I got that going for me." All the while, Hoffman held down the groove in the background, which would turn into "Over the Falls."
While their encore was an epic odyssey in "Southbound Pachyderm" in which they brought out Segall, it did seem to still end a bit abruptly. I know I wasn't alone in thinking/hoping they had but one more banger to let loose, but alas it wouldn't be so. The lights soon flipped on, and the Danny Elfman "Clown Dream" number emerged from the speakers.
What makes Primus shows such an immersive spectacle is not just their thumping music, but the LSD fever dream-like visuals projected behind them throughout the course of the set. It's an integral part to the Primus live show experience that helps make it worth every penny.
While it was a bit of an off-kilter setlist, it was still Primus, and my thought was they're going through the catalog in such a way to get Hoffman accustomed to the whole catalogue of zingers.
Primus's Onward and Upward tour marches on with their next show tonight, July 21st, in New York City at The Rooftop at Pier 17, as they slowly migrate southbound and back out west to wrap it up by early August.
Show art designed by Jimbo Phillips Graphix
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