Les Claypool made the most out of his second appearance on Summer Camp‘s Moonshine stage last Saturday, with a kick-ass Primus set of beloved classics, a new tune, and even a full-band sit-in! Though the group’s set time was shorter than many of their fans wished at only 75 minutes, the amount of music packed into their performance was just enough to keep the fans from storming the stage for more from California-based alt-rock icons.
Watch Primus Perform “Moron TV” At Summer Camp In 2014 [Pro-Shot]
Earlier in the day, Uncle Les had made a mind-bending psychedelic stop on the stage for an exploratory musical journey with Sean Lennon and their band, The Claypool Lennon Delirium. Coming back out under the cover of darkening skies, Primus brought a much tighter and more aggressive Claypool to the forefront. The most impressive thing about Primus has always been the trio’s ability to make music with absurd depth, intricacy and, above all else, power. While “Herb” Alexander thunders away on his drum kit, guitarist “Ler” Lalonde is a swirling showcase of arching curls of sound and menace. While the music walks a line between dark psychedelia and brazen metal, the one uniting factor is the high degree of passion and personal technique they all share. Add in the signature Claypool style so many have come to know and worship, and you have a band and a sound that is wholly, truly their own.
Primus is feeling a little nostalgic as they prepare their newest record, judging by their setlist from their past Scamp performance. A vast majority of the songs were from their earliest and most productive periods, such as hits like “John The Fisherman,” “My Name Is Mud,” and “Harold On The Rocks,” giving the set a throwback vibe. To keep from having the whole evening become a walk down memory lane, the trio threw in a new song from the coming album and even managed to fit the rest of the Delirium band, including Sean Lennon, onstage for their set closing “Southbound Pachyderm.”
Watch Claypool Lennon Delirium’s Wild Covers Of The Beatles & Primus At Hulaween
Our own Rex Thomson was on hand to document what he could of the show in-between vocal demonstrations from the crowd of appreciation and (tongue-in-cheek) disapproval. Never has a band been more affectionately heckled, with the blissed-out fans chanting “Primus Sucks!” at the top of their lungs. While all art is up for debate, something about the way the crowd smiled and grooved as they derided them verbally tipped savvy onlookers on to the fact that the audience might (maybe) be making a joke of some kind. Judge for yourself in the clips below:
“Harold Of The Rocks”
“American Life”
“Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver”
“My Name Is Mud”
“John The Fisherman”
“Mrs. Blaileen”
“New Song”
“Southbound Pachyderm”