Primus, the legendary funk rock band from the Bay area, are back on tour to support their newest album, Primus & The Chocolate Factory. Yes, it’s bizzare as it sounds while being typically impressive. (Read the review here.) L4LM was fortunate to be on hand for the band’s third show along the Choclate Factory tour, playing to an excited crowd at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston, MA.
They divided the show into two sets. The first saw Primus as the classic power trio we know and love, taking on songs from their full catalog, standing against a black curtain. Absent were the usual inflatable space men and video screen. They opened with “Groundhog’s Day,” a great way to kick off the show and ease the crowd into things. The song starts off mellow, but when the solos came around, Larry “Ler” Lalonde unleashed some serious guitar work before Les Claypool joined him in what became an intense jam.
The band followed up with “The Last Salmon Man” off of Green Naugahyde, the 2012 album featuring Jay Lane on drums. Despite this, Tim Alexander sounded right at home on the track, and the moved through it cleanly and into “Southbound Pachyderm” after a trippy interlude from Les.
After “Pachyderm”, Les addressed the audience, making note of the passing of the legendary Jack Bruce. He then informed the crowd that, after much deliberation and many years of trying to get away from it, he would embrace the crowd favorite “Primus Sucks” chant.
Claypool went on to observe that they were on a bit of an animal theme, with groundhogs, salmon, and pachyderms being discussed so far, and launched straight into “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver”. Ler took a turn, with a spacy interlude which led into the intro of “Jilly’s On Smack”, a live staple for the band.
To close the set, the band pulled out a trio of well loved classics: an impressive “Spegetti Western”, “My Name Is Mud”, and a classic “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver”, with absolutely fiery playing from all involved.
Overall, the band sounded as good as ever, especially Tim Alexander who recently underwent open heart surgery after a heart attack on July 18th. As the band played, the crowd was totally engrossed in the music.
During the set break, a black curtain descended over the stage. As the second set began, from behind the curtain, the band launched into “Hello Wonkites.” To great applause, Primus raised the curtain to reveal their world of Wonka, complete with 10 foot tall inflatable mushrooms, oversized candies, and a large brick facade with lighted windows. The full band, including Mike Dillon on percussion and vibes and Sam Bass on cello as the Fungi Ensemble, proceeded to run cleanly through Primus & The Chocolate Factory.
“Candy Man” proved as creepy live as it was on the record. “Cheer Up Charlie” opened as beautifully as it does on the record, but sounded much more fleshed out live. The band then played “Golden Ticket” and “Pure Imagination” with precision and skill, but little deviation from the script, and consequently felt a little flat compared to the rest of the show.
The group then launched into “Oompa Augustus,” which is as much fun to hear live as it is on the album. As the music swelled, giant sized Oompa Loompas with giant heads bobbled onto the stage. Afterwards, the the band quickly went into “Semi-Wondrous Boat Ride,” jamming on the spacey, psychedelic track into a frenzy, with a spastic light show to match. But then, just as things are about to go off the rails, the song screeches to a halt.
Once again, the Oompa Loompas take the stage, and again the lights go down. Larry Lalonde picks up the lead for “I Want It Now” on guitar, and steps up to the mic for his first lead vocal on a Primus song. It’s about time Ler took a track, because he went for it and it sounded fantastic.
From here, the band rushed a bit through the final four tracks, including the final two Oompa Loompa tracks, and two instrumental numbers, with little deviation again, and then took a bow. The only slight shake up was when, during the final Oompa Loompa sequence, and audience member, also dressed as an Oompa Loompa, jumped on stage to dance on stage. He was quickly removed.The last four songs took around ten minutes total, and felt like an almost too drastic change of pace live.
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After the chants of “Primus Sucks”, the band returned for an encore. With little warning, Primus launched into a bombastic rendition of “Tommy The Cat”, featuring blistering guitar work from Ler, his best of the night, as well as an extended funk drum and bass jam.
Claypool then thanked the audience, remarking on the fact that the show felt like a success. Les then declared that there was “still time to fuck this up,” and that they would play a final song. He reminded the audience that Tim Alexander was back from his heart attack, and after two shows back, it was time to test him out. Without further adieu, he launched into “Is It Luck.” The song is always a showstopper, requiring top notch playing and precision from the full band.
Right where the drum solo traditionally comes, the band suddenly broke into a cover of The Residents’ “Hello Skinny.” At the moment where “Constantinople” traditionally starts, the band slammed back into the final verses of “Is It Luck” and melted the faces of all in attendance.
Taken as a whole, the Wonka experience felt like a Primus-Broadway-Musical hybrid. It was visually interesting, skillfully executed, and overall very entertaining. The show was bizarre, of course, but still a fun experience; certainly one worth seeing. The band is excited about the new material, and are playing at the top of their game.