Somewhere between a Tool fan’s fever dream, a deleted South Park episode, and a psychedelic fish fry in hell, Primus descended upon the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles on Wednesday night and left behind a trail of melted minds, confused parents, and righteous bass funk. Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor from Tool, comedian Bill Burr, enigmatic bassist MonoNeon, and Matt Stone (yes, that Matt Stone) all played bit parts in the weirdly wild musical production put on by Les Claypool, Larry LaLonde, and John Hoffman.
The show marked one of the final stops on Primus’ Onward & Upward tour. The band’s 34th year of bending minds and confusing genre tags has also been the first with new drummer John Hoffman, a relative unknown from the swamp-funk band Dirtfoot who beat out more than 6,000 other hopefuls in a public audition for the throne vacated (again) by Tim Alexander.
Was Hoffman up to the task? The man commanded his tricked-out kit with aplomb, and then some. All hail the new timekeeper.
Opening duties went to local noise wizard Ty Segall, who spent his set gleefully splitting heads with a fuzz-drenched sonic scalpel. The highlight? A swampy version of Pink Floyd’s “Interstellar Overdrive” that sounded like it was recorded inside a blender full of battery acid and warm Schlitz—which is to say, perfect.
Primus emerged not with a bang but with Danny Elfman’s “Clown Dream” scoring a video montage filled with words of praise from the likes of Geddy Lee, Billy Strings, and beyond. The crowd screamed “PRIMUS SUCKS!” with wild joy, as is tradition, and the weirdness was officially underway.
“Restin’ Bones” and “Bob’s Party Time Lounge” brought the groove, but things turned surreal quickly when Bill Burr strolled onstage to play drums on “Too Many Puppies” (with Justin Chancellor borrowing one of Les’ basses for a double-thump barrage). Burr, sweating bullets and grinning like a man who just found out he’s now in Primus, held it down surprisingly well. Somewhere, Fred Armisen felt a disturbance in the comedy-drumming force.
Primus w/ Justin Chancellor (Tool) and Bill Burr – “Too Many Puppies” – 8/6/25
[Video: Brian Sevilla]
Then came “Dirty Drowning Man”, followed by the psychedelic rubberband swirl of “Groundhog’s Day”, which dissolved into a partial cover of “Polka Dot Rose”—from Oysterhead, Les’ side project with Phish’s Trey Anastasio and The Police’s Stewart Copeland—before flipping back into “Groundhog’s” like a musical ouroboros. Reality began to bend.
And then, Matt Stone appeared.
Related: The Absurd Reality Of The ‘South Park’ 25th-Anniversary Concert With Ween & Primus [Review]
Clad in pure chaos energy, the South Park co-creator hopped on the extra drum kit for a thundering, banjo-teasing rendition of “Thela Hun Ginjeet”, the King Crimson freakout Les loves to shred with the Flying Frog Brigade. It was unhinged, in the most wonderful way.
Primus w/ Matt Stone – “Thela Hun Ginjeet” (King Crimson) – 8/6/25
[Video: John Ziegwied-Front & Center Concert Videos]
Later on, Les, with his resonator bass at the ready, told the crowd about Larry LaLonde losing his house and 59 guitars in the Palisades fire, and that Zakk Wylde had sent him a replacement. “He’s the godfather of death metal,” Les said, gesturing at Ler, before imploring him to play “smooth metal.” Ler obliged with a silky solo that somehow made the Zakk Wylde guitar purr like a feral kitten on ketamine.
“John the Fisherman” sent the pit into a head-bobbing frenzy. Then came the real monster mash:
A tease of “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver”
→ into “The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon”
→ which Les preambled with a “DMV” tease (because why not)
→ into full-on “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver”
→ which almost seemed to summon a portal to the Fish Dimension
Then, just when things couldn’t get more ridiculous, Danny Carey strolled out to pulverize “My Name Is Mud” into fine gravel. Les Claypool’s slap-battle with the Tool drummer just about made the Greek’s trees visibly recoil from the low-end violence.
Primus w/ Danny Carey – “My Name Is Mud” – 8/6/25
[Video: Brian Sevilla]
For the encore, the video board egged on “Primus Sucks!” chants as Les re-emerged wearing a disco ball helmet like some inter-dimensional bass messiah. The band summoned MonoNeon for a technicolor mind-meld on “Southbound Pachyderm”, with Les seemingly meeting his match on bass while jamming alongside his colorful counterpart.
Primus w/ MonoNeon – “Southbound Pachyderm” – 8/6/25
[Video: MonoNeon]
More than three decades in, Primus remains the rat king of funk-metal-weirdo-jazz-prog, assuming there is such a thing. With John Hoffman anchoring the chaos and a rotating cast of surprise mutants along for the ride, they’ve somehow managed to reach a new dimension of weird.
With the Onward & Upward tour set to wrap this weekend, Primus’ latest glorious, gooey mess of musical absurdity is done for now. But don’t worry: Les is always plotting something—perhaps even a new album, if the band’s latest single featuring Tool’s Maynard James Keenan is any indication.
Whatever comes next, one thing is certain: Primus sucks, and its fans wouldn’t want it any other way.
Below, view photos from the guest-filled Primus performance at the Greek Theatre (via Josh Martin) in addition to bonus photo galleries from recent Onward & Upward tour stops at Atlanta, GA’s Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park (7/25/25, via Robert Francis) and Morrison, CO’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre (7/9/25, via Brad Niederman).
