I’m not a fan of rainy concerts.
But I am a fan of Primus and the numerous projects of Les Claypool, so I toughed the wet conditions out, and made the 3-hour drive out to the Starlight Theater in Kansas City on Thursday to see Claypool Gold. This tour features a mashup of 3 different Claypool projects, this time including The Claypool Lennon Delirium, The Frog Brigade, and Primus. Claypool Gold was first introduced for the New Year’s Eve run of shows in 2024. They were initially going to cancel those shows due to the sudden departure of drummer Tim “Herb” Alexander, but they instead pulled together the first lineup of Claypool Gold, which featured The Frog Brigade, The Holy Mackerel, and Primus. That was a huge success, so I’m glad they decided to revisit it and take it on the road.
Like I’ve done in the past, I had bought a ticket that included the “Lucky Bastard” VIP experience, which includes the Q&A session with the band, and an exclusive poster signed by the band. This was my (wow!) 7th time doing this experience, so I am well acquainted with the strict no phone policy during the Q&A. That said, I snagged a photo of the area where the band sat beforehand.
Four seats were included, because Sean Ono Lennon sat in for the Q&A. Having been to as many of these as I have, there’s certain types of questions I hear at most of them, like inspiration for songs, or what advice they would give to young musicians. I can’t help but wonder how many times they’ve been asked the same questions, as I’m sure they’ve done hundreds of these. That said, they sure do a great job at being good sports and answering the questions as though they’re hearing them for the first time. Like always, I stood aside and listened quietly. One person at the beginning asked if the band had any musicians, living or dead, that they would like to see. Ler said Frank Zappa, John Hoffman said Jimi Hendrix, and Les sweetly turned to Sean and said, “I’d like to see your dad,” which earned a round of applause from the fans, myself included. Les did mention on thing later that surprised me, and it was that he and Sean attended a jam-themed music cruise right before the pandemic started. This excited me to hear, since I’ve had the idea on the brain lately of Primus or some other Claypool project getting invited to Cruise to the Edge some day, and watching Claypool Gold last night only further convinced me that they would absolutely kill it on the cruise.
With the rain coming down relentlessly, I had to get creative with making sure my merchandise stayed dry. Since the VIP crowd got early access to the merch table, I took the opportunity to buy an event poster in addition to the VIP one, along with a tour-exclusive gold vinyl copy of The Claypool Lennon Delirium’s new album, The Great Parrot-Ox & The Golden Egg of Empathy, which is a gorgeously packaged album, and includes a multi-page comic book illustrating the concepts of the album. Even Sonny came to check it out! I bought a second rain poncho at the guest info booth and wrapped up my poster tube and vinyl in it. Fortunately, all survived!
And here are the two posters, with the left being the show-specific poster, and the right being the VIP one. I bought the frames for them today:
So, now to the show. My original seat was in row D, three seats in, which proved to be problematic, in that I once again had taller people in front of me that made seeing the stage difficult. Luckily, maybe about 45 minutes in, I noticed that an aisle seat in the row across from me was vacant, so I moved there, hoping like hell that no one would show up and boot me back to my original seat. Luckily, I got to stay there for the remainder of the show!
The show was divided into two sets, with the first set dedicated to content from The Claypool Lennon Delirium and The Frog Brigade. Unlike when I saw David Byrne, the lighting onstage was pretty dark, which often made it hard to see the band clearly, and therefore, limited my opportunities for photos. But don’t worry, I did snag a few decent shots! I know the Frog Brigade has new material out, but I haven’t heard it yet, but I did listen to the new TCLD album on Wednesday via Spotify, since my CD hasn’t shipped yet. Lennon covered most of the vocals, with Les chiming in here and there. The new album has a cool blend of that signature Primus quirkiness along with some flavors of Pink Floyd (“The Golden Egg of Empathy” totally gives me “Have a Cigar” vibes!) Speaking of Floyd, Harry Waters was part of this lineup, covering keyboards, my first time seeing him. After playing mostly original material, they closed out the first set with all 3 bands by covering Pink Floyd’s “Astronomy Domine,” with Lennon nailing the higher-pitched Barrett vocals.
After intermission, set 2 began with something that took me by surprise. On the screen, they played, what looked to be, a trailer for a documentary called What is Primus? It showed a bunch of snippets of interviews with the band, and other musicians and celebrities like Jason Momoa, Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, Queens of the Stone Age, and Matt Stone. I hope that this is a feature-length documentary, because I would love to see something like that for a band like Primus.
And then it went into the familiar “Clown Dream” theme that introduces the band at every show, along with the popular opening song of “These Damned Blue-Collared Tweekers.” I have to say, in spite of the rain, I really enjoyed being at a seated Primus show, my first one since the Red Rocks “Brown Rocks” show last year. It was nice not having to dodge crowdsurfers or get pushed into the railing by moshers. I still have no idea why Primus attracts moshers, as I don’t find their music very “moshable.” They played one song from their new EP, “The Ol’ Grizz,” and the rest was a mix of full and partial Primus tunes.
And, of course, it’s not a true Primus show without Les making his grand entrance at some point in his pig mask. That’s how you know the cello is about to get some love. I was hoping to finally get a “Mr. Krinkle,” but I got another “Jilly’s On Smack,” instead, not that I’m complaining, as “Jilly’s” is a favorite of mine.
All of this led up to the show closing with all 3 bands coming together once again to perform “Southbound Pachyderm.” They seem to like ending their shows with that one. If I remember correctly, they finished both 2025 NYE shows with that track, as well. Les came out in his sort of “disco helmet” for this last number.
From the other setlists I’ve looked at from the previous four nights of this tour, it seems like this setlist was a bit “safer” than the other shows. I had a great time, but in comparison, it seems like this show got more of the familiar tunes, but I know that every Claypool show is unique like a fingerprint, and I still had a great time, as usual. I think I’m now up to 10 Primus shows since July 28, 2024, my very first show in La Vista, NE. One of the best chances I’ve ever taken with a concert! As of now, I fully intend to attend their New Year’s Eve run this year!
The Girl in the Scarf 
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