Concert Review: Primus Brings 3D Show To Toronto For First Of Two Nights

By: Curtis Sindrey (@SindreyCurtis) –

Les Claypool of Primus. (Photo: Curtis Sindrey/Aesthetic Magazine Toronto)

California-based funk/thrash/jam trio Primus brought their “3D-enhanced live musical performance” to The Danforth Music Hall in Toronto last night for the first of a two-night stand.

Under the watchful eye of two giant inflatable astronauts, guitarist Larry Lalonde, drummer Jay Lane and bassist and lead singer Les Claypool performed two lengthy sets that spanned their decades-long career, including “To Defy the Laws of Tradition” from their 1990 debut album Frizzle Fry, to “Moron TV” from 2011’s ‪Green Naugahyde‬. Footage of anything from old Lee Marvin westerns for “Lee Van Cleef”, to a 3-D Statue of liberty for “American Life”,  to a multi-colouredsquirrel, which morphed into a bizarre rainbow of psychedelia for “Eyes of the Squirrel”, also from Green Naugahyde, but the effect never became gimmicky, instead it effectively synced up with the music.

Throughout their set, they lived up to their name as a “jam band”, often extending a three to four minute song into something that was much more extensive, and for those that aren’t huge fans of the group, their excessive jamming and soloing took a toll and it often grew boring.

After their first set, Primus treated the crowd to a series of episodes of Popeye The Sailor Man episodes, which only cemented Primus’ reputation for their quirky sense of humour.

Primus. (Photo: Curtis Sindrey/Aesthetic Magazine Toronto)

The band rarely spoke, aside from a brief “hello” from Claypool, but they often just glided seamlessly from one song to another, which might make them seem withdrawn, but they don’t really have anything to prove.

They concluded the show with “Here Come The Bastards”, from their 1991 album Sailing The Seas Of Cheese, which featured a film clip which looked like a Leave It To Beaver/Planet of the Apes hybrid with apes enjoying a domesticated suburbia life, and “Too Many Puppies”, from 1990’s Frizzle Fry, which was the first song that Claypool ever composed and deals with how soldiers are often too young to go to war. The song projected heavy war imagery, including the epic scene from the 1957 Stanley Kubrick film ‘Paths of Glory’ where Kirk Douglas takes a stroll through a trench during World War 1 where he witnesses the effects of war on the many “puppies” that fought there.

Beyond the eccentricity, Claypool and company are insanely talented and certainly know how to use technology to their advantage and that has to afford them at least a slow clap from non-fans.