Photos by Chris Besaw
Review by Kelly Besaw
Primus made a stop at Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards on their “Onward & Upward
Summer Tour. They brought along with them special guest Ty Segall.
Primus, who are best known for Les Claypool’s unique bass playing style of slapping,
tapping and fretless playing, brought their blend of funk, rock, metal and progressive
rock and what some would even call experimental to an enthusiastic crowd at Beak and
Skiff Apple Orchards in LaFayette, NY on Friday evening.
There is no other band quite like Primus. They have an incredibly unique sound. At
times it is funky, metal, or even countryish. The stage antics include pig masks, a horse
head, theatrics, and other visuals. Although this show did not have as many theatrics as
previous Primus performances I have seen, it was nice to see them play a more
stripped-down set where the focus was on the music and interacting with the fans.
Primus kicked off their set with fan favorite “Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers” and
got the crowd up out of their seats and dancing. After a few songs, the band started
joking around on stage. They introduced their new drummer, John Hoffman (formerly of
Dirtfoot), and guitarist Larry LeLonde tried out some new guitars as Les messed with
him about the guitar making him sound like James Hetfield or something.
Primus played a nice mix of well-known songs and deep cut tracks and did an excellent
job of keeping the audience engaged the entire time. Some highlights were,
”Groundhog’s Day,” “Over the Falls,” “My Name is Mud,” and they ended their set with
“Harold of the Rocks.” The fans cheered, clearly wanting more and Primus returned to
the stage for bass heavy version of “Tommy the Cat.”
What a perfect night for live music at one of my favorite venues of all time. If you haven’t
been to one of the summer concert series shows at Beak and Skiff, you should
definitely check it out. It is a great local venue with beautiful scenery and delicious
reasonably priced food and drinks. Plus, you can feel good about supporting a local
venue.
Setlist
Clown Dream (Intro) (Danny Elfman song)
Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers
Groundhog’s Day
Polka Dot Rose (Oysterhead cover)
Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread
Golden Boy
Over the Falls
Restin’ Bones
Bob’s Party Time Theme
Welcome to This World
My Name is Mud
The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon (Fisherman’s Chronicles Part 3)
Over the Electric Grapevine
Harold of the Rocks
Encore
Tommy the Cat
Pure Imagination (Outro) (Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley song)
Click on Photo Below to View Gallery
Leave a Reply