Jam Central Station 8.14.10: Primus - LC Pavillion, Columbus, OH - 8.5.10

Posted by Jeff Modzelewski on 08.14.2010

After some time off, Primus is back!



Happy Saturday to everyone out there in the real world. I'm finishing this up in beautiful Montreat, North Carolina. I'm out here for a work training, and I always forget how hard it is to finish up this column when I'm somewhere for work. So I hope that you'll forgive me if the column is a little disjointed. But it's a show review, so I think that'll hold things together. Anyways, since I am pretty damn busy today, on with the show!





After being a Primus fan for at least 15 years, I finally had the opportunity to see them as a headlining act last week. I had only seen Primus twice before, once on Ozzfest in the late 90's and at Rothbury 2008. I'm pretty sure Primus is the only band that would fit well at both of those festivals. I was pretty pumped to check them out, especially with the return of Jay Lane on drums. It turned out to be a very interesting night.

Gogol Borello opened the show with their Russian gypsy-punk music. I don't really know anything by Gogol, but they were a band that were a lot of fun even without knowing the songs. Any band that can add violin and accordion to a punk-rock core is a good band in my book. They had tons of energy, they worked the crowd well, and the music wasn't bad either. A great choice for an opener.

Primus came out on stage and went straight for the odd and eclectic, opening their set with "Pudding Time" from Frizzle Fry. The crowd was ready for this throwback and followed along well. I want to say that it was also a great opening song for Les to show off his talents, but pretty much every song is an opportunity for Les to be Les on the bass. New (old) drummer Jay Lane was especially impressive in his ability to keep up with Les, and guitarist Larry LaLonde filled his parts well. The band went right into the throbbing "Here Come the Bastards," which may not have had the crowd bouncing per se, but it definitely had everyone excited. The two openers also highlighted Les's two main vocal styles, minimalist with "Pudding Time" and odd storytelling with "Here Come the Bastards."

The band then brought in "Dutchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread" from The Brown Album, which isn't my favorite song, but it was a bit of a surprise. Unfortunately, things went a little south when the band went into "American Life." Nothing wrong with the song, it's one of my favorites and they did a great job with it. The problem was that someone in the audience decided to toss a beer bottle on stage and get beer on some of Les's equipment, which led to the band aborting the song after the second verse and Les getting pretty pissed off. After a solid beginning of the show, the energy seemed to drain from the band for most of the rest of the show. I was bummed that Les got so pissed about the bottle (since it was a plastic beer bottle and not glass), but still, people should know better than to throw crap on stage. It really screws things up for the audience and the band.

They then moved into a cover of "Behind My Camel" by The Police, a trippy instrumental. It's a short and trippy song that the band transitioned directly into "Groundhog's Day." The two songs aren't really similar, but "Behind My Camel" provided a nice breakup for a run of songs that all had similar feels starting with "Dutchess."



Luckily for the crowd, the band decided to pick "American Life" back up after the earlier attempt. They jumped back in at the beginning of the first verse and went into an amazing second half of the song. Jay mixed up his fills and had some great work on the hi-hat to keep up with one of the best Les solos of the night, and there was an extremely fast-paced outro for the song.

Les switched over to a stand-up bass and the band brought out a couple of the guys from Gogol Bordello to reprise "Big in Japan," a Tom Waits song from the Bonnaroo Superjam from a few years back. I'm not a huge Tom Waits fan, but it was very cool to see Primus up there with Gogol covering a very cool tune. Not surprisingly, Les led the way, but Eugene from Gogol added a lot of excitement and there was a great violin solo from Sergey.

"Over the Falls" from The Brown Album slowed things down a bit, but Les leading much of the song on the bass and Larry taking a good solo. I thought that the band could've taken some of the excitement around having Gogol join them on stage and run with it, but, even though it was a good song (and much better than the studio version), "Over the Falls" didn't build on the energy of the night. This was especially unfortunate because Les then proceeded to come out in his monkey mask with his one-stringed whamola for an awesome jam with Jay. If you haven't seen Les play this thing, it really is an impressive sight. This would've been a great follow-up to "Big in Japan," but by breaking it up with "Over the Falls" they didn't allow any momentum to build.

The whamola jam led directly into a great version of "John The Fisherman," which was my highlight for the night. It was an awesome transition and jam into one of my favorite Primus songs. This is a well-loved song both by longtime Primus fans and folks new to the band, and, since I fall squarely between those two categories, it was nice to hear. It also provided a great song for the crowd to sing along to, which is always nice. The followed it up with "Frizzle Fry," another good early song that the crowd knew well.

They closed the set with "Golden Boy," which I wasn't expecting and wasn't really familiar with, followed by "Harold of the Rocks." He also prefaced "Harold" with another comment about the beer throwing and the story behind the song. Of course "Harold" was a good and energetic song to close out the set.

The band came back after a short break for a one-song encore of "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver," which was surprising to hear as the only encore. I expected at least a two song encore, and I figured that they would mix a more "popular" song with something else like "Southbound Pachyderm" or "Toys Go Winding Down." A short one-song encore is just not enough for really any band, and especially not a band with the following that Primus has.

Overall, despite the issues, I was very happy with the show, and the current incarnation of Primus is impressive. I was really concerned about how Jay Lane would fit with the band, but it worked out really well. Jay adds his own twist to a lot of songs, but he knows where to play along with Les and Larry and where to simply hold the beat while Les goes off and does his thing. This is a great incarnation of Primus, and hopefully they can keep going for a while.





















Allman Brothers announce shows

The Allman Brothers have announced their first shows since Gregg Allman underwent a liver transplant back in June. The band will do a three-night stand at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston from November 18-20. More dates will be announced later, but it's great to see Gregg and the band back on the road.

Furthur adds dates

Furthur keeps adding to their tour in bits and pieces. This time they've added a pair of gigs at Chicago's UIC Pavillion for November 12 and 13. They also have gigs in Massachusetts and New York City lined up for the fall, and more dates will be coming.

Replacement at moe.down

Next month's moe.down had a late lineup switch, as Jakob Dylan had to drop out of the show unexpectedly. Fans shouldn't be too upset, however, since Grace Potter and the Nocturnals will be joining the event in their place.

In other moe. news, the band announced that fans will once again be able to vote on a theme for their Halloween show. Fans will suggest ideas, they'll be put up for a vote, and fans can vote on a poll at Jambands.com from August 24-September 10.

Umphrey's adds shows

Umphrey's McGee added a couple of fall shows to their itinerary. They'll play in Millvale PA on October 21, Cleveland on October 23, and Des Moines on October 27. This is in addition to their already announced Halloween shows on October 30-31 in St. Louis.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival announces lineup

If you're gonna be in the San Francisco area on October 1-3, head down to Golden Gate Park for one hell of a free festival. The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival will be held, and will include big name acts such as Elvis Costello, The Del McCoury Band, Yonder Mountain String Band, The Avett Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Umphrey's McGee, Hot Tuna, Railroad Earth, and many many others. The free event is self-funded by local billionaire Warren Hellmen. This is seriously an awesome lineup, especially for a free event, and I'm kinda jealous that I don't have the money to put something like this on.

Primus gives away rehearsal sessions

Primus announced that fans can download four songs from the band's June rehearsals for free over at their website. The tracks feature the new (old) incarnation of the band performing four songs. So head over there to get "Pudding Time," "American Life," "Harold Of the Rocks," and "Dutchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread." Good deal!

Railroad Earth announces album

Railroad Earth are set to release a new album on October 12. The self-titled album will be the first to feature new bassist Andrew Altman, and will feature nine new tracks.

U-Melt to play final show

U-Melt will end their 7 year run with a final show on November 26 at the Highline Ballroom in New York City. The band chalks up their demise to the economic downturn. Too bad to see them hanging it up.

Bands unite for Jerry Jams

Brad Serling of nugs.net will be releasing a compilation of live covers of Grateful Dead songs over the years. Bands that are included on the release include Phish, String Cheese Incident, Black Crowes, Keller and the Keels, Widespread Panic, Moonalice, and others.

Greensky Bluegrass announces tour

Greensky Bluegrass have announced a pretty massive fall tour. They'll kick it off at the Hoxeyville Festival in Michigan before spending the better part of 2 months on the road. Check them out, they're likely coming near where you are.

August 21 – Hoxeyville Music Festival – Hoxeyville, MI
August 26 – Tres Hombres – Carbondale, IL
August 27 – Lindberg's – Springfield, MO
August 28 – River Jam Festival – Fort Smith, AR
September 1 – three20south – Breckenridge, CO
September 2 – Hodi's Half Note – Fort Collins, CO
September 3 – Ghost Ranch – Steamboat Springs, CO
September 4 – Agave – Avon, CO
September 5 – Electric Avenue Festival – Denver, CO
September 17 – Recipe Family Cookout – Terra Alta, WV
September 18 – RiverGrass – Ironton, OH
September 20 – Clementine Café – Harrisonburg, VA
September 21 – Canal Club – Richmond, VA
September 22 – Double Door Inn – Charlotte, NC
September 23 – Berkeley Cafe – Raleigh, NC
September 24 – Mellow Mushroom – Asheville, NC
September 25 – The Pour House – Charleston, SC
September 26 – Smith's Olde Bar – Atlanta, GA
October 13 – Fox Theater – Boulder, CO
October 14 – Belly Up – Aspen, CO
October 15 – The Eldo – Crested Butte, CO
October 16 – Abbey Theatre – Durango, CO
October 19 – Orpheum Theater – Flagstaff, AZ
October 20 – The Compound Grill – Phoenix, AZ
October 21 – Winston's – San Diego, CA
October 23 – Boom Boom Room – San Francisco, CA
October 26 – Red Fox Tavern – Eureka, CA
October 28 – Applegate River Lodge – Applegate, OR
October 29 – Mt. Tabor Theater – Portland, OR
October 30 – Mt. Tabor Theater – Portland, OR
October 31 – The Tractor – Seattle, WA
November 5 – The Cabooze – Minneapolis, MN
November 6 – High Noon Saloon – Madison, WI
January 4 – 9 – Jam Cruise – The Caribbean



Thanks for stopping in this week again. Please check out Jam Central Station over on Facebook, where you'll get breaking news, videos, and other thoughts. Well, hope you have a good week, and, until next time, Jam On!