Primus Welcome Matt Stone, Bill Burr, Ty Segall, MonoNeon and Tool Members at Greek Theatre

Primus with Ty Segall, image via YouTube

Last night, Primus stepped into the spotlight at Los Angeles’ iconic Greek Theatre for the penultimate staging in their Onward & Upward summer tour. The oddball funk-metal forerunners’ expansive series has served as a triumphant introduction to their new chapter with drummer John Hoffman, whose arrival has energized bandmates Les Claypool and Larry “Ler” LaLonde and spurred a surge of eye-popping performances. Their return to the Golden State on Wednesday brought the series’ most exhilarating set yet, featuring a staggering six special guests.

Primus set off their Greek Theatre show with the 1997 Brown Album pairing of “Restin’ Bones” and “Bob’s Party Time Lounge,” then welcomed the first of their evening’s guests by calling comedian Bill Burr to join on a second drum kit for “Too Many Puppies.” Burr has been known to deliver some seriously ripping performances–he played metal covers with The Pretenders just a few weeks ago–and last night was no exception. The team-up was further bolstered by a commanding low-end of Pachyderm bass from Tool’s Justin Chancellor, of whom Burr is also a known fan.

Primus returned to their core trio for “Dirty Drowning Man,” “Groundhog’s Day” and Oysterhead’s “Polka Dot Rose,” then called on their longtime collaborator Matt Stone to join on the second kit for their time-honored cover of King Crimson’s Discipline classic “Thela Hun Ginjeet.” Primus’ connection with Stone dates back to 1997, when the band created the South Park theme song, and they’ve joined forces on several occasions since, including the show’s 25th anniversary concert at Red Rocks. The next guest to sign on was Ty Segall, who opened the show with a set including cuts from his new album, Possession, and sat in on a cover of Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.” as images of the late Ozzy Osbourne were projected onstage.

Primus raced through the classics “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver” and “Welcome to This World” before merging into a set-closing treatment of “My Name is Mud,” supercharged by a sit-in from Tool drummer Danny Carey. Carey, an old friend of the band, had most recently joined Primus during their first show with Hoffman at the Tool Live in the Sand destination event. 

“I’m such a Tool fan and their music has always been so different and mysterious—the members of Tool have this unique vibe,” Hoffman reflected on the experience in a recent interview with Relix. I’ve always imagined Danny as being this serious guy, and he was one of the kindest and happiest people I’ve ever met… Meeting him was a relief—this hero of mine turned out to be so cool. And on top of that, he was just incredibly supportive and had nothing but positive things to say to me about the situation that I was in.”

To close out their performance at the Greek Theatre, Primus returned to the stage for an encore of “Southbound Pachyderm,” featuring freak funk bassist MonoNeon. Watch fan-recorded clips of all the evening’s sit-ins below.

Tonight, Primus will touch down at Sacramento’s Channel 24 for the first show of a two-night tour closing engagement. Find tickets and more information here.