Les Claypool at HOB SD show review

Les Claypool @ House of Blues, SD – 6/25/06

Review by Kent Manthie

Photos by Reviewer Rob

I remember years ago, in the early 90s, on one of MTV’s myriad programs that have come and gone, I think it may have been “Buzz Bin”, wherein they spotlighted some up and coming “alternative” bands. One they featured that night was a little known, nationally, band who called themselves Primus. They were a trio of regular, everyday dudes from northwest of the Bay Area, a little town called El Sobrante.

Well, things have changed, the world has turned and now Les Claypool, the front-man of that great band, is a big star, he’s mesmerized millions with a neo-Zappa-esque freak-out of excellent musicians who happened to have a really great sense of humor and wore it on their shirtsleeves with his several side projects. Fear not, however, Primus is not dead! In fact, it has been confirmed that Primus will headline the first annual Hedgpeth Music Festival, July 29, 2006, in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin.

On Sunday, June 25, 2006, at the wonderful, still new House of Blues, San Diego, Les brought a few dazzling musicians with him and played a long, ninety-minute set to a packed room of die-hard fans. That was the most crowded I’d seen it at HOB since I started going last fall. It wasn’t quite sold out, I saw a couple latecomers purchasing tickets, but it must’ve been damn close.

Playing mostly new tunes (no Primus songs) and other, rarefied solo stuff, Claypool wowed us all with brilliant musicianship, flashy ensembles and funny antics (the monkey mask, fiddling with that stick during the LONG drum solo – a two man solo, drum kit and percussionist). One interesting part of the band was that it was an unorthodox setup for rock ‘n’ roll: No guitar! Playing along with Les, on sitar, sax, drums and percussion were Gabby La La, Skerik, Mike Dillon and Jay Lane.
Opening up was a funk-band from Oakland called The Coup. I walked in shortly after they took the stage for their 45 minute set. They really smoked; they had a little bit of Sly Stone, a little bit Curtis Mayfield and a little bit of modern-day “hip-hop”. Having just joined the tour, ‘already in progress’, The Coup were fresh, warmed up and ready to lay down some funk for ya ass.
At about 10:30, after a wait, after the gear was set up, instruments were tuned, mics were checked, the Art Tatum piano doodling, playing as a backdrop, faded away and a few figures came out on stage and the lights came on and BOOM! – it was on.
It was a little more toned down of an atmosphere than I had expected, though. The music was great, tip-top, as usual. I guess I just sort of expected some wild theatrics, not gimmicky effects but just crazy antics, (more) funny masks, clowning and goofing; they were all on their best behavior, concentrating on blowing everyone’s mind with a killer sound. But then, this was Les Claypool, solo artist, not Frog Brigade or Holy Mackerel or Bucket of Bernie Brains. Were they trying to emphasize the music? Showcasing the new material? Well, I liked what I heard; the tunes were all long, at least five minutes, which is typical Claypool; no fan of short pop songs him.
Midway through the show, the two percussionists gave everyone else a break and went into a wild, two-man percussion duet, a long drum jam that was a tour-de-force that blew everyone’s mind; bouncing back and forth, meshing in perfect synch, gyrating, undulating, thunderous rhythms that were felt in the bones.
After settling back into the groove, they played on for another hour, almost and then for the first part of the encore Les came back on stage alone with a banjo that was strung up with four bass strings and, playing the banjo like a banjo, but with bass strings, served up a couple old folk-ditties. Then the whole band came back and they (almost) satisfied the adoring crowd with a couple more songs – we were all still up for more music. There were a table full of CDs on sale there too; all the different Les Claypool projects – except Primus – including one DVD with five hours of Claypool concert footage. Interested? Get more info at http://www.lesclaypool.com or http://www.primussucks.com. – KM.