by Dale Walker.
Offshore Festival, Torquay, Victoria, Australia. April 12, 1998.
I travelled 3000 round kms, endured countless days of boredom, camped in the freezing cold for three days, spent $550 all up and lost a shoe, but I tell you, 1 hour and 10 minutes of Primus in concert is well worth all the bullshit.
Like any Primus fan would've, I pushed my way through to the front and waited through two band sets to watch the greatest band on earth. The chant for Primus started just before showtime and as Brain belted into the opening drumbeat to "John the Fisherman" the crowd went ballistic. I couldn't breath, but I didn't care. I was about three metres away from Les doing his thing.
The next song up was "Groundhog's Day", and the heavy part kicked arse. Also. for one brief second as I crowdsurfed over the front barrier at the end of "Groundhog's Day", me and Les Claypool made eye contact. Now that made my year. Anyway Les was being his usual self, stomping and dancing around the stage. Larry was staying fairly still, but his sheer command over his guitar gave him a very strong stage presence, and, well, Brain just beat the shit out of his drums.
Highlight songs for me were "My Name is Mud" and "Those Damn Blue Collar Tweekers" which had a part of "Highball with the Devil" in the middle. Also Brain's drum solo was incredible. At one stage he was playing with one hand and drinking beer with the other, then spurting it out everwhere. He fits into Primus like a glove and, dare I say, better than Herb did.
Les played the bass riff to "Shake Hands with Beef" slightly different, slightly warped. During the first few songs of the show, a red laser light was shone on Les from the crowd. Finally, Les being Les, told the person in the crowd what to do with the laser, which was a very hilarious suggestion.
I had high expectations for Primus and they surpassed those expectations. THEY REALLY SUCKED!!
SETLIST; 1. JOHN THE FISHERMAN 2. GROUNDHOG'S DAY 3. DUCHESS AND THE PROVERBIAL MIND SPREAD 4. THOSE DAM BLUE COLLAR TWEEKERS - HIGHBALL WITH THE DEVIL - THOSE DAM BLUE COLLAR TWEEKERS 5. KALAMAZOO 6. MY NAME IS MUD 7. JERRY WAS A RACE CAR DRIVER 8. PUDDIN' TAINE 9. SHAKE HANDS WITH BEEF 10. TOO MANY PUPPIES - HEY SKINNY - TOO MANY PUPPIES 11. TOMMY THE CAT - THE AWAKENING - BRAIN'S DRUM SOLO - TOMMY THE CAT.