Primus With Coheed and Cambria Was a Perfect Combo for St. Louis Saturday

Sean Derrick August 5, 2024 0 Comments Coheed and Cambria, Primus, Saint Louis concert review and photos, Too Many Zooz

–by Sean Derrick

Primus, those purveyors of peculiar prog rock, rolled into town Saturday in the middle of a co-headlining summer tour with Coheed and Cambria, and performed a solid set at a near capacity St. louis Music Park.

Neither act has a “new” album out to promote (Coheed and Cambria’s latest Vaxis-Act II: A Window of the Waking Mind is two years old already, doesn’t seem like it, huh?). Though they are working on Vaxis-Act III, part of the planned pentalogy series follow-up to “The Armory Wars” story in their sci-fi comics and novels that conceptually follows along with their music. The album is expected to drop sometime in 2025.

Primus, meanwhile released a 3-song EP Conspiranoid in 2022 and there has been talk of a new album but it won’t be anytime soon as bassist/vocalist Les Claypool is busy with other projects. Thankfully, he still has time for live shows with Primus to keep us satisfied.

Primus doesn’t use the same setlist twice. Sometimes fans will get a set full of their most popular songs, sometimes a total deep dive into the band’s catalog. Other times there will be a good mix. That was Saturday: Cool enough for tons of deep dive material for diehards, while satisfying the more casual fan with a helping of more recognizable songs like “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver” and “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver”.

But the deep dives were the story on this night. There were more than just a handful of songs St. Louis fans haven’t heard in a while, or ever. Songs like “The Ol’ Diamondback Sturgeon (Fisherman’s Chronicles, Part 3)” which hadn’t been played in St. Louis since April of 1994 when Primus opened for Rush at The Arena was awesome to hear again live.

Also “Is It Luck?” hasn’t seen a St. Louis Stage for 20 years, “The Pressman” – 10 years, “Jilly’s on Smack” – 8 years, you get the idea.

“The Heckler” had never been played here, but thanks to a young fan with a birthday wish sign St. Louis finally joins the list.

Primus (Claypool, guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde, drummer Tim Anderson) were, as usual, amazing in technique and presentation. From the first recognizable notes of “Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers” Primus let the music drive the show.

Bathed in Red lighting throughout the band played on that deep emotion to set the mood throughout the set, including a nod to their idols in Rush with a cover of “Cygnus X-1 Book 1: The Voyage”. The last time Primus was here was during their “Tribute to Kings Tour” in 2021 in honor of the classic Rush album A Farewell to Kings where they performed the album in its entirety.

This time, Coheed and Cambria’s vocalist Claudio Sanchez helped out in some of the vocal part when he came out replete with Cryptic robe and holding a skull aloft.

Epic.

Speaking of epic, Coheed and Cambria’s set was filled with epic tacks and lots of hair flips from Sanchez. The rest of the band (guitarist Travis Stever, drummer Josh Eppard, and bassist Zach Cooper) look like your typical coworkers, but way cooler and ones who could actually play instruments.

From “Welcome Home” to “Blindside Sunny” to “Ten Speed (Of God’s Blood and Burial)” Coheed and Cambria meant business and melted faces.

The only time they stopped was actually during a song. In the middle of “The Liars Club” Sanchez noticed someone fall in the audience and in distress. He made sure personnel were assisting the fan before asking the crowd if they wanted to keep going or start from the top. A resounding vote for from the top solidified the restart of the song.

Way to look out for your fans, Claudio.

The only disappointment from Coheed and Cambria was the omission of their latest single “The Joke”, which was released as a stand alone track in May. The song was cut from Vaxis-Act II, but given the time constraints I guess I can understand. Hopefully next time they are in town as a solo headlining act fans will get to hear it live.

The three-member brass funk band Too Many Zooz opened the show with a 30-minute catchy set that resembled something you would see in a New York City subway station, or along Canal Street in New Orleans, only much more polished.