Les Claypool served fans with the trifecta on Tuesday night as the Claypool Gold tour rolled into TD Amp Ballantyne. The extravaganza featured three of Claypool’s bands back-to-back-to-back: Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and Primus.
The night offered a smattering of hits from each of the outfits, though hardcore Primus fans may have been slightly disappointed that the set in Charlotte was a lot of the same from the band’s 2025 Raleigh set.
Both shows started featured “Those Damned Blue Collar Tweakers,” “Fisticuffs,” “Groundhog’s Day,” “Jilly’s on Smack,” “Spegetti Western,” and the same encore of “Southbound Pachyderm.”
Considering that most Primus sets on this tour have featured a rotating variety of songs, it’s oddly coincidental that the setlist stayed somewhat stagnant upon his return to North Carolina. Sure, there were plenty of people who didn’t go to Raleigh last year, but for anyone who attended both, the headlining Primus set felt like a bit of a repeat.
The first part of the evening was for The Frog Brigade and The Claypool Lennon Delirium, both of which feature singer/guitarist Sean Lennon and the same backing band, so the difference was in the music. Lennon also shared singing duties for the Delirium.
Throughout the night, Claypool made bass playing look far too easy. His complicated riffs and rhythms seem second nature at this point. While he doesn’t quite dance around the stage like he used to, he did find some time to move around the stage. For the most part, however, he remained perched in front of his microphone.
Claypool was inspired for the current tour by his participation in Maynard James Keenan’s Sessanta tour, which featured Primus sharing the stage with Keenan’s bands A Perfect Circle and Puscifer. During that tour, the three bands all remained on stage and would rotate songs throughout the night.
The Claypool Gold tour will continue touring through the South before heading west later this month, ending with a Fourth of July show in Napa, California.
Primus setlist
Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers
Fisticuffs
Groundhog’s Day
The ‘Ol Grizz
Jilly’s on Smack
Over the Falls
Hello Skinny
Welcome to this World/My Name is Mud
Spegetti Western
Harold of the Rocks
Primus Encore
Southbound Pachyderm
Claypool Lennon Delirium setlist
South of Reality
What a Predicament
Troll Bait
Meat Machines
Golden Egg of Empathy
Astronomy Domine
The Frog Brigade setlist
Up on the Roof
Lust Stings
Precipitation
David Makalaster
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