Primus: Roseland Ballroom, New York, NY, 11/9/06

Primus, the trio with the virtuosity to tour behind albums that are 15 years old, still packs them in as evidenced by the Roseland’s sold-out crowd. With Les having expanded into the jamband realm with his solo outings, many of Primus’s new fans had never seen the original trio play live, and in turn Herb, Les and Larry have backed away from some of their punk roots as of late and have focused on more of their psychedelic leanings. Yet all around there was more of an old school tinge to tonight’s endeavor, no new tunes were unveiled, not even close, in fact, as the most recent tunes played emanated from Pork Soda, not a bad thing…but what happened three songs into the set certainly was a problem.

During "American Life" – the most adventurous tune of the night – a front row barricade was broken by some rowdy revelers who were mixing it up in the mosh pit. At the end of the song, Les stopped the show and the band took a break, just as they were starting to shine in the lengthy slap/funk exploration that was "American Life." When the band came back they didn’t shy away from the classics, but the energy had been lost by both the band and the crowd, and the half hour delay did nothing to extend the show as Primus only played 10 songs total for the evening. A few did have longer than normal running times, "Seas of Cheese" and "Mr. Krinkle" benefited from extended standup bass jams where Claypool’s bow was utilized, both proved interesting if not revolution causing.

The encore "Is it Luck?" enhanced the weirdness on this night as Claypool seemed obviously angry (rumors were he was hit with something while on stage) and the song was shortened with an uninspired and super simplistic bass solo.

Set List: Harold of the Rocks, Here Come the Bastards, American Life, Frizzle Fry, Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers, Seas of Cheese, Mr. Krinkle, My Name is Mud, Jerry was a Racecar Driver

Encore: Is It Luck?

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