WILMINGTON — Known for its funky bass lines and experimental metal riffs, Les Claypool’s California rock outfit Primus will be headed to Wilmington this summer.
As part of its Onward and Upward 2025 tour, Primus announced it will traverse coast-to-coast with a stopover at Live Oak Bank Pavilion on July 26. Tickets will go on sale Friday, March 28.
Primus was founded in the mid-’80s but gained popularity during the grunge rock era of the ’90s, after the release of “Sailing the Seas of Cheese,” “Pork Soda” and “Tales from the Punchbowl.” The latter two charted the top 10 on Billboard’s 200, with the track “My Name is Mud” from “Pork Soda” also featured on Billboard’s top 10 hits.
Primus toured the early days of Lollapalooza as well, sharing bills with Alice in Chains, Dinosaur Jr., Arrested Development, and Rage Against the Machine in 1993. Claypool gained fanfare for his often quirky and off-kilter approach to creating music, with metal blending funk and psychedelia. The band went on to create the theme song for Comedy Central’s hit TV show “South Park.”
The band has had a mashup of members throughout its many decades of being on-again and off-again, with its last stop in Wilmington in 2014 at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater. Claypool has embarked on other collaborative projects as well, including with Stewart Copeland (Police) and Trey Anastasio (Phish) as Oysterhead and with Sean Lennon as part of The Claypool Lennon Delirium. The latter toured through Greenfield Lake Amphitheater in 2016.
Today, Primus consists of Claypool on vocals and bass, Larry “Ler” LaLonde on guitar, and John “Hoffer” Hoffman on drums. The drummer is the newest face of the band, chosen from 6,200 applicants from across the globe; fans can check it out on Primus’ YouTube series “Interstellar Drum Derby.“
The band will stop at 24 cities on their tour. In Wilmington, MonoNeon — an experimental multi-instrumentalist from Memphis — will be joining.
Though tickets open to the general public Friday, an early pre-sale takes place Thursday, March 27, by using the code FUNKY.
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