So I went to a couple of shows recently and was totally knocked out by both.  Over the years I’ve become a bit of a Primus fan, especially after picking up a couple of discs from the used bins and being sucked in obviously by the talents of Les, Ler, and Herb (and Brain and Jay, for that matter) and just digging into the oddball grandeur of it all.  Primus was touring behind their musical remake of the “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” soundtrack, a bit of a strange choice but not so strange when in the hands of bass genius Les Claypool.  The band kicked off the show in a fairly sparse setting, low on the lights and in front of the theater curtain, and fired off about 8-9 classics before taking a half hour break and coming back with the “Wonka production”.  Costumes, inflatables, candy, Oompa Loompas(!) and big screen showing clips from the classic movie were present as the band played their new album “Primus and the Chocolate Factory (with Fungi Ensemble)” in its entirety.  Talk about a bold move!  The crowd absolutely at it up, with many dressed as characters from the movie as well.  The boys encored with three more classics from the catalog before sending the crowd home happy.  My awesomely cool bass playing son Ian went with me and snagged a t shirt and the new “chocolate” vinyl.  Quite the show!

Flash forward a few weeks to a show I’ve been waiting for for months:  the mighty EXODUS!  I mentioned my awesomely cool bass playing son-  well, he’s got himself an awesomely cool band as well and had the opportunity to open the show!  Unfortunately they were down a couple of band members and were forced to play as a trio with no vocals.  That said, they did an OUTSTANDING job!  Very proud of Ian, Michael, and DJ and how they were able to pull it off.  More to come on these guys in a future blog so stay tuned 🙂

After a few other bands and multiple changeovers it was Exodus time!  My brother and I had seen the band back in 2004 on the Tempo Of The Damned tour, playing in front of a very small crowd (maybe 50 people, tops) in Indianapolis.  While that show was great (it was my first time seeing the band in person), it was awesome to see a much, much larger crowd having some good friendly violent fun as the Exo dudes took a slight detour from their slot on the Slayer tour and played a full gig at the Madison Theater in Covington, Kentucky.  Their new CD “Blood In, Blood Out” has many great cuts on it and it’s great to have the one and only Steve “Zetro” Souza back at the mic.  I’m too old to get in the pit anymore but I was standing a little to the left as mayhem broke out throughout the night, especially during classic cuts such as “The Toxic Waltz” and “Bonded By Blood”.  The guys were at the top of their game and I must say that Tom Hunting is A BEAST behind the kit!  I don’t like just hearing the drums, I like to feel it too and Tom definitely brings it.  These guys are only playing six songs opening for Slayer but if you get to catch them on an Exodus only gig YOU NEED TO GO.  Thrash at its finest.