Primus launched their 2026 Claypool Gold tour on Wednesday night in Reno, Nevada, turning the opening show into a full-scale celebration of Les Claypool’s many musical worlds. The bill featured three acts fronted by Claypool: Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and Primus itself.
The night was structured like a mini-festival. The Frog Brigade opened with a five-song set built around material from Purple Onion, then The Claypool Lennon Delirium followed with a six-song performance that leaned heavily on The Great Parrot-Ox and the Golden Egg of Empathy before ending with a Pink Floyd cover. Primus closed the show with a 10-song set that mixed fan favorites with newer material, including “The Ol’ Grizz” from the newly released EP A Handful of Nuggs.
The full opening-night setlists showed just how much ground the three bands covered. The Frog Brigade played “Up on the Roof,” “Lust Stings,” “David Makalaster,” “Precipitation,” and “D’s Diner.” The Claypool Lennon Delirium followed with “South of Reality,” “Blood and Rockets: Movement 1, Saga of Jack Parsons – Movement II Too the Moon,” “The Golden Egg of Empathy,” “Troll Bait,” “WAP (What a Predicament),” and “Astronomy Domine” as their closer. Primus then delivered “Those Damn Blue-Collar Tweakers,” “Last Salmon Man,” “American Life,” “The Ol’ Grizz,” “Hellbound 17 1/2 (Theme From),” “Bob’s Party Time Lounge,” “Shake Hands With Beef,” “Welcome to This World,” “My Name is Mud,” and “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver.” All three groups then came together for “Southbound Pachyderm.”
The tour itself is set to keep moving across North America through the summer. Primus’ current schedule begins in Reno on May 20, 2026, then heads to Bend on May 22, Redmond on May 23, Bonner on May 25, and continues through major stops including Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, Atlanta, Dallas, Phoenix, San Diego, Long Beach, and Napa. The final show is currently scheduled for July 4 in Napa, California.
Ticketmaster’s tour listing says the 2026 run includes The Claypool Lennon Delirium and Les Claypool’s Frog Brigade as special guests on all dates, with general tickets going on sale Friday, January 23 at 10:00 a.m. local time after presales and VIP packages on Wednesday, January 21. That makes the tour not just a Primus run, but a wider Claypool showcase built around multiple projects from the same singular frontman.
For fans, the appeal is obvious. Primus closed the opening night with the songs most closely tied to their identity, while the side-project sets gave the show a deeper, more unpredictable edge. It was part nostalgia, part experiment, and part reminder that Claypool’s live universe is still one of the weirdest and most ambitious in rock.
https://youtu.be/fQ3A8YnYM78
