Les Claypool’s Primus is set to honor Rush by playing the entirety of 1977’s A Farewell to Kings on their summer tour, called A Tribute to Kings.
The shows will open with a set of few Primus material then followed by A Farewell to Kings, the first Rush record Primus frontman and bassist Les Claypool owned. It was proposed to them last year but was postponed due to them being involved with Slayer’s tour. Claypool said he received Geddy Lee’s blessing regarding the tour.
“I texted with him — I keep in touch with Geddy — just to make sure we weren’t trodding on something weird,” Claypool told Rolling Stone. “So I checked in with him to see what he thought of it, and he was excited about the notion. … He thought it was a great idea.”
Claypool, first saw Rush performed on the Hemispheres tour in 1978, and that Neil Peart’s recent death put an extra creased into the upcoming event. “We’re trying to be as sensitive as we possibly can, so it doesn’t appear like we’re just jumping on the, ‘Hey, a superhero has died, let’s go out and do a tribute to him’ type thing,” he noted. “It’s about admiration for these amazing musicians and friends.”
The two bands formed a relationship in 1992 when Primus served as Rush’s opening act. He described the experience as “pretty surreal. And then to meet those guys and then to befriend those guys and the subsequent years of friendship and whatnot were pretty amazing.”
In 2001, Claypool had this side project called Colonel Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade and covered Pink Floyd’s Animals in its entirety.
“It was an insane amount of work, but ended up being one of the most enjoyable live endeavors I’ve ever done,” he said in a press release when announcing the tour.
A Tribute to Kings will kick off May 26 at the Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory in Irving, Texas, and runs through Aug. 2 at the Arizona Federal Theatre in Phoenix.
Primus A Tribute to Kings Tour 2020
May 26 — Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
May 27 —Houston, TX @ Revention Music Center
May 29 —Austin, TX @ ACL Live at the Moody Theater
May 30 —New Orleans, LA @ Saenger Theater
June 1 — Asheville, NC @ ExploreAsheville.com Arena
June 3 — Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live Orlando
June 5 — Atlanta, GA @ Coca-Cola Roxy
June 6 — Charlotte, NC @ Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre
June 7 — Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
June 9 — Cincinnati, OH @ PNC Pavilion
June 10 — Columbus, OH @ Express Live! – Outdoor
June 12 — Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Arts And Music Festival
June 15 — Richmond, VA @ Virginia Credit Union LIVE!
June 16 — Baltimore, MD @ MECU Pavilion
June 17 — New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
June 19 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
June 20 — Asbury Park, NJ @ The Stone Pony Summer Stage
June 21 — Essex Junction, VT @ Midway Lawn at Champlain Valley Exposition
June 23 — Boston, MA @ Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
June 24 — Wallingford, CT @ Toyota Oakdale Theatre
June 26 — Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
June 27 — Cleveland, OH @ Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
June 28 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE – Outdoor
June 30 — Toronto, ON @ RBC Echo Beach
July 2 — Lafayette, NY @ Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards
July 3 — Westbrook ME @ Main Savings Pavilion at Rock Row
July 6 — Indianapolis, IN @ The Amphitheater at White River State Park
July 7 — Milwaukee, WI @ BMO Harris Pavilion
July 8 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory
July 10 — Chicago, IL @ The Chicago Theatre
July 11 — St Louis, MO @ Saint Louis Music Park
July 12 — Kansas City, MO @ CrossroadsKC
July 14 — Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom
July 15 — Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
July 17 — Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theater
July 18 — Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
July 19 — Las Vegas, NV @ Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort
July 21 — Boise, ID @ Outlaw Field at Idaho Botanical Garden
July 23 — Bonner, MT @ KettleHouse Amphitheater
July 24 — Redmond, WA @ Marymoor Park
July 25 — Troutdale, OR @ Edgefield
July 28 — Spokane, WA @ Riverfront Park Amphitheater
July 29 — Bend, OR @ Les Schwab Amphitheater
July 31 — Paso Robles, CA @ Vina Robles Amphitheatre
Aug. 1 — San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU
Aug. 2 — Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Federal Theatre