Bay Area prog-funk-metal legends Primus wrapped up their current US tour last Thursday and Friday with a two night stint at Channel 24, Sacramento’s newest live music venue. Rather than supporting a new album, this tour had two other objectives: celebrate the band’s entire catalog, and introduce the world to the newest Primus drummer, John “Hoffer” Hoffman.
In late 2024, Primus found themselves in need of a new drummer, after longtime member Tim “Herb” Alexander left the band for health reasons, and began a worldwide search for a suitable replacement. The hunt culminated with Hoffman beating out over 6000 other drummers in the audition process, and in February of 2025 John played his first show with the band in the Dominican Republic.
Hoffman’s drumming was stellar all night Thursday. His approach and style made every song appear effortless to play — an incredible feat, especially considering the complexity of the Primus catalog and the skill audiences expect of this band. John brings a fresh bounce to all the Primus material and adds a fun energy to the show all his own. (At the Los Angeles show on Aug 6, Stewart Copeland of The Police reportedly remarked that “Hoffer” is the best Primus drummer yet — I’m inclined to agree.)
Thursday’s show included a wide variety of songs from all of the Primus studio albums. We heard classics like “My Name Is Mud” and “John The Fisherman” (the show’s encore) sprinkled in between deeper cuts and newer songs “Follow The Fool” and “Jilly’s On Smack” among others. Thursday’s set also featured “Little Lord Fentanyl”, a brand new song written after Hoffman joined the group. As an added bonus, the trio were joined on stage by Brian Kehoe (who plays in Duo de Twang with Primus bassist Les Claypool) for a rendition of the Jerry Reed track “Amos Moses”.
Primus performed two full sets, both Thursday and Friday. Fans lucky enough to attend both nights were treated to completely unique shows with no songs repeated over the 2 evenings. Each night included an intermission during which we saw footage from the upcoming Primus documentary, sprinkled in between with some classic black and white Popeye cartoons.
Bassist and vocalist Les Claypool let the songs do most of the talking, keeping stage banter to a minimum. He introduced John as the new drummer after playing “American Life”, and told a story about his wife reading “Rainbow Goblins” to his kids which inspired their song “The Desaturating Seven”, before launching into said track.
Both Claypool and guitarist Larry LaLonde were also in fine form all evening. Getting to watch masters of their instruments up close and personal (Channel 24 has a capacity of under 2200 people) made for a level of intimacy and detail that audiences don’t often get of bands at this caliber. Sacramento was the only city to receive two consecutive nights of Primus in such an intimate setting on this tour, and for that we are quite grateful.
Photos from Thursday’s Show
(All photos copyright Tony Cervo)
