Primus will pay homage to one of their idols by performing Rush's A Farewell To Kings in its entirety across North America.
Earlier this year, one of rock’s greatest icons, Rush drummer Neil Peart, died at the age of 67, after a three-year battle with brain cancer. Now, Rush fans and alt-metal pioneers Primus will pay homage to Rush by covering their 1997 album A Farewell to Kings in its entirety on their upcoming summer tour, dubbed A Tribute To Kings.
"A little over one year ago, Ler LaLonde and I started kicking the idea around of Primus performing a series of shows featuring an iconic Rush album from our youth," Primus frontman Les Claypool said in a Facebook post. "Being that A Farewell to Kings was the first Rush record I ever heard, and that it contains my all-time favorite Rush tune, Cygnus X1, the choice narrowed quickly.”
Primus’s Rush tribute tour was initially supposed to take place in the fall of 2019, but after Primus was offered a spot opening up for Slayer on their final U.S. dates, the band decided to postpone the tour. They did get to cover a little bit of Rush during that trek, playing Cygnus X-1 Book I from A Farewell to Kings during their set.
“We had started learning the tunes,” Claypool told Rolling Stone. “And I throw in the Cygnus bass teaser every now and then throughout the years. That’s the thing about Rush tunes: The three of us tend to know lots of bits and pieces but very few entire songs because it’s fuckin’ Rush; it’s just hard. So it’s always been a common ground for the three of us. In fact, I remember when the three of us first got together, that was one of the things we bonded on as we sat there and jammed on bits and pieces of Rush songs. So the notion of doing the Slayer thing and doing even more of Cygnus seemed like a fun thing to do, so we did it.”
It’s no secret that Claypool is a huge Rush fan, and that he and his bandmates have a history with the Canadian hard rockers. Claypool said that his first show was seeing Rush during the Hemispheres cycle. Primus even opened for Rush on their Roll the Bones Tour in 1991 and 1992. When Rush was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010, Claypool performed a cover of The Spirit of Radio. Rush vocalist Geddy Lee returned the favor by performing onstage with Les's other band, the Claypool Lennon Delirium, last year.
“Geddy, Alex and Neil had been superheroes to Larry, Herb and I in our teens,” said Claypool. “So when we all became pals while touring together in the early '90s, we were pretty delighted; partially because of the musical geek-out factor, but mostly because the three guys whom we had admired so much from afar, turned out to be truly great, down-to-earth humans, and like us, a tad eccentric.”
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The full list of dates is below, and includes this year's Bonnaroo Festival. Primus will be joined by Wolfmother, along with The Sword and on select dates. Pre-sale and VIP will be available February 19 at 10am local time, with general admission going on sale February 21 at 10am local time. Tickets will be available at the band's purchase portal.
With Wolfmother and The Sword:
May
26 Irving, TX — The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
27 Houston, TX — Revention Music Center
29 Austin, TX — ACL Live at the Moody Theater
30 New Orleans, LA — Saenger Theater
June
1 Asheville, NC — ExploreAsheville.com Arena
3 Orlando, FL — Hard Rock Live Orlando
5 Atlanta, GA — Coca-Cola Roxy
6 Charlotte, NC — Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheatre
7 Raleigh, NC — Red Hat Amphitheater
9 Cincinnati, OH — PNC Pavilion
10 Columbus, OH — Express Live! – Outdoor
15 Richmond, VA — Virginia Credit Union LIVE!
16 Baltimore, MD — MECU Pavilion
17 New York, NY — Beacon Theatre
19 Philadelphia, PA — The Met Philadelphia
20 Asbury Park, NJ — The Stone Pony Summer Stage
21 Essex Junction, VT — Midway Lawn at Champlain Valley Exposition
23 Boston, MA — Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion
24 Wallingford, CT — Toyota Oakdale Theatre
26 Sterling Heights, MI — Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
27 Cleveland, OH — Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica
28 Pittsburgh, PA — Stage AE – Outdoor
30 Toronto, ON — RBC Echo Beach
With Wolfmother:
June
12 Manchester, TN — Bonnaroo Arts And Music Festival
July
2 Lafayette, NY — Beak and Skiff Apple Orchards
3 Westbrook ME — Main Savings Pavilion at Rock Row
With Wolfmother and Battles:
6 Indianapolis, IN — The Amphitheater at White River State Park
7 Milwaukee, WI — BMO Harris Pavilion
8 Minneapolis, MN — The Armory
10 Chicago, IL — The Chicago Theatre
11 St Louis, MO — Saint Louis Music Park
12 Kansas City, MO — CrossroadsKC
14 Denver, CO — The Mission Ballroom
15 Salt Lake City, UT — The Complex
17 Berkeley, CA — Greek Theatre
18 Los Angeles, CA — Greek Theatre
19 Las Vegas, NV — Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort
21 Boise, ID — Outlaw Field at Idaho Botanical Garden
23 Bonner, MT — KettleHouse Amphitheater
24 Redmond, WA — Marymoor Park
25 Troutdale, OR— Edgefield
28 Spokane, WA — Riverfront Park Amphitheater
29 Bend, OR — Les Schwab Amphitheater
31 Paso Robles, CA — Vina Robles Amphitheatre
August
1 San Diego, CA — Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre at SDSU
2 Phoenix, AZ — Arizona Federal Theatre
