Primus will pay homage to prog-rock legends Rush this summer with A Tribute to Kings, a cross-country tour that will feature the Bay Area trio playing Rush's classic 1977 album A Farewell to Kings in its entirety, in addition to their own music. The tour will make a stop at Vina Robles Amphitheatre on Friday, July 31 with special guests Wolfmother and Battles.
"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," says bandleader Les Claypool. "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. Years ago I had done something similar with Colonel Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, when we 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. Dubbing the tour 'Primus: A Tribute to Kings,' it was originally scheduled to be performed in the Fall of 2019 but, when we were asked to support Slayer on their Final Campaign, the 'Tribute to Kings' tour was postponed.
Geddy, Alex and Neil had been superheroes to Larry, Herb and I in our teens, 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.
The 'Tribute to Kings' tour will be just as it is implied, a respectful and loving tribute to three spectacular musicians, songwriters, legends and friends."
A special pre-sale, including VIP upgrade options, will go on sale tomorrow, Wednesday, February 19 at 10am local time. General public on sale is this Friday, February 21 at 10am local time. Ticket & show info at www.primusville.com/tour.