The Claypool Lennon Delirium 7/19/19

Claypool Lennon Delirium ticket

When Primus mastermind Les Claypool and the only son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono decided to form a band the results were out of this world. Being a Primus fan I already worshipped the bass playing of Les Claypool but was completely unfamiliar with Sean Lennon except in namesake. I do not remember exactly how I came to hear about this collaboration but do remember talking with Wayne about them to which he stated Sean sounds exactly like John did. I missed the duo’s last San Diego appearance in late December so when I caught wind of them rolling back through to promote their second album South of Reality and play the Music Box on a Friday I was ecstatic. It is not very often that I get to see a band that I have not previously seen and I had only been to the Music Box one other time way back when it was called Anthology.

After having a couple beers with Wayne and his friend at the nearby Crack Shack I ate the couple gummies I brought with me as we walked over to the venue. Once inside we grabbed a beer and headed upstairs to watch the opener Particle Kid from the side of the stage. The singer/guitar player had good energy but the music was completely foreign to me. To be fair it is rare that an opening band knocks my socks off which is why I am always trying to time my appearance to purposely miss the opener altogether.

As soon as Particle Kid went off we made our way down to stake a claim on the floor in front of the stage so we could get the full effect of the Lennon Claypool Delirium. We thought we were in good position but the crowd was filled with GIANTS and by the time we realized their existence all around us the floor was too full to move somewhere else without blatantly bulldozing people. I am 6’1” and there were several people in the crowd that had to be at least 6’8”. Ridiculous. This happened to be the weekend of Comic Con but save for a guy that looked like he was wearing a giant fork and a guy with lightning bolt glasses a la Aladdin Sane Bowie this did not appear to be the same crowd as Comic Con. All in all it was a good, respectful crowd as hardly anyone was on their phones. A novel idea I know, right? Come to a concert to actually watch the concert?!?

The Claypool Lennon Delirium achieved something that not every band can: presence. The four piece played in front of a trippy moving background of outer space, which was very fitting for the music they were playing. Backed by a hard hitting, top hat-wearing drummer that rocked Lemmy’s facial hair motif and a top hat wearing keyboardist, the chemistry between Sean and Les was undeniable. There was good banter between “Shiner” and “Kernel” and it was really special when they were both singing and acting the part of co-frontman. Sean wore a dark yacht captain style hat and demonstrated monster guitar wizardry on the same chrome Jaguar-type guitar throughout. Les was being Les and makes me question everything I think I know about how a bass guitar can sound each time I see him. Playing some kind of electric stand up bass with a violin bow at one point did not do much to change this.

The Music Box only holds about 700 people and those in attendance would probably all agree on how fantastic the show was. Les made a comment at one point about how great the sound was for them up on stage and about how this set was longer than usual for them – clocking in at 1 hour 45 minutes+, which explains why they laced their set with covers. From the opening cover of Pink Floyd’s “Astronomy Domine” I thought that this is what it would sound like if John Lennon had been the singer of Pink Floyd. Sean’s voice did sound eerily similar to John, which was on full display during the closing cover of the Beatles “Tomorrow Never Knows” despite his vocals being bathed in effects. It was at this point at midnight that I turned into a pumpkin so I could get home to wake at 5:30 for a 7:20 flight and missed the encore of Primus’ “Southbound Pachyderm.”  Damn!

SETLIST: Astronomy Domine, Cricket and the Genie (Movement I, The Delirium), Cricket and the Genie (Movement II, Oratorio Di Cricket), Little Fishes, Blood and Rockets: Movement I, Saga of Jack Parsons – Movement II, Too the Moon, South of Reality, The Court of the Crimson King, Breath of a Salesman, Boriska, Easily Charmed by Fools, Cosmic Highway, Boris the Spider, Cricket Chronicles Revisited: Part 1, Ask Your Doctor – Part 2, Psyde Effects, Like Fleas, Tomorrow Never Knows, Southbound Pachyderm

Ministry 7/21/17

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So yes I just saw Ministry less than two months before this at Blackest of the Black but this is Ministry we’re talking about here. I was ready to happily break my streak of never seeing them play at the same venue more than once but held off on buying a ticket until the last minute because as per usual I could not find anyone that wanted to go…even though it was on a Friday! I was clued in on a cool pre-show party for $50 where you could go listen to the entire new album AmeriKKKant (as of yet no official release date other than “Fall”) with the band. It was tempting but I decided against it because I figured that I would not really get to talk to them even IF the band actually showed up since everyone would be clamoring to chat them up. Back to the problem at hand: someone to go with. Lucky for me my friend Larry just moved back into town, loves going to concerts and agreed to go but he wanted me to buy his ticket and pay me back…which would be okay except he left me with an extra ticket to sell once before, has two children and shit happens. Ultimately I ended up finding two tickets on StubHub for $6 each ($10 with all service fees) so I just bought two and rationed that even if he did flake I would have only paid $20 for my ticket. Shortly after this purchase he did flake. I promptly replaced Larry with Tom after offering him a ticket at no cost. After meeting up with Tom at a brewery across the street from House of Blues I learned that Tom did not even know who Ministry was but agreed to go on my recommendation alone. Nice!

We went in just in time to see the last two songs of the opening band Ho99o9 (pronounced Horror) which was one of the few opening bands I have ever seen that made me wish we would have seen their whole set. I did not know what the fuck I was watching. It sounded like there were live guitars but it was just two MC’s and a drummer. At least we caught two of their songs.

Ministry killed it again and we secured a spot with a perfect vantage point to enjoy it. Rather than tell you about something you cannot truly appreciate unless you were there I will say thank you to the asshole that filmed the entire show and post the link to let you watch for yourself. I am still reeling from their choice to close with “Filth Pig.” Tom told me this was the “heaviest” concert he has ever been to. It is definitely not a show he or I will forget anytime soon.

SETLIST: Punch In The Face, Rio Grande Blood, Senor Peligro, Lies, Lies, Lies, Antifa, Waiting, Worthless, Bad Blood, N.W.O., Just One Fix, Thieves, So What, Psalm 69, Filth Pig

Corey Taylor 7/20/13

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As I was hung-over on a Saturday morning I was scrolling through Facebook and saw the words “Free,” “Acoustic Performance” and “Corey Taylor” together. After I felt a stirring in my loins I realized that the event was that night. Comic-Con was in town and Corey Fucking Taylor was there to promote the House of Gold & Bones comic series from Dark Horse Comics and give a solo acoustic performance at the DVD release party for “Evil Dead.”

A Saturday night in the Gaslamp during Comic-Con was an easy sell to Bob, Ken, Ingrid, Emma, Josh and Josh’s friend because downtown is a fun place just to people watch during Comic-Con. We arrived early enough to not be too far back in the line because entry was first come, first served and not guaranteed but when we got to the front the bouncer told us no dice and tried to give us some load of shit as to why we were not going to get in. After turning on the charm (having two beautiful women with us did not hurt) and a little sweet talk we were in. Not only were we about to see Corey Taylor play a solo acoustic set…for FREE…but it was also an open bar in a place that held maybe 120 people on a good day!

Corey came out and said, “Alright. What do you guys want to hear?” A guy yelled “Spit It Out” which made Corey laugh. He said, “Haha on acoustic? Shit. What would that sound like?” And then he actually played it, which made me laugh because it was such a riot. He also did a cover of “Blister in the Sun” by the Violent Femmes and a couple other songs then he was out the back door. The whole thing was very light-hearted and fun. He was pretty much there for a payday and who can blame him? “I’m playing my four songs that I am contractually obligated to play and I’m out.” It was fucking awesome.