[ATTENDED: April 12, 2019] The Claypool Lennon Delirium
Nearly two years and a half years ago I saw The Claypool Lennon Delirium at the Fillmore. Once again, this year they were playing the Fillmore. But it was on a night that T. was doing a school play. There is no way I would choose Les Claypool over my daughter, so I didn’t get tickets. Then they moved her play to Thursday instead. I could go!
But then WXPN announced that The Claypool Lennon Delirium would be doing a Free at Noon. And that seemed like the best of both worlds–I’d get to see the band and it wouldn’t be a) at night or b) at the Fillmore (which was too big and crowded for me when I saw them). I said I’d never do another Free at Noon because I basically had to take off four hours of work to do it, but for these guys it was a no-brainer and totally worth it.
And really, who doesn’t like to take off four hours of work.
Last time I was in front of Les which I thought was good, but I wound up not being able to see him very well because of the way he stands. So for this show, I chose the other side, in front of Sean. It was a perfect spot–I could see both of them very clearly. World Cafe Live is better lit, too.
They came out and opened with “Astronomy Domine” from their covers EP. (Imagine if Voivod had played it last week, too). Their version was great, with everyone singing the vocals. The trippiness factor was elevated high with Pete Drungle playing some awesome keyboard parts and Paulo Baldi on drums. All four band members wore hats, but really only the front two were clearly visible from where I was.
Obviously I am a Claypool fan (unlike the tall fellow in front of me who didn’t know who Les was… His friend had to tell him that Les was in Primus and then say who Primus were! How dare he be in front of anyone?). But I have also really liked Sean Lennon’s work. He brings a great psychedelic factor to his singing and guitar playing. It was really cool to see him up close jamming and singing. He did some cool solo work on the lengthy “Blood and Rockets.”
During the second movement of the song, they brought out Les’ upright bass and he bowed the bass while singing the ending section.
Les told us “I tend to not know what he hell is going on most of the time. We were told we were doing this little radio thing. I thought, oh we’ll be setting up in studio. I get here and …what the hell’s this?”
From there they played “South of Reality” which has such a cool very-Les-Claypool bass riff. It’s one of my favorite songs on the new album and sounded great.
The went back to their first album with a great version of both parts of “Cricket and the Genie” (Movement I, The Delirium) is a wonderful song from the first album–there’s some great bass lines from Les and a major psychedelic element from Sean.
They followed this with the very-Primus-sounding “Breath of a Salesman” (he even does the Les bass playing dance) The main slappy bass and Les’ delivery is straight outta Primus, but Sean’s “la la las and more” change it from an exclusively Primus-sounding song. Les also tends to use a second microphone to distort his voice even more. Which I enjoyed in this part of “Salesman.”
A 45 minute show is probably a tough setlist to create, especially if most of your songs are around 6 minutes long. But the allowed for some jamming and improv, with a terrific bass solo. I could have watched that for ten minutes.
They ended the set with two songs from the new album “Easily Charmed By Fools” and the continuing saga of Cricket, with parts one and two of “Cricket Chronicles Revisited.”
Last time, Les and Sean weren’t very chatty or playful. But this show they were and they both seemed to be having a lot of fun.
I was a little surprised that they didn’t do an encore for us (I believe that is customary). They also didn’t really say goodbye exactly–it just sort of ended.
But the whole performance felt so intimate, in a way that last year’s show never achieved. I didn’t feel compelled to see them again that night. But if they do come back again, I might just have to go.
I see that they are no touring with The Flaming Lips–a perfect combination, if you ask me–but we’re out of town when they play New Jersey. Bummer!
SETLIST (with artwork from Les, I gather)
- Astronomy Domine
- Blood and Rockets: Movement I, Saga of Jack Parsons – Movement II Too the Moon
- South of Reality
- Cricket and the Genie (Movement I: The Delirium, Movement II: Oratorio Di Cricket)
- Breath of a Salesman
- Easily Charmed by Fools
- Cricket Chronicles Revisited: Part 1, Ask Your Doctor – Part 2, Psyde Effects
That evening they played at the Fillmore and this is the setlist that I see they played. So I saw half of the full show. Last time I saw them, they played King Crimson’s “Thela Hun Ginjeet” instead of “Court.” And, it is by now common knowledge that Geddy Lee came out on stage in Toronto to play “Tomorrow Never Knows” with them. That did not happen in Philly, so I feel like I didn’t miss anything major.
Instead I missed out on openers UNI and/or White Denim, but I got a great set and a great experience.
Plus my last few Fillmore experiences haven’t been the best. Half a set for less grief was a great decision.
Fillmore Setlist
- Astronomy Domine (Pink Floyd)
- Little Fishes
- Cricket and the Genie (Movement I, The Delirium)
- Cricket and the Genie (Movement II, Oratorio Di Cricket)
- South of Reality
- Blood and Rockets: Movement I, Saga of Jack Parsons – Movement II Too the Moon
- The Court of the Crimson King (King Crimson)
- Mr. Wright
- Amethyst Realm
- Easily Charmed by Fools
- Breath of a Salesman
- Cricket Chronicles Revisited: Part 1, Ask Your Doctor – Part 2, Psyde Effects
- Tomorrow Never Knows (The Beatles)
encore - Southbound Pachyderm (Primus)
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