Primus with Ty Segall
Iroquois Amphitheater
Louisville, Ky
July 15th, 2025
Beloved American rock band Primus brought their Onward & Upward Summer Tour 2025 to Louisville on July 15th to a sold out crowd! This is the first tour with their new drummer, John Hoffman, who did an excellent job. Despite being a hot, muggy, and rainy day, fans lined up at the gate, anxious for doors to open. Once fans started heading into the venue, the line for merch formed immediately. As with previous stops on the tour, there was a limited addition tour poster available for purchase for 270 lucky fans! Primus has changed up their set list for each show, with this evening’s 15-song set having the fans on their feet and dancing and singing their hearts out. The band has such a diverse fan base, from hippies to metalheads to punks and everything in between and everyone was having a great time! They started out their set with the crowd favorite “Too Many Puppies”, from their 1990 debut studio album Fizzle Fry, and continued to perform a varied set list that spanned of their several albums.
The band was in good spirits this evening, with Les chatting quite a bit with the crowd between songs. He drew attention to Hoffman and talked a bit about the process they went through to find a new drummer and how when Hoffman made it to the semi-finals, one of the requirements was to go into the studio with Les and guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde to compose a song. They performed that song, “Little Lord Fentanyl”, to a delighted crowd. He later joked around with the crowd about how the band had been accused of not playing with the real Larry LaLonde, but had rather been touring the country with a Larry LaLonde hologram to save a few bucks. He went on to present to the crowd “the real Larry LaLonde” and mentioned how Larry had been given a Louisville Sluggar bat with his name on it and how he needed to earn that bat! He proceeded to shred on his guitar with Les saying, “Yep! That’s the real Larry!”. He also praised Hoffman, saying how he came into the band as a fan and infused it with a fresh energy and inspired them to play songs they might not normally play/think to play, saying “We probably wouldn’t be playing this next one if it wasn’t for him!”. They proceeded to play their Jerry Reed cover of “Amos Moses” from their 1998 EP of covers called Rhinoplasty. The crowd went especially wild towards the end of the set when the band performed one of their most popular hits, “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver”, and again during the band’s encore when they peformed “Tommy The Cat”. It was the perfect way to end the show, with the crowd floating off in a haze of bliss! Opening the show this evening with a burst of fun and energy was California rock artist Ty Segall. It was a great evening of music all around!
Ty Segall
Primus
