It's so hard to believe it's been eleven years since I last saw Primus! To see the lads again I'd do anything.
Including attending a metal festival for the first time! Sure, I'd wanted to go to Dynamo in my teens, but I went from not allowed to not allowed
to alllowed but cancelled due to food & mouth disease to allowed but shit that ticket's gotten expensive.
I have my favourites, and it's a genre I can listen to well even if it's not a favourite, but attending a metal festival is quite someting
else - especially if your main concert vibe is watching people playing brown instruments, where everybody is in their own seat and where the audience
coughs when the musicians are between sections.
Anyway, arrived some time while Necrot was performing, which sounded OK, then I went to explore the terrain and the market, bought a Primus T-shirt
with the Rhinoplasty guy on it (which goes great with my Europlasty shirt) and mused at the metal baby shirts, and several other metal stalls.
While watching the show we noticed how well-oiled the whole festival is. Props and drum kits are rolled on and off the stage smoothly, bands begin and
end at the exact time indicated, and there's always a band, either on one end of the ice skating rink, or the other.
Primus starts on the main stage at 18:25 and plays until 19:25, it becomes obvious during the day that very many people came expressly for them.
We move to the front after the previous band on the main stage, some Scottish band (checks: Bleed From Within) with a frontman who interjects more
four-letter words than a teen game vlogger, but who has such an adorable accent it's hard to believe.
"Are you having trouble understanding my accent? Then why are you so fooking quiet?"
We're in the third row, much towards the left - plenty of fans are already lining up and the place is filled back as far as I could see at the
start of the show. Next to me a young lad, about 14 or so, wearing a Primus shirt and already singing along. So nice to see younger people
appreciating them.
The audience gets sprayed with a water pistol regularly by one of the security persons - its hot hot hot, and before long, the monkey banners are
rolled up and at precisely 18:25 the cheery backtrack starts to play, and Ler comes on, harvesting many cheers, bursting into the familiar guitar
opening of Those Damned Blue Collar Tweekers! It's not long before hair starts flying and the crowdsurfing make things dangerous.
There is a LOT of crowdsurfing - I counted around 50 surfing incidents, including 2 where I have to push someone back up. My sister needs to lift
someone, gets entangled with her bank card and loses it. (she found it back an hour after the concert).
After Tweekers we're treated to a song I hadn't heard live yet - Antipop, which was good fun.
Les cackles and relates of their first time playing Dynamo Open Air - way back in 1991, now 35 years ago. At some point Les looked over at Ler, and
saw him lying and twitching on the ground - he had gotten an electric shock when approaching the microphone. He brings the incident up to this day, as
it was one of the scariest things that happened to him (all you rock stars out there, maybe it's a good idea to invest in a good pair of rubber
boots...)
We were treated to Too Many Puppies - always a crowd pleaser, and they went wild!
Up next came some music we didn't know yet - it sounded very Primus and a little like some older songs, but I couldn't make out any words I
can remember at the top of my head.
They also played Frizzle Fry, so that was great to sing along to.
Les walked off and came back up, with his upright and his pig mask. It's time for Mr Krinkle!
After some extatic Ler soloing, Les says: "He's still alive!" Audience cheers.
Les talks a little on how he and Ler got to meet upon spotting a Possessed shirt, and then mentions how great these festivals are, because you get to
meet people you haven't seen in a while. " He then introduces the singer to Death Angel, Mark, who sings Holy Diver (Dio) with the lads.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzBkZ6ZHz48
After this interlude it's back to the show with among others Welcome To This World, My Name Is Mud , then closing the gig with Jerry Was A
Racecar Driver.
And then they had to disappear, as it was 19:25, and the stage had to be un-chimped. Less than half an hour later, a giant bear was onstage. I had
gone home by then, but my sister said the bear was better than the band.