Live And In The Flesh
Les Claypool / Saul Williams - March 24, 2009 & 2012
My first show of 2009 was a big one. The Oddity Faire: A Mutated Mini Fest Tour was out making its rounds and there was no way that I could miss the stellar lineup! It consisted of Les Claypool, out performing some of his latest solo work, and one of my personal favourite hip hop artists, Saul Williams, as a supporting act, incredible. To round things out and to help get the night going were Secret Chiefs 3, which I was surprised to find out were past members of Mr. Bungle and Faith No More. They simply sealed the deal. You couldn't ask for a more diverse bill of pure talent! It didn't matter that the show was on a Tuesday night in Toronto and that we would have to take a couple of days off of work to make our way down to it; it was worth it! The group of us embarked on the all-too-familiar four hour journey into Ontario's capital.
We had plenty of time to spare before the doors opened up so we made sure to grab a bite to eat and a few drinks at a nearby pub before making our way over to the venue. They were playing at The Guvernment, the other half of the same building that the Kool Haus was apart of. I had been to a few shows at Kool Haus but hadn't managed to catch anyone at The Guvernment yet. With a few more levels to work with as opposed to the more standard warehouse style of Kool Haus, The Guvernment was able to hold a few thousand people, which seemed to be pushing it once everyone had made their way in.
Secret Chiefs 3 made their way up on stage dressed in black robes with their hoods up. The mystique that took the room over was awesome. No lyrics to any of their songs, just straight up instrumental jams pumping energy into the crowd to get everyone's senses flowing. They had even thrown in a cover of John Carpenter's Halloween theme song which was great. We couldn't have asked for a better way to start the show up. By the time their half hour set wrapped up we were fully charged and ready for the electricity of Saul Williams.
I had been lucky enough to catch Saul out on the road a couple of other times before this show; once opening for Nine Inch Nails in London, ON, and the other headlining a show at the MOD Club in 2008. Seeing him once was enough to hook me onto his live performances. There is something incredible about experiencing his passion firsthand and I can't seem to bear missing him anytime he's playing nearby. As soon as Saul took to the stage I could feel the energy in the room increase. Break / Coded Language, a mash-up between a track off of his latest album, and his debut Amethyst Rock Star had everyone fired up. Next thing you know he's surprising me with his track off of Nine Inch Nails' Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D album, Gunshots by Computer. Following that up with a few tracks from his self-titled release made it seem like he was just getting started! Grippo, Surrender (A Second to Think), and Black Stacey were all incredible to see. He treated us to a couple more songs from The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!, Tr(n)igger and Sunday Bloody Sunday before wrapping the eight song setlist up with his List of Demands (Reparations). It seemed like Saul was just getting warmed up! As much as I would have loved for him to continue on, I knew that we were still in for some pretty amazing jams with Les coming up next, as if the first two acts weren't already enough of a show!
The summer of 2008 we caught Primus live for the first time at Ottawa Bluesfest, and not even a year later we would see Les Claypool out on one of his solo runs. Given his numerous solo endeavours throughout the years (The Holy Mackerel, Frog Brigade, etc.), we were pretty certain that he wouldn't disappoint. Coming right out of the gates with a Primus track from the Brown Album, Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread, had everyone losing their minds. Working in plenty of new material from his latest Of Fungi and Foe album throughout his set helped tie the rest of the madness all together. Everyone up on stage had some sort of disguise on, which mainly consisted of some weird masks. Claypool on the other hand would switch his look up throughout the night, ranging from the pig from the Primus Mr. Krinkle video, to a Safari suit. Watching them all up there jamming was a site to see. Having the added percussion and cello up there really made for a uniqie vibe. We heard just about half of the new album live, along with a handful of Primus, Frog Brigade and Holy Mackerel tracks. David Makalaster was a definite highlight early on in the setlist along with the insane percussion battle before Mushroom Men. The jam that they had going for One Better, an Of Whales and Woe track was insane. They managed to work Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers and a teaser of Rush's Cygnus X-1 into the jam before wrapping up the regular setlist with Fisticuffs.
What would a show be without an encore? Claypool came strolling out with his banjo and they blew us away with Sailing the Seas of Cheese's, American Life, complete with a banjo solo, followed up with D's Diner to send us all home. The thirteen song setlist had blown us all away. What a way to finish off a night of three amazing musical acts! Les had impressed us so much that night that we had to make sure we made it out to his performance later on that same year, back in Ottawa for Bluesfest.
Three years to the day, we were back out on the road heading to see Saul Williams yet again! This time, our journey lead us into Montréal to la Tulipe, a venue that none of us had known anything about. Luckily for us the show landed on a Saturday night, which always made for a much more relaxed trip heading down the morning of the show and getting a room for the night, all without having to take any time off of work. We hadn't seen Saul since The Oddity Faire: A Mutated Mini Fest Tour with Les Claypool back in '09, and he had since released his fourth studio album, Volcanic Sunlight. We would even be getting a headlining set from him, all the more reason to make sure we didn't miss it.
That Saturday in March finally came and we all piled into our buddy's car to head into Montréal for the weekend. The group of us were all pretty familiar with the city by this point and knew where to go for the cheapest room for the night and the best local pints on tap for some pre-drinks. The energy that the city alone is able to provide each and every time is worth making the trip, let alone the amazing music we're lucky enough to experience while visiting. To have Saul Williams coming through for a show, certainly made the city feel that much more electric. We settled in after making the drive in, grabbed a bite to eat and made our way to the venue. With a capacity of less than a thousand, we knew we were in for a nice, intimate show; no better way to experience Saul Williams.
We weren't sure who Saul had lined up as an opener for the night, but we were pretty happy to learn of the young up-and-comer he brought along, Spoek Mathambo. His electro hip hop vibe certainly was a unique way to get the crowd warmed up and we hadn't really experienced much else like him before. We headed up towards the stage as soon as intermission hit and managed to get within ten feet from the elevated stage giving us the perfect view of everyone up there. CX KiDTRONiK made his way out first to get the show fired up with a bit of mixing as a bit of an introduction for Saul. Patience, and a few other tracks from Saul's latest album, Volcanic Sunlight, helped get the crowd going. Look to the Sun was probably one of my favourite tracks from the new album that he played. DNA came next, which was the only track from The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! that ended up on the setlist, which I was somewhat surprised about. Saul dipped back into a few more classics, dusting off Coded Language from Amethyst Rock Star and Surrender (A Second to Think), from his self-titled release. Those songs will never get old live. Saul made his way through more than half of his latest material while tossing in some other classics, Grippo, Black Stacey, before wrapping his regular set up with List of Demands (Reparations). Having the two percussionists up there with Saul and CX KiDTRONiK helped take their sound to a whole new level. The addition of the brass instruments simply made for a stellar performance. I love when artists are able to tie in all of these different sounds into their show.
His fifteen song set seemed to go by in a blink of an eye. It felt as though we had just experienced some sort of spiritual journey as we gathered our thoughts as the lights went up. I headed over to the merch booth and picked up the last copy of Volcanic Sunlight that they had, as he was heading back home to Paris the morning after the show. After we had finished collecting ourselves, we rallied up and headed out to continue yet another incredible night out in Montréal.