Primus and Ween Honor South Park’s twenty fifth Anniversary: Assessment

The one factor anybody appeared to know going into final night time’s epic South Park birthday bash at Colorado’s Purple Rocks Amphitheater was that it was going to be wild and peculiar. In honor of the present’s twenty fifth anniversary, the present’s creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone introduced funk-metal band Primus and Ween collectively for 2 sold-out nights of comedy, mayhem, and singalongs.

They led a rousing “Uncle F**ka,” backed by each bands. The stage was adorned with cutouts of snowy South Park bushes, devices, a couple of garden chairs, and a cooler. Even Les Claypool appeared amused. “What the hell is goin’ on right here, man” the Primus bassist requested in some unspecified time in the future afterward. That was the vibe of the night time.

All through the present, Primus and Ween, plus Parker and Stone, traded performing and sitting onstage to observe their outdated mates from one of the best seats in the home. Mickey Melchiondo (“Dean Ween”) confronted down Claypool for a quick but thunderous guitar battle. “That is so cool,” he mentioned. Technically, the primary time Primus, Ween, Parker, and Stone shared a stage was within the Season Two episode “Chef Assist,” through which animated variations of Primus and Ween carried out units on the Stay Assist-inspired charity live performance to assist acquit the beloved Chef (voiced by Isaac Hayes).

Earlier than South Park first aired in 1997, Parker and Stone requested Primus to document the present’s now-iconic theme music. Final night time, whereas sporting the identical red-striped coat and navy slackers as his animated self within the present’s intro, Claypool carried out three completely different renditions of it: the unique, slowed-down model, the sped-up second recording, and the most recent and quickest one which options Claypool enjoying a jolting Whamola instrument. All of the whereas, stomping goofily across the stage.

The interchanging headliners gave the night time a type of variety-show pleasure. One minute we have been listening to songs from Ween’s The Mollusk, then The Guide of Mormon, then Primus overlaying Rush’s “Nearer to the Coronary heart.” Laughs crammed the venue whereas clips from South Park of Kanye West’s obsession with fish sticks and Butters hanging with Awesom-o have been projected onto the enormous boulders cradling the stage.

It wouldn’t have been a South Park occasion with out the probably too-far jokes and references (however it’s South Park, they will get away with it, proper?) The total-band rendition of Sheila Broflovski’s “Blame Canada” had a backdrop of the Canadian flag with an enormous pink X throughout it. Parker yelled “Joe Biden took our jobs!” within the notable South Park accent, which sounded extra like “Joe Biden tookerder!” (contemplating him and Stone’s lately signed $900 million deal which renews South Park for six extra seasons and 14 films on Paramount+).

The 2 emotional peaks of the night time have been because of Primus led by ringmaster Claypool, who carried out near-recording-sounding variations of “Too Many Puppies” and with assist from Stone voicing Butters throughout “Tommy The Cat.” The reward for these was solidified with chants of “Primus sucks!” from the group. Whereas Ween could have laid down a too-heavy wah-wah on an prolonged electrical “Voodoo Woman,” issues took a good stranger flip when Parker and Stone started closing the present dressed as royal courtroom performers throughout “The Ballad of Lemmiwinks.”

“It’s been a dream to have the ability to carry out at Purple Rocks,” Parker sentimentally gushed to the colourful mass of tye-dye-donning followers. And it simply made sense that the night time ended with a unending take of “Boogers and Cum,” and the encore adopted with Group America: World Police‘s “America (Fuck Yeah).”

“We have been simply going to have a celebration or one thing to have a good time,” Stone instructed the group of their preliminary plans to have a good time the large 25. And the largest celebration was the enjoyment of seeing a few of music and tv’s craziest dudes having a good higher time than their like-minded viewers.