Les Claypool Revives Fearless Flying Frog Brigade for Tour

The Colonel is back, as Col Les Claypool and the Fearless Flying Frog Brigade take to the skies once more. 

(Image credit: Jim Bennett/Getty Images)

While not the original lineup, Claypool has brought in some high profile friends and will be playing again live with two sets of material, the second of which being Pink Floyd's Animals in it's entirety again. The tour takes it across with country with some killer opening acts (including RtBE fav Fishbone). 

RtBE are big Frog's fans, still listening to the the two live releases and the studio album Purple Onion often. I was lucky enough to catch a few stops on the original tour, including Irving Plaza and House of Blues Las Vegas, so I have seen Animals live and it is a good time. This tour should be a tripped out adventure as well.  

Tickets are on sale now and to get in the mood, here is some music from the OG Frog Brigade: 

Full Show Friday: Col Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade 7/11/03 Vic Theater Chicago, IL

We search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts and post them to the site weekly, come back every seven days to help us celebrate Full Show Friday's.  These shows are of varying quality and may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every which way, but especially by seeing them live (if they are still playing)...This week...Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade!

We are focusing all month on the freaky magic of Les Claypool and his assorted, amazingly weird side projects. This week Fearless Flying Frog Brigade!

The first incarnation of CCFFFB still ranks as some of our favorite live concert experiences. It was capturing lighting in a bottle as Les was free from Primus which he was souring on and exploded into the jamband realm while keeping his power. He introduced tons of new players to the scene and added some much needed energy. If you haven't heard the two live releases, you should buy both.  As well as Purple Onion, a very underrated disk. Hell, buy all three.

This show comes from the second (or third?) go round as the Frogs and while not the classic original lineup it is still a hell of a night from Chicago's Vic Theater. The set list and players are below, so enjoy our final installment of this monthly series focusing on Les Claypool's side projects. Hope you had as much fun as we did re-living some of that kookie guys groups.  

Enjoy:

Setlist:
Thela Hun Ginjeet
Ding Dang
Long in the Tooth
Hendershot
Monkey Boy
Highball with the Devil
Drums
Highball with the Devil
Running the Gauntlet
2000 Light Years from Home
Cosmic Highway

Encore:
David Makalaster I
Whamola

- Cygnus X-1 tease during 2000 Light Years from Home
Lineup:
Les Claypool - Bass
Brian Kehoe - Guitar
Skerik - Saxaphone
Mike Dillon - Percussion
Paulo Baldi - Drums

Live Review: Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade - 6/23/23 Capitol Theater, Port Chester, NY

Hey all, got a review up @glidemag which you can read Right C'here!

It is of the recent Les Claypool Fearless Flying Frog Brigade show on Friday night at the Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY.

A great show all around, it is amazing that I first saw the band during their debut tour back in 2000 at Irving Plaza. 

Support the band, catch them live, read the review and peep some video below:

(This was of the following night in Westbury):

Primus to play Wonka Inspired NYE Show

With Halloween here, the New Years Eve Show announcements are in full swing as tickets are being bought, plans are being made and rocking into the new year is not that far off on the horizon. While there are some intriguing local things we may or may not partake in, so far our to our eyes the best looking gig will take place on the left coast.

RtBE fav's Primus will be playing a show in Oakland's Fox Theater, and this isn't just any old gig for the band, they are bringing back Herb for this one and that is GREAT news. Also coming along for the tripped out ride will be some sort of Frog Brigade reunion and all of this will have a Willy Wonka inspired theme. Jesus kids are going to be losing their trippin' minds out there. 

A quick side note, dressing as Wonka was one of the finalists for Halloween Costumes this year...we will be dressing up tomorrow....but back to NYE. I don't think we will make that one, but we are hoping for some good live audio, and maybe some visuals to trickle back our way come the new year. Here is some live old Primus with Herb, some live Frogs, and some Wonka, cause Why not?
Primus "Tommy The Cat" and "Sgt. Baker" Love Les's Steal Your Face Shirt...

Col Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade (Herb on drums here too) "Thela Hun Ginjeet" King Crimson Cover:

Album Review: Colonel Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade - Return of the Live Frogs: Volume 1

 Hey all, got a review up @glidemag which you can read Right C'here.

It is of Colonel Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade - Return of the Live Frogs: Volume 1 

Full Les Claypool Fearless Flying Frog Brigade Concert!

So now every month we will search the murky back waters of youtube to find full concerts posted to the channel.  They may not be here for long so enjoy them while you can...As always, please support the artist every way you can but especially by seeing them live...This month...Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade!!!!

A few months back I posted a Primus show that is pretty killer, but this time I wanted to focus on Les's Hippie edge.  Back in 2000-2001 Les caught lighting in a bottle with this lineup, this set of players and these tunes. Skerik in particular is fantastic here.   This show was captured when the band was co-headlining with Galactic on the the Icicle tour.  We here at RtBE saw them in NYC and Philly for this run and still remember those nights fondly, the quick turnaround to AC post Philly still makes me laugh.  Anyway.... 

The visuals aren't pro, but the sound is perfect, so enjoy this Frogs show from 2-23-2001 Atlanta.  


Setlist:
Thela Hun Ginjeet
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
With a Little Help from My Friends
Shattering Song
Highball with the Devil
Pigs (Three Different Ones)
The Ol' Diamondback Sturgeon Tease > Hendershot
2000 Light Years from Home
Whamola
Hair
Riddles Are Abound Tonight

Album Review Primus - A Handful of Nuggs EP

Primus 

A Handful of Nuggs EP

**and 1/2 out of *****

Before going out on his Claypool Gold Tour this summer, Les Claypool released a double album with Sean Lennon, an EP with his Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, and this EP, A Handful of Nuggs from Primus, so that each act on the bill would have new material to display on stage. Primus is Les' main squeeze, but out of the three, it got the shortest shrift, as there isn't a whole lot to dig into. 

The Grateful Dead in Saratoga Part V: The Encore 8-1-2004

Originally I had planned to only do Grateful Dead shows in this Monday's project, but as it turned out I started a theme with this Saratoga August thing and of course this year there had to be 5 Monday's in August with the problem being the Grateful Dead only played Saratoga 4 times in their career.  So what to do?  I am dipping into one of the post Jerry incarnations of the group for today's show, but first a bit on the weekend...

Had an amazing time up in Saratoga this weekend with family, friends, horses and happenings.  Thanks to everyone who made it up and out, I certainly had a blast and Travers Weekend is consistently one of my favorites of the year.  I didn't do so well on the horses, just hitting one true winner on Friday, but I also didn't bet heavily at all this year.

 In the closest Travers Race in my memory Afleet Express won literally nosing out Fly Down in a photo finish!  I stuck with my initial feeling betting on A Little Warm who ended up being 5th.  An exhilarating race that couldn't have been any closer.  Maybe I will post some pictures from the weekend in the future, but now onto the show.

Today's we travel not to far back in time, only to  8-1-2004 Saratoga Performing Arts Center. It finds "The Dead" on their 2004 Summer Wave That Flag Tour, and I was lucky enough to be sitting up in the grass with some friends and family on this night:

Year In Review 2023 - Favorite Live Shows

The live show is a slippery thing. There are lots of variables at play, most having little to do with the performance itself. Does the venue have enough bathrooms? Is it going to rain? What day of the week is it on? Did I have a shitty day at work before hand? Did tickets cost waaay too much? All of this can alter one's opinion of a live show before the band even tunes up and with reason. However, when the stars align, there is no place RtBE would rather be than in the moment of magic occurring spontaneously from the stage.

Live Music Has No Equal!

Taken By The Fantastic Megan Donohue

While obviously we can't see every show that is out there, we try to get out often to catch live music. Sure there are a few left in the calendar year, but for now, here is a listing of the best concerts we were fortunate enough to have caught in 2023.

There are links to show reviews in the titles, also because who doesn't love arbitrary rankings, one show at the bottom took the top prize as RtBE's 2023 Favorite Live Show. 

Live Review: Claypool Gold - 6/12/26 SPAC Saratoga, NY

Hey all, got a review up @glidemag which you can read Right C'here.

It is of the recent live show, Claypool Gold.