(IMAGE: Primus By: Robert Bejil Productions. Source: flickr . License: by | //creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ )
From the Czech Republic to Bristol; new drummer, old fortresses, and an Evening With one of rock’s most enduring weirdos
On February 25, 2026, Primus officially confirmed what their European fanbase has been waiting nearly a decade to hear; they are coming back. The band has announced a full UK and European headline tour running from July 31 to August 21, 2026, and it is their most significant international undertaking in years. It is also their first major tour abroad with new drummer John Hoffman, and that alone makes it worth paying attention to.
CKDS Radio breaks down the dates, the venues, the history, and why this tour matters far beyond a standard summer run.
The Dates: Mediterranean to Manchester
The tour opens on July 31 at Circolo Magnolia in Milan, Italy, and moves quickly through Central and Eastern Europe before settling in the United Kingdom for its final week. The itinerary is a smart mix of headline club shows and festival anchor slots, putting the band in front of both their dedicated following and curious new audiences at the same time.
Continental dates
UK dates:
The Shows Worth Knowing About
Brutal Assault, Czech Republic (August 7)
This one is genuinely fascinating. Brutal Assault takes place inside the historic 18th-century Josefov Fortress and is primarily an extreme metal event. Primus have not played it in 15 years. Their return puts a technically gifted but deeply odd art-rock band in the middle of an industrial-grade metal environment; and it works precisely because Primus have always occupied that boundary between alternative weirdness and heavy complexity. Expect an interesting crowd.
O2 Forum Kentish Town, London (August 19)
The London stop is an “An Evening With” show at the O2 Forum Kentish Town; a 2,300-capacity Art Deco venue (originally opened as a cinema in 1934) that sits perfectly in scale for where Primus are right now. Large enough to feel like an event, intimate enough for the band’s surrealist visuals and high-fidelity bass work to land properly. Tickets go on general sale Friday, February 27 at 10:00 am, with O2 Priority and artist presales already live from Wednesday, February 25. Note that under-8s are not admitted; under-14s must be accompanied by an adult and seated in the balcony.
ArcTanGent Festival, Bristol (August 21)
The tour closes at ArcTanGent, and this is arguably the most culturally fitting booking of the entire run. The Bristol festival is built around math-rock, post-rock, and progressive sounds; essentially the intellectual neighbourhood Primus helped build in the first place. Festival organiser James Scarlett has publicly said that getting Primus to headline has been a long-standing goal. The band will close out their European chapter on the stage that suits them best.
Who Is John Hoffman; and Why Does It Matter?
In October 2024, Tim “Herb” Alexander, the drummer who defined the classic Primus sound, resigned. The band described it as a “complete shock.” Alexander cited a loss of passion and the need to focus on his health; a reminder that the grind of professional touring has real costs.
What followed was one of the more unusual drummer searches in recent memory. Primus opened an audition that received over 6,200 applicants. The shortlist included established names like Thomas Pridgen and Nikki Glaspie. The person who got the job was John Hoffman; known locally as “the busiest drummer in Shreveport, Louisiana,” playing over 250 gigs a year and building a YouTube following through complex covers of TV themes and experimental material.
Early reviews of Hoffman (nicknamed “Hoffer”) from the 2025 “Sessanta” and “Onward & Upward” tours have been positive. Where Alexander was described as technically precise and neo-classical in approach, Hoffman brings something more organic and groove-centric; reviewers noted the band sounding more like a jazz outfit during improvisational stretches. He has also publicly committed to playing everything in the catalogue, including tracks previous drummers reportedly avoided. That attitude has gone down very well with the fanbase.
The 2026 European tour is Hoffman’s formal introduction to the international audience. It matters.
The Bigger Picture: Claypool Gold and What Comes Before Europe
The European run does not exist in isolation. It follows directly from the North American “Claypool Gold” tour (May 20 to July 4, 2026); a conceptual undertaking that brings together three of Les Claypool’s major projects: Primus, The Claypool Lennon Delirium, and Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade. All three bands share the stage in a fluid, rotating format, which functions as an extended rehearsal and creative warm-up ahead of the more tightly focused European headline dates.
The Claypool Lennon Delirium also released a new single in February 2026; “WAP (What A Predicament),” described as a meditation on morality and artificial intelligence. Claypool’s satirical instincts are clearly as sharp as ever, and those themes are likely to surface in some form when the band reaches European stages in late summer.
By the time Primus land in Milan on July 31, they will have spent the better part of three months performing together in various configurations. The band that arrives in the UK will be road-hardened, creatively loose, and ready.
For the Uninitiated: A Very Brief History of Primus
Formed in El Sobrante, California in 1984 (originally as Primate), Primus became one of the genuinely strange success stories of the early 90s. The “classic” lineup; Les Claypool on bass and vocals, Larry “Ler” LaLonde on guitar, and Tim Alexander on drums; emerged in 1989 and released a run of records between 1991 and 1993 (Sailing the Seas of Cheese and Pork Soda) that reached platinum certification and high Billboard chart positions while sounding like nothing else on radio.
They were described at the time as “the strangest top-10 band ever,” which is both accurate and explains their enduring appeal. Rooted in Frank Zappa’s absurdist sensibility and post-punk energy, they have never chased trends and have never entirely gone away. Conceptual albums like Primus and the Chocolate Factory (2014) and The Desaturating Seven (2017) prove the creative engine is still running.
The band’s unofficial motto; “Primus Sucks”; began as a chant from their own devoted fanbase. Four decades in, it remains one of the more affectionate things an audience has ever said about a band.
Perhaps the most lucrative “favor” in rock history, Primus recorded the iconic South Park theme after Matt Stone, a huge fan of the band’s debut album Frizzle Fry, dug through the CD liner notes for management contact info and mailed a copy of the short film The Spirit of Christmas alongside a letter and a budget of roughly $74.
Les Claypool and the band found the film hilarious and agreed to do it essentially for free, despite Claypool believing the show had “no way in hell” of making it to television. The recording process itself became its own saga: Comedy Central deemed the original version too slow, and since Primus was on tour, Matt and Trey simply sped up the tape, only to find Claypool’s vocals now sounded like a chipmunk. The solution? Parker and Stone showed up at a tour stop with a handheld tape recorder and had Claypool re-cut the vocals on the spot.
That sped-up version became the iconic intro, while the original slower recording lives on in the end credits. The decision to do it for free turned out to be one of the band’s most profitable ever, drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia has called it his biggest source of royalty income, and Claypool has said it put his kids through college.
Should You Go?
Yes. The “Evening With” format means a long setlist across two full sets with no support acts to sit through. Hoffman’s arrival has given the band a new gear; more organic, more improvisational, more willing to dig into the full catalogue. And for UK audiences, this is a rare chance to see one of rock’s most stubbornly original acts in properly sized rooms.
General tickets for the UK dates go on sale Friday, February 27 at 10:00 am. For the London show at O2 Forum Kentish Town; grab them at Ticketmaster. For everything else; check Primusville.com.
CKDS Radio | Live Music and Touring News | February 2026
