Sunday Cinema: Les Claypool Covers Rush’s ‘The Spirit Of Radio’ At Jam In The Dam 2010

The passing of Rush drummer Neil Peart saw an outpouring of memories, thoughts and tributes from the music world and beyond for the extremely influential drummer and lyricist. One of those who was influenced by Peart and Rush was Les Claypool. Claypool and Peart had a lot in common: both deft lyricists, both percussionists (in that Claypool exhibits a very percussive style of bass playing) and both members of beloved power trios with massive cult followings.

So it was no surprise that Primus recently announced that they would pay tribute to Rush on their upcoming spring and summer tour by playing the latter’s landmark 1977 album A Farewell To Kings in its entirety at each stop. In fact, the tour is fittingly called “A Tribute To Kings.” Along with the announcement, Les also shared that Kings was the first Rush album he ever heard and that the album’s closing track, “Cygnus X-1,” was one of his favorite Rush songs.

But back in 2010 Claypool covered another Rush classic, “The Spirit Of The Radio” from 1980s’s Permanent Waves, during his set at the 2010 Jam In The Dam at the world-famous Melkweg in Amsterdam. Les prefaces the song by saying “We’re gonna throw a little something at ya that hasn’t really been thrown at but a few people” before launching into the opening strains of “The Spirit Of Radio.” Check out the performance for this edition of Sunday Cinema below: