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Les Claypool's Frog Brigade in Riverside

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Les Claypool's Frog Brigade
Long Beach Amphitheater — Long Beach, CA
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About Les Claypool's Frog Brigade

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade is the project where Praxis and Praxis-adjacent bass weirdness meets actual songs. Starting in the late 90s, Claypool gathered musicians who could keep up with his amphibian-fixated vision — people like Bryan Patrick Martin on drums and various rotating members including Gill Peled. The Frog Brigade treats improvisation like it's mandatory but not required to sound like free jazz. You get structured weirdness, the kind where "Brain to Mouth" somehow becomes a vehicle for both groove and chaos. Unlike Claypool's main gig with Praxis, the Frogs lean more towards maintaining songs while deconstructing them. The band's recorded output bounces between studio clarity and bootleg-quality live captures, which seems intentional. They've never cared much about smoothing the edges or making sense to casual listeners. It's jamming for people who actually want something to grab onto.

People stand around confused for the first two songs, then gradually realize they're watching something genuinely weird happen. Claypool's bass does impossible things. Crowds get quietly invested in where this is going. No mosh pits. Mostly just sustained attention and occasional bursts of recognition.

Known for The Big Eyeball in the Sky, Holy Mackerel, Brain to Mouth, Rhinosaur, Me in Honey

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade + Riverside

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade rolled through Riverside Municipal Auditorium in October 2023 with the kind of setlist that rewards the obsessives. They opened with "David Makalaster" and spent the evening ping-ponging between their own originals and ambitious covers—"Mirror in the Bathroom," a Pink Floyd quadruplet that ate up nearly a quarter of the show, "Tomorrow Never Knows," "Locomotive Breath." The band treated Riverside to deep cuts like "Thai Noodles" and "Phantom Patriot" alongside the kind of instrumental workouts that justify their reputation for controlled chaos. They closed it out with "Holy Mackerel," which felt less like a finale and more like a period at the end of a very long, very weird sentence.

Les Claypool's Frog Brigade in Riverside News

Live Music in Riverside

Riverside's music scene has historically skewed toward hip-hop and regional rap acts, but the city's venues have become increasingly friendly to progressive rock and experimental acts in recent years. The Inland Empire's proximity to Los Angeles means touring bands often hit the local circuit, and audiences here have shown genuine appetite for the kind of virtuosic weirdness that Claypool's Frog Brigade peddles. It's not a natural fit, but that's partly what makes it work.

Riverside road trip to see Les Claypool's Frog Brigade?

Stay in the Magnolia Center area near downtown Riverside, where restored historic buildings sit alongside new boutique hotels and wine bars—it's the only neighborhood that actually feels like somewhere worth spending an evening. Before the show, dinner at Duane's, a reliable California steakhouse with real cocktails and actual craft to the food. Spend your afternoon at the Riverside Metropolitan Museum or walking through the Mission Inn's sprawling Mission Revival campus—it's genuinely stunning architecture, the kind of thing that reminds you why people actually settled this part of California.

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