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Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com

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• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_01_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_12_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_11_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_07_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_02_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_05_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_10_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_03_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_08_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_04_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_09_fullsize.JPG
• Primus performed at the Michigan Theater Tuesday October 11, 2011. Jeff Sainlar I AnnArbor.com /calendar/photologue/photos/resized/cache/101111_ENT_PRIMUS_JNS_06_fullsize.JPG

Trying to make sense of a Primus concert is about as useful as trying to codify the band itself. And even if it could be done, what’s the point?

During a robust and muscular, nearly three-hour show at the Michigan Theater on Tuesday, the band was at the top of its many forms—funky, driving, playful and endlessly inventive.

But what was it exactly?

Like the band, Tuesday’s show was lots of things at once. It was equal parts rock show, mixed-media art installment, and tribal gathering, as the band’s fans danced and toked their way through the entire concert. In fact, it’s a safe bet there hasn’t been so much grass smoked in one place in Ann arbor since Hash Bash.

Like the concert, Primus is many things at once. And on Tuesday, all these various parts were on full display. At times the trio came across as a jazz band. At others, thanks to the insistent rhythm section of leader Les Claypool and drummer Jay Lane, the band can transform itself into a full-on power trio, as it did frequently on Tuesday. Throw in elements of reggae, jazz and psychedelic rock and you begin to get the idea of Primus’ range of styles and influences.

But on Tuesday the band came across as something less than the sum of its many influences and styles. Claypool and Lane don’t swing enough to appropriate jazz, and the pair is too restless to settle into a pocket long enough to find a groove worthy of a true jam band.

In fact, for all the complexity of Claypool’s compositions, it was when the band let its arrangements breathe a little that Tuesday’s best musical moments arrived. That was when guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde found room for several expansive, out-of phase guitar solos that were worth the price of admission.

Primus is indisputably a band of musical virtuosos. Claypool’s technique is impeccable, even if his riiffs sometimes becom repetitious. And Lane on Tuesday was a dervish on the drums, inventing and reinventing rhythms without ever letting tempos slide.

And LaLonde is endlessly inventive, both as a pure player an as a technician. His extended solo during the second set on Tuesday was amazing, as much for his guitar playing as it was for his manipulation of his expansive array of effects pedals. That he pulls off such experimentation without ever sacrificing musicality could be the lasting accomplishment of Tuesday’s show.

Still, the overall impression of the first set was that so much of the band's approach was about experimentation for its own sake and at the expense of the music. An intrusive light show—and incessant series of cut-up film loops and the looming presence of two inflatable astronauts on either side of the stage—did little to dispel this impression. However, the second or the two 75-minute sets was given over to the band’s newest record, “Green Naugahyde,” and the band appeared to embrace the newer, fresher material. Solos tightened up and the songs took center stage.

After a quick encore, the band was gone and, as the thunderous applause subsided, the questions remained.

On Tuesday, it didn’t really matter, as Primus delivered just exactly what its fans came to hear. Whatever that is.