Hard rockers Mastodon and Primus had two very different answers to how to integrate their latest material into their set lists at Les Schwab Amphitheater on Saturday — with two very different results.

Primus, which reunited in the mid-2000s and has released three studio albums since 2011, performed last year’s “The Desaturating Seven” in its entirety as the bulk of its set. It’s the same approach the band took on tours for 2011’s “Green Naugahyde” — at the time the band’s first album in 12 years — and 2014’s “Primus & the Chocolate Factory with the Fungi Ensemble.” Mastodon went with a more traditional set, combining choice cuts from its previous six albums with seven (of 11) songs from last year’s “Emperor of Sand,” plus a track from its follow-up EP, “Cold Dark Place.”

Primus might want to take a cue from its tourmate on this one, judging from Saturday’s performance and the audience’s reaction to it. “The Desaturating Seven” is a fine Primus album — another set based on a children’s story (although unlike “Primus & the Chocolate Factory,” featuring all-original songs). And live, it sounded fine: Frontman Les Claypool’s bass lines popped and frizzle-fried like they usually do, and he and longtime guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde worked up their usual brain-melting, funkified magic on tracks, such as “The Seven” and the monstrous “The Trek.”

On previous tours, the band was able to devote a full set to its older songs, alongside a set featuring its latest album. But because it was sharing a bill in Bend, the trio had to ignore quite a large chunk of its classic material. A closing medley based around “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver” that ended with a few instrumental bars of “My Name is Mud,” arguably the band’s best known single, seemed especially egregious, and left many in the crowd audibly disappointed. (Although, Bend did get full performances of cuts such as “Wynona’s Big Brown Beaver,” “Mr. Knowitall” and “American Life,” which sounds more and more prescient each day.)

Mastodon, on the other hand, had this crowd in the palm of its hand from the first notes it played. Yes, the band opened with “Sultan’s Curse,” an “Emperor of Sand” song, and filled the back half of its set with “Emperor” songs, including the ridiculously catchy “Show Yourself” and epic show closer “Steambreather.” But the set had a balance and flow that Primus’ performance lacked, and nothing felt like an obligation: The band tackled older riff-fests, such as “Crystal Skull” and “Ghost of Karelia,” with the same ferocious energy as the new stuff.

Highlights included “Ember City,” with its harmonized guitars and bassist Troy Sanders’ anguished wail in the chorus, and “Toe to Toes,” one of the band’s most melodic songs. Drummer Brann Dailor was an instant standout — his unusual rhythm patterns took center-stage on “Precious Stones,” and his melodic vocals rose to the top on the very next song, “Roots Remain.”

(Side note: Lead guitarist and vocalist Brent Hinds seemed to be in a bad mood. He ended the band’s set by cursing out a fan in a Primus T-shirt up front for apparently yawning throughout the show, which seemed a bit extreme. A comment (possibly — or maybe hopefully — misheard) urging audience members to get their “white-ass, dirty … hands” in the air early in the set also raised eyebrows.)

— Reporter: 541-617-7814, bmcelhiney@bendbulletin.com