By Randal Hicks
The Chicago stop of the tour was near the end of a months long birthday celebration for one Maynard James Keenan. It was a wild night, and some may even say “magical.”
Three close knit bands came together to give a unique and memorable night of music to a sold-out show at Wintrust Arena. A Perfect Circle, Primus and Puscifer played 3-4 song sets and weaved between the bands for close to three hours. It was awe-inducing and set an interesting pace for the evening.
A Perfect Circle was the first to take the stage. They kicked off the night with The Package and lead into two songs from their latest release Disillusioned and The Contrarian. During The Package, Carina Round brought out a tray of what looked like birthday cupcakes. Maynard made some comments about them and looked like he tossed one into the crowd. Disillusioned was introduced with Maynard reminding the crowd that the night was phone free and really ties into the lyrics “Time to put the silicon obsession down, take a look around” that were forthcoming.
With seemingly no downtime, Primus was on stage and kicking into Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers, Too Many Puppies, Sgt. Baker and Follow the fool. Les Claypool and the group as whole really livened things up and got the crowd engaged. There is something about their rhythm that is just so easy to latch onto. For the entire night, I caught everyone bobbing their head in unison across the crowd any time Primus was playing. It was quite the sight to see.
Carina and Maynard came back out with Pusicfer taking the stage. There is just some kind of magic between these two. I can close my eyes and listen to their singing and harmonizing for hours. It is so hauntingly beautiful.
Back over to Primus, they played some fan-favorites. Jerry Was a Race Car Driver, My Name is Mud and Tommy the Cat. Instead of the cat being named Tommy, Les renamed him “Maynard” which fit really well in the lyrics.
During Puscifer’s next set a ping pong table was rolled out and Billy Howerdel (APC) and Tim Alexander (Primus) started to play. At some point Carina took a ball and hit it into the crowd. I can only assume she hit someone in the face because she mouthed an apology about four times before getting back to her part of the song.
What may be the best “set” of the night – A Perfect Circle playing The Hollow, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish, Weak and Powerless and The Outsider. The crowd was extremely warmed up at this point and singing along to every word.
Getting closer to the end, we had a brief intermission. Instead of a normal counter on the screens, we got to listen to Maynard and Carina act with Maynard dressed as an old person in a hospital-like setting. He made some really bad/funny dad jokes – the best of which was “What do you call a Bear without an Ear? – Bah….. Bah… with self laughter after each.” Puscifer’s final set was closed with The Remedy which had Maynard and Carina literally running back and forth across the stage. At the end Maynard wheeled out a Rock’em Sock’em Robots on a table and the two played a couple rounds. Carina won the first round and both lost at the same time in the second.
A Perfect Circles final solo set included Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums and Judith. Tim Alexander (Primus) joined in on drums for Counting Bodies. Both songs were loud and energetic and culminated their night perfectly.
Primus closed off the solo show with Southbound Pachyderm. Les’s bass playing is truly astounding here and something that everyone can stare in awe with.
The three bands all came on stage to play their Sessanta E.P.P.P – Three songs they all wrote for this specific tour. Also put on vinyl with each night having unique colorways. Pretty amazing concept for such a specific tour/event.
The final song of the night was Puscifer’s Grand Canyon. All three bands took part, with Les on an electric upright bass, and Maynard/Carina taking front and center singing. Matt McJunkins was also singing for this song. It wrapped the evening perfectly.
The night was a total success from all fronts. Merch for the show had some amazing posters for each band and the tour itself. I know I will be hanging some of them in my house. The music was spot on. Everyone was on their “A” game. I think being on the tail-end of the tour gave us a more precise/practiced show. I know it is a longshot, but maybe we will see something similar for Maynards 70th Birthday Bash?
Photo Gallery : Sessanta “Primus, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle” – Wintrust Arena (05.01.2024)
