I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 17, 2025] Sessanta V.2: Primus, Puscifer, A Perfect Circle

II really liked Tool when they first came out.  Sober is one of my favorite songs of the 1990s.  I enjoyed the second Tool album and then was excited by A Perfect Circle, but I felt that the two bands were too similar. And I kind of lost interest in Maynard Keenan.  So I never knew anything about Puscifer.  When I heard the name I assumed they were like a hardcore/death metal band.  Which they are not.

My friend Doug is a huge fan, though, and he encouraged me to go to this show. I was mostly interested in Primus, but the more he talked about this show, the more I wanted to see the Maynard spectacle.  And it did not disappoint.

Before the show started, there was a video of Maynard in a hospital room.  He looked old and frail and was telling really dumb jokes trying to make a nurse laugh.

This tour package was designed to celebrate Maynard James Keenan’s 60-ish birthday celebration and it was designed to be a lot of fun.  The ad talked about all three bands being on stage and then being together as: Puscimus, Perfmus Circifer, and A Pripusper Circfermus.

The stage was designed in an industrial and very cool way.  Three drum sets sat on the top tier of the stage.  Stairs on either side led down to the stage level where guitars and vocals were.  It was very cool the way the bands could come and go from their gear at will.

Evidently, Maynard does not like recording devices at his shows.  Maynard opened the show with his earnest request that all phones and devices be put away in an effort to detach from distractions and fully immerse oneself into the musical experience. They also had videos showing that anyone who brought out a phone during the show would be ground into meat.  There was no evidence of people being ground up at our show.

The lights dimmed and the drummer for A Perfect Circle came out to his kit.  Then the rest of the band filled out below and they played three songs.  I only know the first album, and they played one from each of the other three.  But I really got into it. The bands sounded great and Maynard has a wonderful stage presence. 

I enojyed Disillusioned which did make me want to investigate A Perfect Circle more.

Then came Primus. The sound for them was pretty terrible.  In fact the rest of the guys I was with didn’t know Primus and didn’t come away all that excited by them.  But I was pretty delighted with the songs choices.  Groundhog’s Day and Shake Hands with Beef were super fun.  And Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread was a new song. This show was not the ideal way to hear a new song, but that’s what we get.

Then a shift as Puscifer took over.  I enjoyed them immediately and knew that they were my favorite Maynard iteration.  Puscifer featured Carina Round on vocals with Maynard and Mat Mitchell making all kinds of noise.  There was a drummer as well, although I’m honestly not sure who plays in what band at this point.

I have never seen Tool live–they are a high demand band and tickets are a premium.  But I’d also heard that Maynard lurks in the shadows at Tool shows.  And yet here he was not hiding at all.  Indeed, he was clearly having a blast.  While Maynard himself was not singing, he was on stage. Usually at the top right where they had a couch and some cake.  Indeed, all of the non-players were on the stage mostly just enjoying the show.

For the start of Act II, Primus was first.  They played a new song Little Lord Fentanyl.  And then surprised me with The Last Salmon Man, and Welcome to This World, a surprisingly deep cut.  And then they played the popular My Name is Mud.

Puscifer came out next, along with a ping pong table.  While Puscifer sang, other folks played ping pong on stage (and hit the ball into the audience at the end).  Maynard stayed on stage for the A Perfect Circle set.  And during one of the instrumental sections, Maynard and Les Claypool raced each other up the stairs in chair stair lifts.

There was a ten minute intermission.  There was a countdown on the screen along with more videos of Maynard as a patient in a hospital. He really enjoys the makeup, I’d say.  He clearly had a lot of fun.

Then Puscifer came back out for a few more songs.  Watching their set and seeing all of the fun that everyone was having made me wish that I had gotten closer tickets.  Maybe next time.

Primus played another new(ish) song Pablo’s Hippos and then played Too Many Puppies, which had the crowd go nuts.  It felt like Primus had the largest reactions from people.  But maybe that’s just because Maynard was on stage so much.

After the final set from A Perfect Circle, Primus came back out for one more song–Southbound Pachyderm–a jamming song that seemed to allow for the rest of the musicians to meander out.  During this track, Les wore a disco ball helmet that shined t which featured all three bands on stage throughout the arena.  After the song, everyone gathered on stage together to performed Puscifer’s “Grand Canyon.”  For this final song we were allowed to take pictures/vids so it was cool to have a document of the crazy night.

It was such a fun show and I knew I’d want to see Puscifer again (if not A Perfect Circle).  Puscifer did announce a new show in 2026 and I am super excited to see them.  I can’t wait to see Maynard and crew up close.

This was a fantastic birthday party and I’m so happy I was able to attend.

1. Act I: A Perfect Circle
2. Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums (A Perfect Circle song) £
3. Disillusioned (A Perfect Circle song) ⊆
4. Blue (A Perfect Circle song) β
   Primus
5. Groundhog’s Day (Primus song) ƒ
6. Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread (Primus song) ß
7. Shake Hands With Beef (Primus song) (tour debut) ß
   Puscifer
8. Man Overboard (Puscifer song) ¢
9. Tiny Monsters (Puscifer song) ¢
10. Indigo Children (Puscifer song) (Versatile Mix) ∑√
    Act II: Primus
11. Little Lord Fentanyl (Primus song) ∏
12. Last Salmon Man (Primus song) (tour debut) Ψ
13. Welcome to This World (Primus song) ¶
14. My Name Is Mud (Primus song) ¶
    Puscifer
15. Postulous (Puscifer song) ∅
16. No Angel (Puscifer song)
17. Bullet Train to Iowa (Puscifer song) ∅
18. The Algorithm (Puscifer song)
    A Perfect Circle
19. The Contrarian (A Perfect Circle song) ⊆
20. The Doomed (A Perfect Circle song) ⊆
21. Weak and Powerless (A Perfect Circle song) β
22. The Outsider (A Perfect Circle song) β
    Act III: Puscifer
23. The Humbling River (Puscifer song) (Versatile Mix) ≤∞∑
24. Polar Bear (Puscifer song) ≤
25. The Remedy (Puscifer song) $
    Primus
26. Pablo’s Hippos (Primus song) ‰
27. Too Many Puppies (Primus song) ƒ
    A Perfect Circle
28. The Noose (A Perfect Circle song) β
29. Kindred (A Perfect Circle song) ‰
30. Judith (A Perfect Circle song) ≅
    Primus
31. Southbound Pachyderm (Primus song) ©
    Puscifer, Primus, & A Perfect Circle
32. Grand Canyon (Puscifer song) $

‰ ‘SESSANTA’ – E.P.P.P. (2024)
A Perfect Circle – Kindred
Puscifer – No Angel
Primus – Pablo’s Hippos (featuring Maynard James Keenan)

A PERFECT CIRCLE
≅ Mer de Noms (2000)
β Thirteenth Step (2003)
£ Emotive (2004)
⊆ Eat the Elephant (2018)

PUSCIFER
√ “V” is for Vagina (2007)
≤ “C” Is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) EP (2009)
∞ Sound into Blood into Wine (2010)
¢ Conditions of My Parole (2011)
$ Money Shot (2015)
∅ Existential Reckoning (2020)
∑ V is for Versatile remix album (2020)
American Psycho comic soundtrack (2024)

RUSH-A Farewell to Kings (1977)
§ = Suck on This (1989)
ƒ = Frizzle Fry (1990)
≅ = Sailing the Seas of Cheese (1991)
¶ = Pork Soda (1993)
© = Tales from the Punchbowl (1995)
ß = Brown Album (1997)
⊗ = Antipop (1999)
Ψ = Green Naugahyde (2011)
7 = The Desaturating Seven (2017)
‰ ‘SESSANTA’ – E.P.P.P. (2025)
∏ = single (2025)