I saw A Perfect Circle last November in Seattle at Showbox at the Market after their six-year hiatus playing their three albums in their entirety for three sold-out nights. One album a night and for the Mer de Noms show I attended, they also played two bone-chilling cover encores of David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Last night A Perfect Circle performed at SDSU Open Air Theatre to another packed group of fans of A Perfect Circle, Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, and the like. Prior to the band hitting the stage, the soundtrack of The Sound of Music soundtrack blasted as lead singer Maynard Keenan’s (singer of Tool and wine maker of Caduceus Cellars) sense of humor presented itself. The stage was wrapped in snakelike mesh with spurious ammo crate boxes as individual platforms for guitarist James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins), drummer Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails, The Vandals, Devo), and the Maynard. Former Tool guitar tech Billy Howerdel and bassist Matt McJunkins had the front of the stage and worked the energy as classic arena rockers. Maynard stayed in the back shadows but his caged tiger dance moves made me think he’d pounce at any point, especially at Iha.
The light show was spectacular and Maynard’s spellbound voice made me physically place my hand over my mouth out of shock from the beauty. A few songs sat me down with wide eyes and finger biting, especially during the overly powerful “Fiddle and the Drum,” which shut everyone up.
Though, I laughed a ton at this show. Other than Maynard’s dance moves, I got a kick during the duet of Depeche Mode’s “People are People” by Howerdel and Maynard when Maynard stopped singing to say, “I smell marijuana,” and then continued singing. Or during “Magdalena” changing “my Magdalena” to “my whale’s vagina” (thanks Anchorman). My personal favorite moment happened when I noticed a roadie walk onto the stage, grab a bag, and Maynard incorporated, “Please pass the pretzels,” in his song towards the roadie and the roadie came and gave him pretzels.
A Perfect Circle debuted “By and Down” during their concert in Portland, Oregon last month- which gives hope for fans for a new full length album. APC closed with “By and Down” and left the stage. No encore which amazed the crowd as “I Started a Joke” by the Bee Gees blasted into the summer night.
I made a playlist of the setlist on Spotify from the San Diego show
Annihilation
Imagine
Weak and Powerless
Rose
What’s Going On
People are People
The Outsider
Peace Love and Understanding
When the Levee Breaks
The Noose
3 Libras REMIX
Gravity
Gimme Gimme Gimme
Magdalena
Passive
Counting Bodies like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums
Fiddle and the Drum
By and Down
Rest of the tour stops of APC- even if you’re not much of a fan, they are a talented supergroup who will put on a jaw dropping show!
07/28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheater
07/29 – Sacramento, CA @ Memorial Auditorium
07/30 – Berkley, CA @ Greek Theatre
08/02 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
08/05 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
08/06 – Kansas City, KS @ Kanrocksas
08/09 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE
….. 8/1 Salt Lake City, UT @ Kingsbury Hall. Unless it was canceled and I wasn’t told!