A Perfect Circle - NYC gig review

:: A Perfect Circle
:: The Beacon Theatre, New York City
:: July 15, 2011, 8pm

The last time I saw A Perfect Circle it was at the rather awful North Shore Events Centre in Auckland.

Seeing them play at the Beacon was the opposite - a truly gorgeous venue that reminded me a lot of the St James. But in New York.

All-girl Japanese band Red Bacteria Vacuum opened, and despite a wonderful name, did not play particularly wonderful music (although fans around me disagreed). I imagine Maynard's rumoured interest in all things Asian may have clouded his judgement in picking an opening slot that actually sounded good. Still, they did have an awesome name... which they held up on placards at the end. Good on them.

A Perfect Circle opened with 'Annihilation', a track from their least popular "covers" album, eMotive. It saw Maynard whispering the lyrics and set the tone for a rather moody evening.

What else would you expect from APC?

It was also an evening set primarily around eMotive, an album of covers related to war and peace that was originally released as a sort of protest album during the George W Bush era. And I have to say while the album was disappointing, hearing the songs live was an absolute pleasure.

APC's rendition of ‘Imagine’ should have been awful, but wasn't: A dark take on one of Lennon's most well known songs. The industrial grind of the absurdly titled ‘Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums’ was also a standout, as was ‘Fiddle and Drum’, which saw Maynard singing practically unaccompanied by his band.

And that bring us to Maynard's voice: While the man was physically obscure, hidden in the back left corner of stop (in braids), his voice was neither hidden or obscured: High in the mix and sounding spectacular. This is something that's been missing from TOOL shows as of late, where you can barely hear the man. There's less pressure on his vocal cords with APC material, and it reminded everyone there how unique and soaring his voice can be. As he approached the climax of ‘Passive’, I imagine most of the audience (clearly huge fans - the people I sat with near the front had followed the band since day dot) broke out in goosebumps, and his refrain "Someday I will walk away and say you F**KING DISAPPOINT ME!" had everyone on jumping from their comfy chairs.

But it's not all about Maynard - after all, this is really Billy Howerdel's project, and both his guitar playing and singing are in fine form. Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha is back, my friend commenting that he was almost the splitting image of Oldboy. To my disappointment, Josh Freese was missing, replaced by some generic young guy with terrible drumming facial expressions. Josh Freese is a big drawcard for this project - his drumming with other bands like Nine Inch Nails, Weezer and Devo always stunning and fun to watch. The other main character on stage was the stage, outfitted in camo and giant ammunition shells giving the feeling of warzone: Albeit one with a giant logo in the background.

My view of the gig

There was no encore, Maynard using it as one of the few times to talk saying, "Just pretend we've gone and come back" before launching into a few more songs, including the "new" one, ‘By and Down’ - which sounded great. If Howerdel has more songs like that up his sleeve, then the next APC album should be solid, and possibly a return to form of Mer de Noms.

And that's my complaint about this shows: Mer De Doms content was lacking. Severely. And considering there's no denying this album is the band's crowning achievement, we only had ‘3 Libras’ (the remixed version, which was actually quite fun to witness live), ‘Orestes’ and ‘The Hollow’. Not enough, guys.

A Perfect Circle show with no ‘Judith’? Ridiculous. But then you get the feeling that was probably just Maynard doing what he does... screwing with us.

Setlist:
Annihilation
Imagine
Weak and Powerless
The Hollow
What's Going On
People Are People
The Outsider
Peace, Love, and Understanding
When the Levee Breaks
Blue
3 Libras (All Main Courses Mix)
The Package
Gimme Gimme Gimme
Orestes
Passive
Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums
Fiddle and the Drum
By and Down