By Darshun
May 11th, 2014, The Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA: Wow, just WOW. Last night was incredible. Tool/A Perfect Circle/Puscifer mainman Maynard James Keenan took over the Greek Theatre to celebrate his 50th birthday. The event, christened ‘Cinquanta’, will be the most memorable 50th birthday ever. It’s no wonder the tickets went on sale 6 months before the event—to buy stock on the stock market to gain more money to fund these wonderful nights. NOTE: the tickets were expensive and I could only afford the second night of Cinquanta. From what I heard from a good friend that attended the 1st night, three-fourths of TOOL played one song, which was their first single that will remain a favorite even among mainstream audiences, “Sober”.
To start off the day, I got to the Greek a bit early to meet some friends in the hope of a picnic, which fell through as it was a last-ditch effort. BUT, I must say, sitting close to the Greek Theatre while soundcheck was happening was a precursor treat. The songs I heard outside were: “The Nurse Who Loved Me (Failure)”, “Weak and Powerless (A Perfect Circle)”, Maynard’s son Devo playing a long cello solo just to perfect the tones from his instrument, which was awesome, and a Puscifer song which I’m not familiar with.
Gates opened around 6 PM and I raced to the merch area. Merch list: A blue woman’s Failure “Tree of Stars” tour T-shirt as well as a man’s version in tannish (pictured and both $30); a commemorative Cinquanta T-shirt (pictured and priced at $30); two different Puscifer hoodies which were grey and a dark blue (priced at $50 or $60); a Puscifer Beanie ($20); a Puscifer panty; a signed ($150 and non-signed ($20) commemorative Cinquanta poster for the event; Failure signed poster ($100); and the only A Perfect Circle merch was a circular keychain ($15).
The seating area opened at 6:30 PM and a skit-typed mockumentary played on the screens around the venue at 7:30 PM. This was supposedly part of the surprise but didn’t feature any musicians from the evening. There was only one familiar actor from Reno 911 that I could recall and identify. After the mini movie there was a bit from Billy D (Maynard’s alter-ego from Puscifer) and his female sidekick. This was like a joke documentary for Billy D’s country band.
First up at 8 PM was Failure featuring Maynard, Billy Howerdel and Carina Round among others. The set started with piano and went right into a favorite of mine, “The Nurse Who Loved Me”. The audience went crazy as Maynard sang the second verse with his ever-so recognizable voice. This ballad was a beautiful opener for the evening, and was followed by “Sargeant Politeness” and then “Dirty Blue Balloons”. After the third song, the night began to unfold and this, folks, was the coolest thing to witness: the backdrop was lifted up and whisked away by a bunch of stagehands, along with the drum rise for Kellii Scott’s drum set, and then a new kit appeared with Jeff Friedl of A Perfect Circle and respective members moved off and on stage.
After three Failure songs, A Perfect Circle began playing “The Package” and the crowd went bonkers. Carina Round sang the first verse of “The Package” which might have caught some off guard but was a stunning performance nonetheless by this talented English woman. So most sets consisted of three songs per band alternating, and after APC was Puscifer. To further describe the stage, there was a third kit to the right of the stage for Puscifer that remained stationary the whole night and alternating again the backdrop lifted up to swallow the A Perfect Circle drum kit. There was a small mobile home-type trailer that was on the left hand side of the stage and a table with Maynard’s wine and lawn chairs all over the place in which various friends and musicians would sit on (A fake Paul Stanley, or was it Peter Criss or Ace Frehley?). Note: APC consisted of the newest lineup which featured Maynard, Jeff Friedl, James Iha, Billy Howerdel and Matt McJunkins. If I recall correctly, Carina was the only guest during their sets.
It was a seamless evening with the beautifully choreographed personnel changes and so the run down is; Failure played 3 sets of 3 songs; A Perfect Circle played 3 sets of 3 songs including their most recent studio track, “By and Down” from their greatest hits album; and Puscifer played the first 2 sets of 3 songs as well as the final set of 8 songs that included special guests, Green Jelly and Maynard’s son Devo Keenan on cello playing some classical pieces. There was a 10-15 minute intermission after the sixth set. Due to the strict noise curfew because of the residential area nearby, the show ended a little before 11 PM and thus there was no Tool song. I was bummed but still glad to capture the whole night. The audience was left in shock due to the Greek Theatre’s policy and were equally disappointed that we were all so close to seeing TOOL play, even for just one song. Darn you, Greek and you residential home owners nearby. BUT, thank you Greek Theatre for the wonderful night and the wonderful memories.
Failure set #1:
The Nurse Who Loved Me (Featuring Maynard James Keenan, Carina Round, and Billy Howerdel)
Sargeant Politeness
Dirty Blue Balloons
A Perfect Circle set #1:
The Package
Rose
The Noose
Puscifer set #1:
Vagina Mine
Polar Bear
Breathe
Failure set #2:
Another Space Song
Frogs
Solaris (Featuring Maynard James Keenan and Jeff Friedl)
A Perfect Circle set #2:
Weak and Powerless
Blue
Orestes
Puscifer set #2:
Oceans
Monsoons
Horizons
Failure set #3:
Stuck On You
Wet Gravity (Featuring Jeff Friedl)
Heliotropic
A Perfect Circle set #3:
Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums
By and Down
The Hollow
Puscifer set #3:
The Undertaker (Spanish Fly Mix)
Rev 22:20
Man Overboard
Telling Ghosts
Cuntry Boner (Featuring Danny Carey)
Three Little Pigs (Green Jelly featuring Danny Carey)
Devo Keenan on cello
The Humbling River (Featuring Danny Carey and Devo Keenan)
Failure links:
FailureBand.com
facebook.com/FailureBand
twitter.com/Failure
A Perfect Circle links:
APerfectCircle.com
facebook.com/APerfectCircle
twitter.com/APerfectCircle
Puscifer links:
Puscifer.com
facebook.com/PusciferMusic
twitter.com/Puscifer
Greek Theatre links:
GreekTheatreLA.com
facebook.com/GreekTheatre
twitter.com/GreekTheatreLA