Report

Sessanta: A Perfect Circle, Primus, And Puscifer Road Report

Sessanta – A 60th Birthday Celebration for Maynard James Keenan, live in Berkeley, California 4/21/24

Earlier this week at Berkeley’s Greek Theatre, A Perfect Circle, Primus, and Puscifer celebrated Maynard James Keenan’s 60th birthday. Labeled “Sessanta” (and for those of you who understand Spanish even less than I, “sesenta” means sixty in Spanish), the birthday celebration tour of seven shows announced in September 2023 became such a buzz that the festivities tripled into 21 concerts, soon to be ending on May 4.

Despite having grown up less than 18 miles from the Greek Theatre (and providing occasional tours of Berkeley for Japanese tourists in the early 1990s), this was my first time at the venue. The top portion of the venue has been redone for 2024 (this was the first show of the year), fixing lawn issues, and allowing for an even more spectacular view of the area including The Campanile and, on this clear day, San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Les Claypool commented on the stunning views that he partook of earlier in the day during one of the Primus sets. Even though I had my camera ready to capture the scene, I was informed that I couldn’t take photos, despite the fact that I had a photo pass, and the show wasn’t even going to begin for over an hour. Oh well.

Every night of the tour features unique posters and other merch for the bands individually and for Sessanta collectively. The lines for merch were so long, though, that like several shows I’ve seen over the past few years, you either had to choose between obtaining merch or seeing the show. I really don’t understand those that opt for the former.

As the promotion material promised, “All 3 Bands Onstage At The Same Time” really took place, not just once but throughout the evening, even if some of the members weren’t actively playing or singing. Lounges were set up in the corners of the platformed stage where the non-performing musicians frequently hung out or came and went. Very unusual and cool. To get to these birthday lounges one could either take the stairs or opt for the stairs chair. As one who recently finished The Sopranos, I laughed out loud the first time Maynard took the “Livia Soprano” route.

At Tool shows I’ve been to, Maynard did not interact with the audience. In fact, I could barely see him at all at one of them. This evening was very different. Not only was Maynard engaged with the audience but Les Claypool was even more interactive than normal. During “My Name Is Mud” Les paused and said something like, “I just realized I came up with that riff in the Greek Theatre’s Green Room thirty-something years ago.”

While performing “Follow the Fool”, Les appeared to be singing to the guy who suddenly appeared next to me with his phone out to take pictures/video. Before the song had even finished, security had taken the intoxicated amateur photographer out of the venue.

Unfortunately, my photos are very limited due to the “no photo” policy which applied to everyone, including those of us with photo passes. The only portion of the show we could shoot was the final song, and I couldn’t even see Les during that brief period of time.

This was the first show with Puscifer’s Gunnar Olsen playing drums for A Perfect Circle as well.

I’m looking forward to the Settanta show at the rest home that Maynard and I will be living in come 2034.

Setlist:

A Perfect Circle
The Package
Disillusioned
The Contrarian

Primus
Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers
Too Many Puppies
Sgt. Baker
Follow the Fool

Puscifer
Galileo
Tiny Monsters
Indigo Children

Primus
Jerry Was a Race Car Driver
My Name Is Mud
Tommy the Cat

Puscifer
Flippant
Momma Sed
Bullet Train to Iowa
The Underwhelming

A Perfect Circle
The Hollow
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
Weak and Powerless
The Outsider

Puscifer
The Humbling River
The Remedy

A Perfect Circle
Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums
Judith

Primus
Southbound Pachyderm

Sessanta E.P.P.P.
Kindred
No Angel
Pablo’s Hippos

Primus, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer
Grand Canyon