It has been 6 years since A Perfect Circle performed on stage together. During those 6 years, some of the more regular members of this modern day super group have went on to other projects. Still though, the core of A Perfect Circle has remained in tact, and their performance on Tuesday showed they haven’t missed a step along the way. Before we get to the actual concert review, we were lucky enough to score a few of the very special VIP Wine Tasting and Meet & Greet tickets for the show. A Perfect Circle (APC) has never had a meet & greet for fans before, so we jumped on the opportunity right away. Well, I guess there is a reason why APC has never done a meet & greet all these years. Maynard is known to be, um, less than social with his fans. The meet & greet pretty much proved this 100%, as Maynard James Keenan (lead singer of Tool and APC) came out for maybe 20 seconds to wave to the fans at the meet & greet and then walked right back stage again. It was petty much everything we have heard about Maynard before, so no one was really surprised. This left the rest of the band to walk around and shake hands with the fans- which at this point seemed contrived and forced to the point where it was less fun and more awkward. To be honest, it was probably the worst meet & greet fan experience possible, and it left a lot of fans shaking their heads thinking about what they actually just paid over $100 extra for. In the end, the meet & greet seemed like a money grab more than an honest attempt to connect with the fans, and that is disappointing to say the least. Don’t get me wrong, the band members (especially Josh Freese and James Iha) were extremely nice, and they tried to make this work, but the set up was horrible and really didn’t even give them a chance to interact with the fans. The guys tried- they did. The wine tasting portion of the VIP experience, nothing to write home about either.
So, that brings us the actual concert, and luckily APC shined in this department. Tuesday night was APC’s turn to play through their full second studio release Thirteenth Step. Being my favorite album by the group, I knew every song by heart and so did most of the crowd. Some people don’t like the predictability of shows where a whole album is scheduled to be played, but APC pulled this off pretty well. It’s more of a testament to the album actually, and the fact that it flows so well and can be performed live in its entirety without getting boring or tired. APC sounded great, and Maynard was right on with his voice. The show flowed with the the album, with The Noose and Pet being two of the night’s best songs live. Pet especially seemed perfect in the order of the night, raising the energy at the optimal time for the crowd to sing in unison. Musically the night was great and the album played live eerily enough to capture the excitement and feel of the music. APC was right on musically, which of course is all you can really ask for. In terms of fan interaction and the VIP experience, it left a lot to be wanted and in many ways revealed itself as a quick money scheme that worked. Let’s hope A Perfect Circle return with some more dates because honestly there is probably not a better sounding live act out there right now, but next time I will bring my own wine to the party.
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