All told, the trio of rock heavyweights pounded out twenty-nine songs over the course of the evening, with none of the bands really taking much in the way of precedent over the others. After a series of video reminders about the consequences of violating the show’s cell phone/camera policy, the musical portion of the celebration kicked off with a trio of songs from A Perfect Circle – “The Package,” “Disillusioned” and “The Contrarian” who then gave way to Primus’ well-received run-throughs of “Those Damn Blue-Collar Tweakers,” “Too Many Puppies,” and “American Life.” Then it was Puscifer’s turn to take center-stage, with commanding performances of “Galileo,” “Horizons” and “Indigo Children.” With each band’s initial three-song mini-set out of the proverbial way, the evening turned progressively more collaborative. Act 2 kicked off with Primus playing a trio of their biggest hits in succession: “Jerry Was A Race Car Driver,” “My Name Is Mud,” and “Tommy The Cat,” the latter of which saw Keenan himself taking Tom Waits’ position in the titular role from atop the stage left staircase. Puscifer returned for what really was the heart of the set – a four-song collection of “Flippant,” “Momma Said,” “Bullet Train to Iowa” and “The Underwhelming.” A Perfect Circle returned for “The Hollow” with Primus’ Tim Alexander on drums. Astute observers will recall that Alexander was APC’s founding drummer and his drumming on the studio version of that song marks his only recorded appearance in the APC catalog. On this night, as he did in the band a quarter-century ago, Alexander then handed the reins back to Freese for “So Long, And Tanks For All The Fish,” “Weak And Powerless” and “The Outsider.”

As I alluded to before, the show brought with it a strict “no cell phone/no photography” policy which was startlingly well adhered to. It sounds weird maybe to mention in a show review, but we’ve reached the day and age where it is truly noteworthy – and undoubtedly refreshing – to be at a show filled with people who are just reveling in the experience in real life and not through a screen…and I say that as someone who watches shows through a screen for a (pretend) living. The atmosphere made for a compelling watch. Certainly, it seemed most show-goers were most stoked to see A Perfect Circle, especially with the powerhouse that is Josh Freese supplying the drumming duties. I think Billy Howerdel is a tremendous writer of poignant, heavy yet atmospheric music, and it creates for a live performance that borders on haunting at times. Primus, though, had a large contingent of their own fans singing and dancing along as Les Claypool and crew frog stomped their way through their particular brand of psychedelic prog funk jam rock. Puscifer are a band that I think a lot of people traditionally sleep on, because maybe of the sort of juvenile band and song/album names sometimes, and because I think they’ve been mischaracterized as a catch-all for Maynard’s non-Tool/APC musings and, as such, not as “serious” a band, but let me tell you…that band rules. Hard. Especially live. The interplay between Maynard and the spell-binding Carina Round’s voices and personalities was captivating, and genuinely lent itself perfectly to the gothic, theatrical setting.