A PERFECT CIRCLE: THIRTEENTH STEP 2003-2004
WINNEPEG, MANITOBA [BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE]
9.1.03
By Aaron
So we get there park the car and wait in line to get in. A few jokes made at the expense of a guy looking for papers "What no one has papers?? bullshit this A Perfect Circle!" The line marches along past APC's non-descript white tourbus and we make our way to the door. They had posted a list of what was not allowed in, chains over 12 inches, lighters, flammables (funny just about everything is flammable), cameras (sorry no pix) recording devices, crowd surfing or moshing. We go through the front door and after being subjected to a gestapo style frisk and an examination of my keys which seemed like a hearing on WMD's we are in!
Although the show was scheduled to start at eight things didn't heat up till 8:30. Pygmy Love Circus took the stage by force, fronted by a gargantuan vocalist who dwarfed Danny Carey at nearly 7 feet not to mention the rest of the band. This guy was huge and wore a black leather type kilt and a black vest sorta thing. Their music was typical hard rock nothing great but they were entertaining. Through out the set the vocalist would bring out different masks and props as well as attack his fellow bandmates, he also displayed his penchant for flashing the audience which he did twice. His collection included a 3 foot femor, which he swung around during a song I think was called Bone Orchard, a hatchet and executioner's hood, a metal bird mask and one of those church incense type things, and of course a clown mask and matching head-banging ventriloquist dummy. These guys had a great house mix you could hear everything but the bass was a little low, if you knew what to listen for you could pick it out. Needless to say the highlight of Pygmy Love Circus was Danny Carey's drum work from his punch in the gut bass to his machine gun snare he could do no wrong. During one of their later tunes he broke into a drum solo as the crowd went nuts.
Around 10 the lights dim and the crowd comes alive. Jeordie was in the front at the left of the stage flanked by Billy on the right side. James stood behind Jeordie on a riser infront of two Mesa/Boogie 410's, while Josh was nestled in his kit on a riser behind Billy. Maynard stood between Josh and James on a higher riser surrounded by black sheets. 5 poles strung with lights and connected by black curtains formed the rear wall of the stage.
A Perfect Circle ripped into a new tune as Maynard sang, his silhouette dancing on the front curtain. The stage was fairly dark as the band was backlit with a multitude of colors. Following the first song the theater went dark and the curtains dropped away leaving Maynard (clad in black track pants and a white beater down by his waist) exposed to the audience. He wore a braided wig and had a tatoo of a pelvis and vertabrae which ran along his spine. The rest of the band sported silver/grey pants and long sleeve buttoned dress shirts. I was surprised at how small Jeordie was, he was about 5'9 or 5'10 and was very thin.
Jeordie competed equally with Maynard for the crowd's attention. Jeordie's movements were very fluid and relaxed while still exciting to watch, he never stood still unless providing backing vocals. Through out the set he would run around taking up a good two thirds of the front of the stage and periodically illuminate his bass by shoving it in the path of a floor mounted light off to the left. Some of his movements were reminiscent of his days with the Manson clan, you could still see a little Twiggy in him. Jeordie played the entire set with a black w/red perloid pickguard active fender precision/jazz bass hybrid. He favored a pick for the majority of the tunes but used his fingers for a couple as well.
Billy was in top form with his powerful playing style while James stood in the back doing his thing, he looked happy and really got into it towards the end. Josh was no slouch either he kept a solid beat.
Maynard was well... Maynard his powerful movements and exceptional delivery (he hit all the notes and nailed every part, simply amazing to see, this man is a god) were the highlight of A Perfect Circle's set. Following the first few songs he introduced the band saying they were A Perfect Circle, the crowd responded with thunderous applause. When ever Maynard spoke the crowd fell silent. He spoke about the new line up for a little while and casually introduced each of the members with witty nick names, calling Jeordie "Miss Piggy uh Twiggy" Josh was the "Cookie Monster", I don't remember what he called James and Billy, but as he said "And Oscar the Grouch who's Maynard" the crowd exploded.
Following each song Maynard cast a few pearls of wisdom at the audience, he said "I appologize for our president and our country, but our hands are tied." which was well received. Maynard was not without humor, he spoke briefly with James saying that James had written a song and would like to perform it. In a strange high pitch voice James knelt down and sang a few lines from "When A Man Loves A Woman" and the crowd applauded. Maynard also made a crack about James needing to brush up on his chorus writing skills. Maynard only spoke of the new album once, he said it's title and repeated September 16th seven or eight times. He never introduced the new songs by name rather saying "this is one from our new album...". Later he adressed the issue of bands skipping over Calgary, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg, he jokingly said that his reason for playing here was to "make more money".
A Perfect Circle was the tightest band I had ever seen. They nailed everything except one minor screw up during the break in Judith where James played the high fret line with a slide, it was hardly noticed.
The new material was amazing, the first song was great and packed with energy as was Weak and Powerless, and the Package, the audience was silent as they soaked it in. Near the end they covered The Nurse Who Loved me, interesting song and well done. Maynard and the gang finished with Judith as the audience exploded once again easily the most energetic song of the night. The entire audience yelled "Fuck Your God!" and the the scream at the end practically shook the building. They said thanks and walked off the stage to a standing ovation, unfortunately no encore.
So the show was over and we slowly made our way out to the lobby. I spotted Danny at the merch table and pointed him out to my friends he was huge and wearing a beat up blue T-shirt. We waited for the crowd to clear and asked for an autograph unfortunately he was only signing stuff if you bought his cd and I was without cash so I complimented him on the show and shook his hand, once in a lifetime experience.
All I can say is WOW!, an amazing show if you have the chance to see these guys in a small venue go for it the energy is great, they nailed everything. The way they carried themselves, the light show, and the aura they projected was great, even though the backlighting made it hard to make out Maynard and James.
The set list as best I can remember:
New Song
The Hollow
Magdalena
Weak and Powerless
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(don't remember the order of these except that Judith was last, and I may have left out a few)
Rose
Thomas
The Package
Thinking of You
Three Libras
The Nurse Who loved Me
Judith