A Perfect Circle at Red Rocks
A Perfect Circle’s show at Red Rocks included Japanese lessons.
That lesson came courtesy of the opener, all-girl punk trio Red Bacteria Vacuum, who taught the audience just enough of its native language to get through the catchy “Enso Wa Tanoshii” (which translates to enjoyable chlorine, fun ancestors, or the more likely, “Fun To Play Music”). The trio also asked the audience to purchase merchandise so it could afford gas money: “Please buy or die.” Being cute Japanese girls playing punk, they could have asked the audience to do handstands and most people would have at least tried.
Persistent rain hung over the entire evening; most of the audience was in ponchos or soggy by the time A Perfect Circle took the stage. The band took the ballsy option of opening the show with two covers, Crucifix’s “Annihilation” and John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
APC wasted little time between songs with chatter, stopping only to say hello and introduce the band. Despite having more than half of Ashes Divide or Puscifer in the group, APC stuck to its guns and played only its own songs and tunes from 2004’s cover album, Emotive. Highlights included “Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums,” a vocals and keyboard-only version of Joni Mitchell’s “The Fiddle And The Drum,” and a retooled version of “3 Libras.”
With APC’s ever-changing lineup, Howerdel’s and Keenan’s other projects (Tool, Puscifer, Ashes Divide), and lengthy hiatuses, there’s a perpetual rumor that the band is about to break up. If the simple fact the band is together and touring wasn’t enough to shatter that break-up rumor, the group ended its set with a new original, “By And Down.” APC also made that the end of the night, opting out of the now-traditional pseudo-encore of wandering off stage and pretending the show is over to then come back out to more applause.
