Concert Review: After six-year hiatus, A Perfect Circle performs at Avalon Hollywood, and it feels like no time has passed
By Alex Goodman
Nov. 9, 2010 3:35 p.m.
Six years had passed between A Perfect Circle’s reunion performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Oct. 27 and the last one before it. It finally felt, apparently, what much of the rock world has felt for some time, that we could use a bit more from the masters of the art of darkness.
There is, of course, no shortage of darkness in the post-grunge rock scene, what with Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Three Days Grace and the like. But A Perfect Circle has always been to those bands what lead singer Maynard James Keenan’s main project Tool has been to metal, like the brilliant older brother who does the same moves with such flair and meaning and ease.
On Nov. 8, A Perfect Circle played the first of three consecutive nights at Avalon Hollywood, each of which would be dedicated to one of the band’s three albums. Monday was the night of “Mer de Noms,” their debut record and the sludgiest of them.
The band went to great lengths to downplay the significance of the evening, with Keenan perched on a raised platform in the back of the stage commenting frequently between songs about how many mistakes they were making. When spotlights were lit they were from the stage, pointing out at the audience, further obscuring the band.
All attempts at self-deprecation, though, were thwarted by the music itself, crisp and powerful and played with feeling, in spite of Keenan’s jokes. Guitarists James Iha and Billy Howerdel relished in the harsh, dense atmosphere of “Mer de Noms” atop Josh Freese’s athletic drumming, as Keenan proved yet again that his otherworldly voice is in no way a product of studio tricks.
Forty minutes or so into the set, the band dove headfirst into “Thinking Of You,” the third-to-last track of the album, and in those moments fell perfectly into step. It followed Matt McJunkins’ bassline into a meatier version of the song, the kind of thrilling rendition possible only in a live performance.
A few minutes later, it concluded the album and moved quickly into a two-song encore. The set ended with its bleak, seemingly hopeless cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” from their third album “Emotive,” composed of protest songs and scheduled to be the focus of Wednesday’s show.
The song was a different beast entirely Monday night, one with great energy and a heavy groove. Where the album version sounds like a cynical rebuff of Lennon’s message of peace and hope, the live version played like a true protest song from people with everything to fight for.
It sounded like the triumphant return of a band that knows its place at the head of the post-grunge table, a band that knows that on its best day it can play circles around the competition. No longer must we be satisfied imagining a reunion of A Perfect Circle, and its beautiful brand of darkness is a welcome source of brightness.
