Sessanta v2.0, a birthday celebration for Maynard James Keenan, featuring A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Primus, invaded Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert.
On Thursday April 24th Sessanata v2.0, the incredible all-star concert featuring A Perfect Circle, Primus, and Puscifer and now celebrating the 61st Birthday of singer and front man Maynard James Keenan kicked off at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert CA. This star studded show is the 2nd round of this amazing tour, the 1st of which happened last year around this same time, stopping at the Rady Shell in San Diego in April 2024. This 2nd version is hitting different cities and venues across the U.S. like the absolutely beautiful Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, located near Palm Springs about a two hour drive from San Diego. This 11,000 seat hockey arena opened recently in 2022, and the facility is billed as being specially designed to sound great for concerts. The acoustics for this show were spectacular, with Maynard’s legendary voice soaring out over the crowd in crystal clarity. The arena seemed to lack the distinct echo that some buildings of this size are famous for.
Being the first night of this complex tour, all three bands sounded amazingly on point and well-rehearsed, a testament to the professional caliber of the musicians on the bill. As was the case on the last tour, all of the musicians from the three bands shared the stage at various points in the evening, trading members for different songs and including each other in fun and interactive stage antics. The concert had a fun and friendly atmosphere with everyone onstage playing along, and singer/birthday boy Maynard James Keenan positioned and lit at the front of the stage, a contrast to his usual preferences near the back. MJK who fronts two of the bands on this bill, both APC and Puscifer, and Les Claypool who fronts Primus at one point raced each other up and down the sides of an elaborate multi-tiered stage setup on what can only be described as hilarious old folk mobility devices.
Funny pre-taped videos and skits played throughout the show, with one at the beginning of the night reminding everyone clearly that there were no cell phones or videos allowed, a not uncommon rule for this tour and for these bands. As the video put it sarcastically, folks caught filming would be ground into giant containers of human spam. However, in reality several folks in the audience were angrily tossed out of the show for repeatedly pulling out their phones. At a much funnier point, a ping pong table was set up on the stage with new Primus drummer John “Hoffington” Hoffman battling bassist A Perfect Circle bassist Matt Mcjunkins in a hilariously awkward match. However, in case there was any doubt, Hoffman sounded absolutely fantastic on drums, on this his first official tour date with Primus, nailing everything he played with aplomb.
A Perfect Circle, formed in 1999 by vocalist Maynard James Keenan and Billy Howerdel is a heavy alternative rock super group and a side project from Maynard’s primary band, the hugely influential Tool. APC is such a fantastic group in its own right, with tons of great albums and hit songs. The current incarnation of the band sounded ferocious on this evening, and it was a thrill to see original drummer, and now Foo Fighter, Josh Freese wildly attacking these songs and playing them with such intense energy. Primus was incredible as well with their new drummer seemingly waking up the jamming spirit of the band, a new song called “Little Lord Fentanyl” was an unexpected debut surprise and featured backing vocals by MJK and Puscifer vocalist Carina Round. Speaking of which, Pusicfer, another of MJK’s side projects, played some absolutely beautiful music at this show with the interplay between the band’s two vocalists being a true standout of the evening. Hearing Keenan’s and Round’s beautiful voices soar acoustically together without amplification from the front of the stage was pure magic. This was another absolutely incredible Sessanta birthday concert experience, which somehow happened for the 2nd year in a row. If you’re a fan of any of these bands, take the opportunity to catch this unique show on this 2nd run and discover how cool all of these friends and amazing musicians hanging out onstage together can be. New songs from the three bands including “Kindred” “No Angel” and “Pablo’s Hippos” are available on a special Sessanta E.P.P.P. and all the bands have some unique posters and merch available at each stop on the tour.
