Please don’t mind this post, as it was a crazy night for me where I won VIP passes and tickets to A Perfect Circle’s “Eat The Elephant” tour via Rock 108(which is a mainstream rock radio station based out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa). Special guests included Tricky and Night Club. It was an interesting night.
The VIP package included upgraded seats, pre-show tour, bottles of wine, signed poster of A Perfect Circle, guitar picks, patches, a tote bag, and a t-shirt. Our seats were 2nd row right at the front of the stage and although I only knew three songs by A Perfect Circle, I thought it was going to be a really interesting night!
Night Club started off the night, they mix a lot of electronic and gothic dance music with a touch of rock in the mix. The sound guy made it kind of hard for me to understand. The vocals cut in and out, and it just wasn’t a good mix from a live standpoint. For what it was, Night Club persevered through the technical difficulties and did a nice job in attempting to warm up the Cedar Rapids crowd.
Tricky was rather odd. They certainly weren’t my type of music. I really don’t understand what they were trying to accomplish, however, a lot of the Cedar Rapids crowd was into the trip-hop/rock type of band. A lot of people consider Tricky to be the cornerstone of the trip-hop scene. I thought it was different that Tricky was using bass tracks instead of having a live bass player in the band, however the singers were energetic which salvaged their set.
The crowd was obviously there to see A Perfect Circle. I have been a Maynard James Keenan fan ever since his early days in Tool, so it was an experience seeing him live and seeing how he performs at a live concert. I was most impressed with Maynard in the sense that he sounds just like he does in studio, but I was surprised that there wasn’t a single spotlight or any light shone on Maynard, however there were a plethora of spotlights shone on the rest of A Perfect Circle. They played a lot of songs off of “Eat The Elephant”, and the crowd went crazy when they played “Counting Bodies Like Sheep”.
The strange thing about A Perfect Circle’s set was that there was a strict “no camera” policy and people at the show were getting kicked out for taking photos. During the closing of the set, Maynard told security to stand down so people could capture photos, then he waved to the audience and he left while the band finished playing the song.
Overall, the seats were a disappointment. People wanted to jump and go crazy at a rock concert, but they couldn’t because of the folding chairs that were on the U.S. Cellular Center floor. As I said during “Counting Bodies Like Sheep”, the cops and security had to prevent moshpits from further occurring, however, there were lots of people still bouncing around and kind of pushing into each other.
Overall, I’m glad to see one of my rock heroes live! Special thanks to Rock 108 for the VIP passes and for the amazing experience that it was to see Maynard James Keenan and A Perfect Circle live. Hopefully, Tool will release an album and tour to support the album so I can go see them as well!
There are a few dates left on the American “Eat The Elephant” tour featuring A Perfect Circle with special guests Tricky and Night Club. Check out the American tour dates below.
Wed. 11/14- Hartman Arena in Park City, Kansas
Sat. 11/17- Honda Center in Anaheim, California
Sun. 11/18- The Cosmopolitian of Las Vegas- The Chelsea in Las Vegas, Nevada
Tue. 11/20- Comerica Theatre in Phoenix, Arizona
For tickets and further information on any of the shows listed above, click here!
Fans can find A Perfect Circle at the following locations:
www.facebook.com/aperfectcircle
Check out the video for “Disillusioned” below
