A Perfect Circle Tour Reviews

for the following shows:

Sept 2 1999 - Key Club (Los Angeles, CA)
Sept 3 1999 - San Luis Obispo Brewing Co. (SLO, CA)
Sept 4 1999 - The Usual (San Jose, CA)
Sept 5 1999 - Slim's (San Francisco, CA)


From: Jason (lmc@MSK.com) The show last night at the Key Club in Los Angeles was amazing.  I was right under Maynard the whole night (his toes were painted black).  The band played an eight song set that included the Cure's "Love Song" done with lyrics from an Ozzy Osbourne song ("Sato" or "Diary of a Madman"?).  Maynard told the crowd to "laugh if they got the joke or to laugh anyways even if they didn't get the joke about the song."" Overall, Troy from Failure was great on guitar and the rest of the band was tight.  Maynard did not move too much and his eyes were closed for most of the set.  Maynard's vocals were excellent but the lyrics were hard to hear because his was being drowned out by the rest of the band.  All in all, A Perfect Circle seems to be a more melodic version of Tool. 

From: Adrian Smith (noloveinfear@hotmail.com) Saw A Perfect Circle at the Key Club in LA last night...wow. It was pretty obvious that a lot of people were there to see Maynard, since when he walked across the stage before their set, most of the people in the front yelled MAYNARD!!! as he put a finger to his lips, shook his head, and walked across the stage w/o making eye contact with the crowd. Their entire set was incredible, and since the other bands weren't very good to begin with, they BLEW in comparison to A Perfect Circle. Then again, I've never been a fan of Fishbone. The highlights were a song called Bren~a "with one of those wavy things (makes wave motion w/ arm) over the N" as Maynard put it, and a song "dedicated to Sharon...if she would have bothered to show up." Maynard said that the song was a joke, so if you got the joke, laugh, and if you didn't, laugh to make them feel better anyhow. Nobody laughed, even when Maynard tried to coax people to laugh at the end of the song. Joke or not, the song was AMAZING. I saw Laundry open for Tool several years back, so when my friend told me about this band, I was very excited to see Maynard and Tim not only playing the same show, but in the same band, and it was definately worth the $20 just to see their band. The guitarists and the bassist were very good as well. Definately hope to see a CD released from them. Tim played intricate patterns as if it was second nature to him, and was simply amazing. My friend and I thought we saw Danny Carey behind us during the next bands set, but we couldn't quite tell if it was him or not, but he was shaking hands w/ a few people, so maybe it was!

From: kendra (kendrakcc@aol.com) hey kabir, saw perfect circle last night at the key club, not much to report that hasn't already been reported--tim alexander was on drums, they played eight songs; the first was "hollow", another was "crow" and two others MIGHT have been called "ozzy" and "deal" or "dead" but don't quote me on this because i was reading the set list from the balcony. unfortunately, i couldn't hear the vocals clear enough to catch the lyrics but if i had to choose one word to describe them, i would say "keening" (no pun intended!!!)also, i didn't notice the anger of the earlier tool days. i wouldn't be surprised if this band blew up quickly. they drew quite a crowd. i just wonder how the hell maynard keeps up with all his projects....

From: mnb808@aol.com Subject: Review of A Perfect Circle @ KeyClub 9/2/99 The KeyClub was packed. Tickets were $15. I got mine for $10 from some guy outside who had an extra. The band went on just before 10:15 p.m. Maynard apologized for being late. He was wearing a dark brownish-green shirt with an alien head on the front. They busted right into the first song. It was awesome. As all of the songs were, it was totally fucking loud, hard rockin', yet beautifully sung. I had heard it before at the Opium Den and Troubador shows on 8/20. But, it sounded even better this time. Right after the first song, Maynard introduced the band. A Perfect Circle is Maynard, Billy, Paz, Troy, and Tim. I think that last time Josh was on the drums. I can't believe they are using two different drummers. That's so cool. Especially because they both rock. Anyway, they proceeded to play 5 more songs, all of which were played before at the previous gigs. Before one of the songs, he said that it was so new that he hadn't even heard it. He had his "notes" again with him to prove his point, but he didn't use them. Before the 4th song, Maynard told us that it was called Brena (pronounced Brenya), you know, with a ~ over the N. It too was so great. Then, they played the combination cover of Cure/Black Sabbath-Diary of a Madman/Lovesong, which was the 5th song. He told us that they all think that it's funny. He asked us all to laugh, whether we found it funny or not. At one point in the song, instead of saying "Diary of a Madman", he said "Diarreah of a Madman". After that, they finished up with the 6th song. It was awesome. It sounded like he was singing a chorus that may have been the words "Run away". But, I'm not really sure. Anyway, ALL the songs sounded sOOOOO incredible, again. This time, I noticed that Billy sang a lot of backup vocals. I was very impressed with the whole band, and this time, I made sure to take special notice of the bassist and other guitarist. Everyone sounded great. The music is really, really, really good. I almost think that, depending on how they market the band, they might have the potential to be bigger than Tool. Some songs seem a little more radio-friendly than Tool. Regardless, they are both great bands. I was really happy that there were so many people there to see them. After they went off, many people left. We didn't stay around either. I wouldn't have minded sticking around to see Fishbone, but my friend and I both had to get up early for work the next day. Anyway, I was really only there to see A Perfect Circle. I wish I could get a recording of one of these shows. I can't wait until they record an album. I wish I could go to one of the shows coming up in the next few days, but I can't. I guess I'll have to wait until they come back down to L.A. I'll be there. You should too.

From: toolish (grimstad1@home.com) just wanted to let you know I seen maynard at the usual. we seen him outside before the gig, with a beuatiful oriental lady I presumed was his wife. I went up and said hi and told him we appreciated his work. He immediatly said,"your not gonna hear Tool", which was kind of funny because we definately did not expect to hear Tool anyway. We exchanged pleasantrys and all and all Maynard is a really down to earth guy. On stage he wore a blue t-shirt with the words "fuck me I'm famous" written in seventies disco glitter. The band has a real good feel to it. Any Tool fans I beleive will enjoy listening to A Perfect Circle. They also did 'Diary of a madman' cover from Ozzy. That blew me away. Leave it to Maynard to continue to amaze and entertain you. That's all gregg

From: Brian Naas (humberfut@yahoo.com) Subject: review: perfect circle sept. 5 in SF Hi, On September 5 at Slimm's in San Francico, Billy something or other (tool's guitar tech) introduced his new ultra tight band a perfect cirle in front of several respecting and adoring fans. The first band to play was doloris haze, or something like that. The were fairly rockin' in a pseudo pixies major chord/major chord/major chord with one note a half step off to create tension sort of way. I may just be saying that because the lead singer looked much like Frank Black and screamed at random times as he would though. I thought they were good with definite potential at any rate. Then a perfect circle played who were cofusingly enough the second opening band for oxbow who should not have be headlining a show such as this. A perfect circle were literally unveiled as a screen in front of the stage lifted to reveal the band which sort of added to the mystic of the whole thing. They greeted the audience with a very focused and defined sound. Although i had heard the band had been recently formed, i wouldn't have guessed it from their tightness and seeming ease in communicating musical ideas to each other. Tim Alexander (formally of primus, currenty of laundry) was excellent in providing a centered foundation for the band. He did a great job of providing powerful direction as well as adding textural coloration in the more subtle parts. Maynard was amazing in his ablitity to float above the band without interfering or perhaps i should say drawing focus away from any of the individual parts. They worked together in very balanced and delicate sort of way. I'm guessing that this guy Billy, who wrote all of the songs we were told, and his involvement with guitar tech work, whatever that entails, helped him to form a band with a remarkable sound. It was almost too good sonically, like a spotless house that you just wanna trail dirt into. Musically it was very dynamic and often went through a complete range of volume and style within one song. They did a really good version of "lovesong" by the cure which if feel described where they were coming from. I mean, it was a really different interpretation of the song which went places you would never have imagined but still worked as a song cohesively. They were a really great band with a great future which iím sure will help me exercise my patience in waiting for the next tool album which wonít come out till late next year(according to Maynard). The last and headlining band was oxbow who if you have seen before you will never forget. The club cleared out by about half when a perfect circle finished its surprisingly short set and after oxbow played two or so songs, the remaining half dissipated even more. I was not quite as scared as the first time that I had seen them opening up for A Minor Forest mainly causeí I mostly knew what to expect. The music is pretty much a back drop in more ways than one. The band is primarily a Touch and Go band with little experience with each other. Strange chords as well as time signatures put together in a fairly interesting although repetitive and awkward way which seemed to lack confidence. The lead singer however is a huge black man with electric tape over his ears who has a tendency to a) slam his fists down on his thighs in violent manner b) kick over monitors as well as break mike stands and throw the microphone down the stage and continue singing/screaming as if nothing had happened c)spit and drool perpetually throughout the entire set d) rip off his clothes and eventually powerfully grab and pull his dick e) do all of this while wandering around the stage and singing in whatever direction he happens to be facing at the time. I tried watching them with a bit more of an open mind this time and realized that, if you were to play a live show in front of people, and if you thought of absolutely everything that you would not at all want to do, and did every single on of those things in a furious, violent, and emotionally confused romp, you would have oxbow. It seems more like performance art actually than music and in that sense, it is interesting. I went to talk to the lead singer after their set mainly because I was extremely curious about the temperament of this man. After seeing them the first time I was convinced that he was schizophrenic and that this was some sort of bizarre form of therapy for him. However after talking to him I found that he was a very nice and well spoken man who seemed very conscious of his actions which put the whole thing under a completely different light. He didnít have any trace of any mental condition and I felt like a prick for having assumed so. Apparently theyíre really big in Europe and Japan which I can sort of understand. I canít really say that I enjoyed their set because I donít think it was something that you really can enjoy, but at least it was interesting and I was able to get something out of it.

From: Zom (n/a). Review (9/5/99; Slim's; SF, CA) - Caught the San Francisco show of A Perfect Circle at Slim's. The rest of the line-up was Deloris Hayes (instruments and voices were out of tune) and Oxbo (lots of screaming that they tried to pass off as singing, with a weird high-pitched voice; guitar riffs OK). No Fishbone, like they had the night before (9/4) in San Jose, CA. 'Circle played the Cure/Lovesong cover among the excellent 'Circle songs. Basically, the concert was the same as MNB808@aol.com described in the first paragraph of his review. All the songs were written by Billy, the guitarist. They were all melodic and complimented and flowed with Maynard's voice. The songs had the ups and downs of ballad-like solos and powerful riffs, ever present in bands like TOOL and Staind. The songs were compact, with constant sound, but not rushed. I second the notion that 'Circle should record an album. Maynard didn't mention anything to the effect of a 'Circle album coming out, nor anythin! g to the contrary. He DID mention that the next TOOL album would not be released till THE END OF NEXT YEAR, as in towards the end of 2000. Oh well.