Puscifer with Moodie Black
McCaw Hall, Seattle, WA
07.10.2022
McCaw Hall, home of Seattle Opera and the Pacific Northwest Ballet, at first seemed like an odd venue choice for Puscifer’s most recent concert in Seattle on July 10, 2022.
The chatter of eager devotees swelled into rambunctious cheering as smoke began to creep over the stage. A hush comes over the audience when Maynard James Keenan’s made-up face suddenly appears on a projection screen. He opened the show with a hilarious skit channeling his infamous disdain for cameras and audience members on their phones.
Eerie blue light washed over the stage while a low synthesizer hum filled the room, causing the audience to surge to their feet. Stylish in a stern kind of way, Maynard and Carina Round entered wearing matching suits and stared down the audience behind extra dark shades. Bread and Circus, the opening track on Puscifer’s 2022 album “Existential Reckoning,” kicked off the set.
Postulous followed, often featuring Maynard and Carina rhythmically swaying in a crab-like fighter stance. Their staging was choreographed with precision. Carina remained at the front of the stage with a stoic calm throughout the song, while Maynard would depart to either anxiously pace or brazenly peacock through space.
Puscifer is widely known for their theatrics. The Existential Reckoning Tour was no exception, and the elaborate performance revealed why McCaw Hall was the venue of choice this time around. Maynard briefly paused the music to have a chat with the crowd:
Well, hello. Where are we? Seems nice here See-ah-ttle. Agent Dick Merkin here. These are my fellow agents. Here’s Carina and Mat. Who is he? Oh, Agent Gunn Olsen. We’re on a super secret mission and…oh I guess it is classified. So… let the probing continue!
The chimes of Fake Affront’s delicate introduction caused a wave of excitement to ripple across the room and the audience joined Maynard in calling out, “Heard it all before!” White lights drifted across the ceiling as Carina’s delicate, “shut the f*ck up” supported Maynard’s crisp lyrical delivery.
Theatrical campiness, reminiscent of the 80’s pop scene, continued as the set progressed with The Underwhelming, Grey Area, Theorem, and UPGrade. An alien crept around the industrial steel and scaffolding of the scenery, Maynard and Carina stalked each other while creating stiff, angular shapes, and a team of agents scanned every nook and cranny of the stage – presumably searching for something as a part of their top secret mission.
Another Agent Dick Merkin video appeared as an interlude – this time to reveal a nefarious celebrity cloning conspiracy that has regularly been carried out by the very aliens he and his team have pursued during this very show.
The music returned with Apocalyptical, then diverted from the “Existential Reckoning” lineup to The Remedy, featured on the 2015 fan-favorite album, “Money Shot.” The meticulous synchronicity and refinement that Maynard and Carina brought to the stage pack a powerful punch, particularly as they sing about having a solution for someone who has never been “smacked in the f*cking mouth.”
The nearly two hour extravaganza also featured Personal Prometheus, A Singularity, Momma Sed, The Humbling River, Bullet Train to Iowa, Man Overboard, Flippant, Conditions of My Parole, and Bedlamite.
Noise rap pioneers, Moodie Black, opened the show with a guttural and relentless performance after being handpicked by Maynard to join Puscifer on tour. Despite entering to the sounds of a foreboding buzz and heavy drum beat, vocalist Kristen Martinez joyfully smiled out into the universe before she began to chant, rap, jump-kick, and drop to the floor with chaotic passion. She only addressed the crowd directly once: “I hope each and every one of you get the chance to do something you love in a major way. Because this is amazing.”
Photos by Sunita Martini
Review by Mary Albano
Puscifer
Moodie Black
