The last time A Perfect Circle released an album, Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center, which opened in 2012, wasn’t even a concept. Yet with an album on the horizon (sometime in 2018), the band, fronted by the enigmatic Maynard James Keenan and the brainchild of guitarist Billy Howerdel, brought their powerful and atmospheric prog-leaning rock to a mostly full arena.
Los Angeles band The Beta Machine, who are still unsigned, opened the show. The fact that the rhythm section (bassist Matt McJunkins and drummer Jeff Friedl) also play in A Perfect Circle, may have contributed to the fact, but the band’s concise half hour set got the crowd warmed up for the main attraction of the evening, and they undoubtedly walked out of the Barclay’s with more fans than they walked in with.
THE BETA MACHINE
There was a strict “no photography or audio recording” warning for this show, a rarity in this day and age of Snapchat and Instagrammable moments. However, Keenan, who does the same with Tool, likes to keep things shrouded in mystery. Those c aught taking photos were thrown out. Thankfully, Melinda Oswandel, who’s a contributing photographer of Metal Insider, was able to legitimately film the show. The band played a solid hour and 45 minutes, touching on all aspects of their somewhat sparse career, including several songs from their forthcoming 2018 album, leaving the crowd elated.
A PERFECT CIRCLE
