review by: Adam Lancaster (alanca1@lsu.edu) What an incredible show! I was fortunate enough to see APC twice this summer with Nine Inch Nails and this one blew both of the others away. I was also able to record this show on minidisc. My friend, Jill, and I drove to Houston from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Saturday morning, even though we didn’t have tickets. We arrived at the Aerial Theater around 4:30 p.m. hoping to find someone selling tickets. After about two hours of sitting outside and holding up my little sign (NEED 2 TICKETS), our only options were to buy from a guy selling a pair for a piece, or to continue to wait and hope that the box office would release more tickets. Suddenly, a guy from the local radio station (94.5, I think) walked up to me and handed me two tickets from a stack, for free! I couldn’t wait to shove them in the face of the guy asking for 0. Around 7:00 they opened the doors. I was a little surprised at the size of the venue. I knew that APC was playing small shows but I had still expected something a little larger. The actual floor went back about 75 feet or so, and then they had stepped platforms going up to the back wall another 50 feet or so away. I decided that the top step would be ideal for recording the show since it was above the floor crowd by about five or six feet. There was a balcony wrapped around three sides of the theater that was eight rows deep and would seat another 1000 or so. Sunna came on around 8:00 as scheduled. I was very surprised at the quality of not only their music but of the sound levels. Often, an opening band won’t appear to be any good simply because the sound is set poorly. Sunna was a good choice for an opening band and I plan on checking out any cds that they have out. A Perfect Circle’s show started around 9:15. The stage went black and a sheer black curtain was dropped down at the front of the stage. When the house lights went out, a light on the stage came on and two women were seated at a small table with a candle or oil lamp. In the background played a bedtime, nursery-like music. They began to play cards. After one hand, one woman got up and took off her shirt. They took turns losing hands until they were both dressed only in bra and panties. On the next hand, the woman who lost began to take off her bra. The other woman stood and kissed her briefly. Then they blew out the light. A young child’s voice (it sounded too young to be Maynard’s son, Devo, but I’m pretty sure its a girl’s voice anyway) then played over the speakers, reciting, “I’d sell my soul, my self-esteem, a dollar at a time for one taste of you, my Magdalena. You make me feel like a kid again.” Magdalena: (4:10) This is a great song to open the show with; its one of my favorites. A spotlight shone on Billy when he began playing, and then on Maynard with his first words. Maynard wore light colored spandex pants and a blond wig; as opposed to the dark wig that he wore the other two times I saw them. After the “black Madonna” line, the screen dropped to the stage. After the song, Maynard said, “Hi. We are A Perfect Circle” The Hollow: (2:57) I STILL think the line is “throttle all this indiscretion” rather than “bridle”. Sleeping Beauty: (4:35) There was an interesting, longer intro to this song. MJK: “This is the last show we’ll be playing this year. We be playing more shows, next year. Maybe even here.” (crowd cheers) Orestes: (4:30) “Gotta cut away, clear away, snip away and sever this…” wow, Maynard’s vocals, no words to describe… Brena: (4:00) MJK: “Thank you. Could you guys do me a favor right in here, just right in here? (referring to the pit) Could you not use those flash cameras? Cause I want to look at you but it hurts my eyes. Could you not? Is that cool? This song’s called Thomas.” Thomas: (3:30) Maynard was very animated during the beginning of this song, stomping his foot in time to the music; reminiscent of some TOOL performances. Actually, he was more animated for this show than I’ve seen him at some TOOL shows. Again, the “reconnect to you” line at the end REALLY showcases Maynard’s vocal ability. Thinking Of You: (4:20) Maynard did his by-now-standard simulated masturbation during the repeated “thinking of you” line with the same red strobe effect they used during the NIN tour. However, I didn’t expect him to drop his pants fully and I really didn’t expect him to leave them off for the remainder of the show. Nonetheless, he performed the last six songs with his briefs nearly falling off thanks to the mic pack he wore clipped to the back. There was something on the front and the back that showed up under the blacklights but I couldn’t tell what it was from the back. In reference to his little onstage “personal moment”, he said, “Oddly enough, that always happens RIGHT THERE. I can’t figure it out. Thank you very much. Nice touch.” Rose: (3:40) This is probably my favorite when considering the topic of the song. I still wonder why the instruments wait for Maynard to begin the “bend around the wind” line before they enter when played live. This was performed extremely well, as always. Renholder: (3:45) It was very cool to see Billy sing live. Another bonus, of course, was seeing Paz finally play the violin on stage; something fans missed out on during the NIN tour. During the course of this revamped Renholder, Maynard and the two girls from the intro brought out candles and placed them around the stage. MJK: “This is a very special night for us for many reasons. Its our last show this year. We get to do it in Houston. That’s a great thing. We’ve been touring through the United States with a band called Sunna. They’re great. They’ve been a real pleasure to work with. And, tonight we have a Make A Wish Foundation contestant winner (rim shot from Josh). Danny Lohner on bass for a song called 3 Libra’s.” 3 Libra’s: (3:38) It was cool to see Danny play on this song because that gave Paz the opportunity to play violin. For those who don’t know, Danny is the bassist for Nine Inch Nails, and also seems to be dating Paz. MJK: “Ladies and gentlemen, Danny Lohner. Danny Lohner, ladies and gentlemen. Houston, Danny Lohner. Danny Lohner, Houston. Danny Lohner. This next song is called, Ode to Danny Lohner. It was written in a town called Danny Lohner, on a planet called…(waits for crowd to chime in ‘Danny Lohner’). Exactly. I think you’re getting the picture here. He was born in the month of…(waits again) in the back of a stolen hearse, dressed in black, smelling of shit. That man…(waits again)…Danny Lohner.” Ozzy’s Cure (Ode to Danny Lohner): (7:45) I had been looking forward to hearing this song ever since I got an mp3 of it from a show last Fall in Arizona. However, I never expected to hear a version of it quite like this. Maynard basically sang it to Danny Lohner (as a joke, of course.) Examples of the altered lyrics include: “Diary of Danny Lohner. Walked the line, again today. Entries of confusion. Dear diary, Danny’s here to stay.” Or my favorite: “Whenever I’m alone with Danny, he makes me feel like a man again.” Of course, Danny spent the entire song giving Maynard the finger. During a guitar solo, Maynard ran to the drums and came back to the front of the stage with his black, headless, V-shaped guitar. He stood with his head down and the guitar held forward, “presented” to the crowd for 30 seconds or so, and then he pretended to smash it on the stage. MJK: “Sorry, we got carried away. This has been a lovely tour. We’d like to take a moment to thank our crew. We couldn’t have done this without you people. Thank you very much. We got you all gift certificates to McDonald’s. You do like McDonald’s, right? It is Irish food, after all. Thank you very much for coming down, we appreciate your support. We’ll see you next year.” Over: (4:00) I couldn’t identify this song until about a minute in. They completely revamped the beginning instrumentally and lyrically for live performance and it makes a good change. MJK: “Thank you very much. This song is called Judith.” Judith: (4:50)   - Adam Lancaster