What a month! Marilyn Manson and Maynard. This was my first trip to the Keller Auditorium. Not that many bands that I like are ever allowed to play there because it is a relatively nice establishment. I went with Lucinda, Roscoe, Jack, and Jack’s girlfriend at the time. Jack and his girlfriend were getting drunk in the parking structure before we went in and the rest of us decided upon just getting stoned. I really don’t like to smoke until right before the band comes out because I want to have the full effect but Lucinda was concerned that we would have a hard time smoking inside. Based on my past experiences I assured her that we would be alright and persuaded her to just wait until we were inside… What ended up happening was us having really good seats and a security guard about 10 feet to either side of us. My bad. This was the first and last time I ever smuggled a pipe into a concert. Roscoe had the brilliant idea to go to the bathroom to smoke. I didn’t think it that bad of an idea myself so we waited in a decent line to get to the target. Roscoe was ahead of me in line and got the middle of three stalls. I got the stall closest to the wall about 30 seconds later but the problem was that he had started smoking before me. People started hooting and hollering, “hey, who has it” and “share!” Of course by this point I am paranoid as shit and then I hear two people outside the stall bantering. “Who do you think it is?” “They’re either behind door number one or door number two.” After I quickly finished up, I decided to exit the stall looking as angry as possible and not make eye contact with anyone. It worked until I was almost out of the bathroom when Jack re-emerged and in his drunken state of mind said “Oh they’re after you man. Everyone knows you were in there smoking weed.” The truth of the matter is that they probably did know but he was drawing attention to me. Now I really was angry. What a friend. I hightailed it back to my seat as swiftly as possible when two security guards who looked like they were on a mission breezed past me. Then I had to give Lucinda the bad news. It probably wasn’t a good idea for her to reprise what I just did in the ladies bathroom. I don’t know if she ever forgave me for that one. So out comes A Perfect Circle and I’m high as a kite while Lucinda is sober as a bird. I remember they had a pretty elaborate light show that kept projecting Mayan symbols onto the floor and backdrop. One weird moment was them performing the song ”Vacant.” Tapeworm was a supergroup type project with a handful of very high profile musicians, but ended up mainly featuring Maynard, Trent Reznor, Danny Lohner, and Atticus Ross. Apparently this show was the first time the song had ever been performed live and Trent Reznor was a little upset that the track had been debuted in this fashion before it had “been properly realized.” The track ended up in a revised form on A Perfect Circle’s eMotive album under the title “Passive.” This was the last time I would see A Perfect Circle in this original incarnation.

SETLIST: Paz Violin Solo/Reinholder, Thinking Of You, Magelena, 3 Libras, Brena, Orestes, Vacant (Tapeworm Cover), Rose, Over, Thomas, Judith, Ashes To Ashes, The Hollow