Would anyone know/care who Puscifer was if it were not for Maynard? I for one would probably say no but it would not be fair to compare Puscifer with Tool or A Perfect Circle because other than Maynard these bands have little to nothing in common. Nevertheless, I was intrigued to see Puscifer in a live setting because there is a handful of their tunes I am keen on and I had never seen a show at the California Center for the Arts.
After Bob and I had a burger and brew at the nearby Plan 9 Alehouse on Grand we worked our way through the maze of the city hall campus to the Concert Hall. Once inside we halfheartedly attempted to see where our seats were while opener Night Club was on stage but the pitch dark venue made it easy to go grab a beer instead. Timing worked out perfect as the house lights were up by the time we made our way back and found our seats.
A short while later the lights went down and a funny vignette began to project from dual screens onstage. This vignette featured Maynard dressed as his character Agent Dick Merkin and suggested that the mystery meat in Spam was in fact people who were caught using their phones during the show as this was strictly prohibited.
The setlist leaned heavily towards their newest offering Existential Reckoning and the stage show also went along with the same motif with three “extras” dressed up as probe agents and aliens. It was well designed and executed. The drummer and bass player kept things moving along but also freed up the guitar player to do his thing on his guitar without a headstock. Karina and Maynard’s voices harmoniously blended as they moved all around the stage. This was the first show I had been to in a long time with a formal intermission but also quite possibly the first time I had seen Maynard look like he was actually having fun, especially dressed as his character Billy D.
SETLIST: Bread and Circus, Postulous, Fake Affront, The Underwhelming, Grey Area, Theorem, UPGrade, Apocalyptical, The Remedy, Personal Prometheus, Momma Sed, Horizons, The Humbling River, Bullet Train to Iowa, Man Overboard, Flippant, Conditions of My Parole, Bedlamite
