Photos and review by Jennie Book
@jenniebookphotography

Puscifer beamed down to earth from its spacecraft on May 14^th, then took the stage at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles that evening in front of a sold-out, excited-to-be-there crowd. First order of business: no phones allowed. Puscifer fans know the rule, but since newcomers likely go in expecting the phones-held-high-free-for-all-bonanza they’ve become accustomed to at other shows, a recorded PSA is in place to tell everybody exactly what’s expected. So no phones, and if you do it you’ll be ejected. In one photo I took I can see a screen lit up in the pit, but in defense of that renegade it looked like a flip phone.

Maynard James Keenan, Carina Round, Gunnar Olsen on drums, Mat Mitchell on guitar and synths, and Josh Moreau on bass play (literally and figuratively) together like a well-oiled machine. How they share that level of dramatic investment night after night (MJK did admit he was tired) is astounding. And how many days of the year is Maynard on tour with his various bands (Puscifer, Tool, A Perfect Circle)? Puscifer just did 32 shows, Tool does 50-80 dates a year, add in A Perfect Circle here and there, plus the special Sessanta tours, and I hope the tour bus is super comfortable and nap friendly.

There’s no accidentally arriving at a Puscifer concert, there’s no wandering in off the street; the crowd is unquestionably there to see them. But if you did go along to the show to be a supportive friend, you are now a fan of Puscifer and will always in the future go to shows completely on purpose.

The set was a fantastic 18 songs long, and we were shown a bonus video a third of the way through called “Bangers and Mashups” which featured MJK’s and Round’s alter egos Bellendia Black and Fannie Grey. Then a ten minute intermission came at the two-thirds mark where we could stretch our backs and line up to purchase insanely, outrageously expensive twenty-two dollar beers, ugh please stop that, Live Nation.

There’s a lot to talk about in regards to the Puscifer universe. We’ve got graphic novels, mega merch, lore, the aforementioned alter egos, short films, great bts album-in-progress photos, Maynard’s genius, Carina and Maynard’s genius together— mega essays could be written on all these things alone.

But there just isn’t music like Puscifer’s music anywhere else, and that’s what the fans can’t get enough of. Yelling “The Remedy” with thousands of other people, witnessing “The Humbling River” live, hearing “Momma Sed” booming through stacks of speakers, I mean we’re all so lucky that we get to take part in it. And we can’t forget tracks from the new album, Normal Isn’t, which is filled with dark theatrical bangers— the show closed with “A Public Stoning” from it which was perfect with its timely lyrics that are hugely fun to sing live, like if you could with abandon scream “single minded motherfucker! fogging up your echo chamber!” you’d feel some catharsis too I bet.

If I have one regret about this tour it’s that I didn’t fly to Colorado to see them at Red Rocks. Because can you imagine the majesty of that.

The Puscifer North American tour has ended, but keep in touch with all things band-related at www.puscifer.com, and never ever miss them live.