Sessanta – A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Primus – Red Rocks Amphitheater – Morrison, CO

Sessanta – A Celebration of ’s 60^th Birthday featuring A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Primus – Red Rocks Amphitheater – Morrison, CO – April 25-26, 2024

Review and photos by Kate Klaus

Maynard James Keenan chose to celebrate his 60^th birthday in monumental fashion (as done for his 50^th at Cinquanta) by assembling an incredible musical line-up, including his bands A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, as well as longtime friends Primus, for an epic month-long tour across the US. On April 25^th and 26^th, they performed at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado, and the back-to-back shows were as extraordinary as the idyllic setting that they took place in.

The show featured almost 3 hours of non-stop music, with the bands rotating between 3 song sets. During the other band’s performances, members of the remaining groups remained on stage, making drinks, dancing, playing ping pong, and just generally enjoying themselves at the birthday party that was the show. A Perfect Circle opened the night with “The Package”, and on night 2 this was particularly haunting, with lightning seen across the Denver skyline in every direction. Despite the cold (and on night 2, stead rain), the performances were flawless. Maynard’s voice was just so clear and beautiful, echoing off the rock faces of the amphitheater. The sound at Red Rocks is almost indescribable if you haven’t had the honor to experience it, with an acoustic perfection that enhances the sound of any band, and experiencing Billy Howerdel’s guitar riffs and Matt McJunkins bass tones in that ethereal sound space is intense and evokes more emotion that one would feel possible from music alone.

Primus took the second set, opening with “Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweakers” and setting the crowd on fire. There’s something invigorating about the way that Les Claypool plays that just energized the whole space, and again that energy was just accentuated by the majesty of the surroundings. Tim Alexander’s drums thundered through the amphitheater and the crowd screamed along to their second song “Too Many Puppies”. During their performance, Puscifer’s Carina Round was up on the drum riser ledge/viewing lounge absolutely rocking out and dancing away. It was so fun to see all the members of the bands celebrating and enjoying the night, clearly not just tour mates and band mates, but family.

Maynard then took the stage again, joined by the theatrical and perfectly quirky Puscifer, including Carina Round, Greg Edwards, Mat Mitchell, and Gunnar Olson. They opened with “Man Overboard” and then lead into the haunting “Horizons”, which was just ethereal in the Red Rocks setting. It is almost impossible to put into words the emotions that hearing these songs and Maynard’s voice and lyrics in this venue elicits. Puscifer is one of those groups that has an amazing and diverse catalog of songs, but are unmatched in the performance that they deliver, in the characters and theatrics of each song. It was clear that many new fans were made at these shows, because once Puscifer has been experienced live, the music just stands in a whole new level of awe.

As the night progressed, it was a mix of power, beauty, shenanigans, beautiful musical performances, and a chance to witness a moving celebration and a glimpse into the decades of friendship and partnership that these musicians have as they progressed through set rotation after set rotation, punctuated with jokes and special moments. It was incredibly moving and inspiring. Both nights had their hiccups, with technical difficulties affecting the final song of the night on night 1 (unfortunately the one and only song granted photography on these nights) and severe weather and persistent rain and cold on night 2, but in an odd way, those hiccups only served to further extend the magic and uniqueness of the performance experience, in essence because of the way that the bands so graciously and professionally handled the situations. From Maynard’s jokes to “please not be killed by lightning tonight” to the silly shenanignas that replaced the planned final song “Grand Canyon” on night 1, it was just an added display of the amazing energy of these musicians as a whole – flawless talent, perfect musicianship, invigorating energy, captivating charisma, and just an unbounded display of professionalism and positivity that is so refreshing and uplifting. As they closed night 2 and this Red Rocks weekend with the words of “Grand Canyon” echoing off the red rock faces, it was the perfect end to a magical celebration of one of the most inspriring, enigmatic, and talented musicians of our era. It may have been his birthday, but it was the sold-out crowd that received the gift of his light and talent and gathering of these incredible musicians for this amazing show. Happy birthday Maynard James Keenan!

“One among infinity

Witnessing the majesty

Calm in this humility

Witnessing the majesty

Hope as far as one can see

Witnessing the majesty

Standing on the edge of forever…”