Reclusive art rockers A Perfect Circle hypnotized a sold-out Fox Theater with their trademark droning atmospherics in marked contrast to the hyperactive Warped Tour antics that were wrapping up across the street in the Comerica Park parking lot that night.
With a 90-minute, 18-song set comprised mostly of barely-recognizable covers from their 2004 release eMOTIVe – prompting some audience grousing to be heard in the men's room during the show – vocalist Maynard James Keenan hunkered down and maintained watch over the proceedings from his shadowy platform at the back of the stage, allowing co-leader Billy Howerdel (along with the rhythm section from his side project Ashes Divide and former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha) to take the spotlight. He was surprisingly friendly when, after a set of no remarks to the crowd, he dispensed with the pretense of walking off stage before an encore and announced that we should pretend they'd left and come back and then introduced the band.
Fans eager to hear new music were let down as only one new song, “By and Down”, was unveiled as a show-closer, and those seeking the hits were left without “Judith” and a radically retooled “All Main Courses” remix of “3 Libras.” Other than isolated moments here and there like “The Hollow” and the genuinely thunderous Ministry/Killing Joke-esque “Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums”, the overall mood of the set was more ambient than focused. Definitely unfocused was the beered-up audience who hooted and hollered during the elegiac rendition of Joni Mitchell's “Fiddle and Drum” near the end of the show. Shut your noise holes, idiots!
A Perfect Circle slideshow
Red Bacteria Vacuum slideshow
The pleasant surprise of the evening were all-female Japanese trio Red Bacteria Vacuum, who first pummeled the crowd with a metallic noise assault before switching to a more pop-flavored approach. While the audience was initially reserved when confronted with these unfamiliar ladies – we're fans of Jap chick rock bands and had never heard of them – by the end of their set, they had the crowd on their feet, cheering and singing along to the cue cards they held up. Afterwards, a stream of newly-minted (mostly male) fans trekked to the merch booth to buy CDs that the band signed at a table set up in a side chamber of the lobby, proving rock is the universal language.
