So, once more it's Wemb-hell-y Arena, haven for overzealous security, "superstar" roadies, and a PA that can be baffling at times. Oh, and the fact you can't take a half drunk plastic pint into the auditorium, but wear a backpack. Tell me; what does more damage when hitting you in the head? Exactly. And as for their choice of music over the PA between bands? Yeesh...
Anyway, I missed the opening of Revolution Smile due to carrying some biological weapon of mass destruction...sorry, a half-drunk pint of Carling from those nice men with tanks of it wandering around the halls, although walked in for their set. After three minutes of their sub-Godsmack drone, with a frontman that thinks he's Brian Molko, it was time for another round. By the way, their guitarist and bassist were dead spit - if they aren't twins, or related in any way, Linkin Park aren't the band of clones we should worry about...
With that unpleasentness aside, time for A Perfect Circle. And, judging by the amount of Tool/APC T-shirts milling around, it's safe to assume that the crowd aren't just here for Chino & Co.
Anyway, since I saw them last, the delightful Paz Lenchantin has left the band (she does this a lot - note Zwan split on Tuesday), but we gain James Iha and the artist formerly known as Twiggy Ramirez. Fair swap? Musically, yes. Visually, no. DAMMIT!!!
Still, Maynard James Keenan is more aloof and enigmatic than ever. Proof? The first song, all we got was his silhoette from behind a screen (he was wearing the long brunette wig with braids in it), and for the whole set didn't look at the audience, as in ONCE. However, did we care? Well, no. However, a lot of the material was unknown territory for the basic reason we don't have Thirteenth Step yet, and the reactions to anything from Mer De Noms was clearly more excitable early on, as The Hollow got everyone moving properly.
The thing about APC live is the fact they aren't easy to pigeonhole, but I'll try anyway. Cross euphoria with inner peace, and that's APC live. Basically, it's taking 'shrooms, then. Well, it isn't like there's any rock star posturing for cheap pops (James Iha was coming closest), just the music and the visuals, and the occasional comment from Maynard you can't quite make out. But, when they hit you with Judith, it goes a bit more nuts than you'd expect.
So, onto Deftones it is.
They're alittle older, wiser, and fatter than they were in times past (especially since I saw them a couple of years back), but who cares? After all, when they came on with Minerva, nobody was saying Stephan Carpenter looks like a roadie, since everyone was singing along to the extent you couldn't hear the band too good. So much for the new material not standing up - hey, we weren't complaining during Good Morning Beautiful, and were very happy indeed to receive Be Quiet & Drive (Far Away) - wait, does that mean the older material was miles better, or have we just got six years head start? However, this also led to the point where we were remninded once again that Chino Is God - singing My Own Summer (Shove It) IN the crowd (or more accuratly, on top of them), going as far as to call halt to the proceedings when a whole pile went down and checking they were all OK. And to keep things ticking over, we got Bored (pardon the pun).
However, this doesn't convey Chino onstage at all. His personality is more than enough, which is why we all love the guy. Rather than some people who seem to be on rails and pre-rehearse every line (step forward Mssrs. Durst, Bennington and Shinoda, Hetfield, Kroeger, etc.), he actually seems to enjoy being up there, and the fact we're all happy as hell to have him as compere for the evening. Even better, Chi Cheng is one of the best straight men out there.
But the way a set can ebb and flow also makes them something else. We go from a big hitting opening salvo of some of the big floor fillers, then suddenly it's chilling to Digital Bath, and again the lights and curtains change the mood to fit the song, telling us "Hold still and keep quiet, and relax a little." The crowd get a breather, sing along, and chill out...and swiftly get back into it for Around The Fur. However, it wasn't this quick - Chino does take breaks between songs to talk with the crowd a lot, giving some dickheads the chance to rant that he isn't playing enough, or holler that, since Maynard is there, we should get Passenger, naturally. Request, repeatedly, denied. Get over it.
However, ammends are made easily enough, as a fan is allowed onstage to singalong to the last chorus of Headup (GIT!), even though his was a moot position as it wasn't like he was the only one doing so, but he had a mic in front of him. Did I say he was a git? Then there was a meandering intro to Mascara that lasted a couple of minutes, and got the lighter treatment usually reserved for Godawful bands like Nickleback. Hey, we were in Chill Mode again, OK? Meanwhile, Chino was looking out for a laser pen - he said he was off to visit David Blaine afterwards. Talk about getting fans on your side. Oh, slinging Battle Axe in at some point around here helped...
After Feiticeira, he was back in the crowd for Hexagram, extolling the virtues of drinking, inciting a riot against MTV, firing Abe (and re-hiring him twenty seconds later), and said how much he liked being in Stephan's band before Engine No.9 The guy just won't be stopped, even if we do all know what boxers he wears. And, just to wind us up, asks how much we want to hear 7 Words, once again with some cover version slung into it (don't ask me what it was, I forgot, OK?!?).
A quick break and they were back on for the last song...no, not Passanger, so shut the fuck up already!!! No, it was Change (in the House of Flies), another singalonga Chino, and he tossed his guitar to the crowd and left...as did the others, who I may have forgotten to mention. Well, Frank Delgado kept vanishing from the stage on a few occasions, so whaddya expect? And after that, it was just one thing that needed to be done. How the hell do you get onto the roof to join their post-gig kegger? They really should supply ladders, y'know...