Cinquanta Night 1 Review - APC/Failure/Puscifer/Danny&Justin

[Fuck Mountain]

Sorry guys wasn't sure where to post this since it related to...Puscifer, APC, Failure AND Tool.

So just got back to my hotel in LA a few hours ago. My older brother and I attended night 1 of Cinquanta (Maynard's 50th bday bash) at the Greek Theatre in LA. This concert was the final event in an 9 day roadtrip my bro and I did througout the SouthWest US. We just got lucky that a roadtrip we were planning anyways happened to coincide with us being in LA during this weekend.

Annnnnyyyyways, Cinquanta was absolutely fucking awesome and totally shattered my expectations. Going into this gig I thought a few things would happen / was worried that:

1. Failure would get the opening slot and play to a half empty Greek Theatre
2. APC would play second and do an underwhelming set, the last time I saw em a few years ago they did the shitty Three Libras remix, some underwhelming Emotive tracks and not great Thirteenth Step material. It was a far cry from when I saw em in 2000 and 2004.
3. Puscifer would play the headliner set and it would be long and sort of disinteresting (not a huge fan of Puscifer on record)
4. Nobody from Tool would show up.

Well all 4 of those things didn't happen.

Failure is a band that I've LOVED since I was a teenager in the late 90's. Got into them through Stuck On You and have been waiting for a reunion for ages. They arent everyone's cup of tea, but I love em and I knew like 95% of the lyrics I heard tonight off by heart.

The big surprise was that each of the three bands opened the show by playing THREE songs each. 3 Failure. 3 APC. 3 Puscifer. Then they took a break, and repeated this TWICE. And since there was a LOT of sharing of member and band members playing on each others songs the show had a really unique variety to it and it made things so fresh. So the show "opened" with Failure AND Maynard doing The Nurse Who Loved Me (which APC covered on Thirteenth Step). So Failure got to play two more three song sets later in the night to the full packed crowd in the darkness of the LA night. And I, as one of the few Failure magafans there, LOVED this. Maynard also sang on Failure's song Solaris which was AWESOME. I LOVE Solaris so seriously dug seeing him duet with Ken Andrews on that one.

Next is APC, and they sounded like classic APC. They played some of the better Mer Des Noms material and better Thirteenth Step. They played Rose, they played Orestes and they played the proper version of Three Libras, and they didnt play any of the underwhelming stuff from Emotive. They sounded great!

Puscifer also just sounded fucking awesome. Their sound is so different from APC or Tool and it really does work better LIVE. They sounded solid, Carina sounded great, the visuals were amazing. I especially loved some of the background shots which features the desert and Joshua Tree (my bro and I visited Joshua Tree a few days prior).
So yeah, all the Puscifer stuff I heard I liked. I still wont know those tunes nearly as well as Tool or APC, but live they worked and MJK seems to have a lot of FUN playing them live.

The other surprising things were video screens that showed the band members. I'm used to not seeing MJK on screen at shows, but whoever handled the mix of live video and visual elements did a great job. Also NO MJK hiding in the back like with (all) Tool shows and (most) APC shows. He was front and centre and all over that stage tonight. He wore a porkpie Heisemberg hat for most of the night and seemed very comfortable on stage.

and then....Danny Carey's drum set was rolled out late in the night during Puscifer's final three song set. Kanaduh had told me he had seem online Danny's set was seen at the rehersals. So Maynard came out in the full Puscifer set and Danny the lionfucker Carey came out on drums and the band did Cuntry Boner and it was just funny and weird and entertaining. Danny stuck around for another Puscifer song and then shit got even weirded when GREEN JELLO came out and they did Three Little Pigs (with Puscifer, Maynard, and Danny on drums)!!! I wonder just how fucking long its been since that tune has been done live WITH MJK and Danny. 20 years? Was awesome. Not MANY people in the crowd got it, but I was singing along to that chorus and loving it.

and....then Justin came out (im not fully sure on this but it looked like him) and Puscifer with Danny and Justin did SOBER! I dont recall seeing Adam on stage. My brother and I sang out absolute guts out to Sober and the old girl still sounds good all these years later, the whole crowd predictably loved it to all fuck. It was pretty weird hearing Sober live with Puscifer visuals on screen and the Puscifer guitarist (I think?) playing Adam's parts. Kanaduh was second row, I was last row in Section B, so maybe he'll know what was going on the stage better than me. Then after sober on more Puscifer song and the show was a wrap.

Fucking awesome awesome show. Loved it a lot. No disappointments. I'd have loved to have Tool (including Adam) do a set, but in some ways I think this show was better without them.

-Mike/Sianspheric

[Ravenpig]

Thanks for the review! You sure the Sober guitarist wasn't Billy?

[junior]

Zac Rae, from the band "Early Winters" played a distorted keyboard part during "Sober". There was no actual guitarist for that performance.

[Ravenpig]

Ah cool, thanks for the answer. Do you happen to know why Adam wasn't there by any chance?

[Fuck Mountain]

Zac Rae, from the band "Early Winters" played a distorted keyboard part during "Sober". There was no actual guitarist for that performance.

interesting. I saw someone playing keyboard and I thought it was Justin, so Justin was not there. Is that correct Junior?

to be honest, I didn't think Sober sounded great. I was super happy to hear it mainly for my brother (since he's a big Tool fan and NOT too familiar with Puscifer or Failure), I mean I've seen Tool do Sober like 5 times already, but overall I really thought it missed the guitar part. It just sounded a little off. Still a great way to cap off the night with a big familiar singalong. But still...was odd Adam wasn't there for that.

I hope Adam being there wasn't a sign of some rift between em. Or maybe Adam was just home with his wife and baby. None of my business really. #armchairspeculator

PS. great work on the lights/visuals Junior!

[Ravenpig]

Justin was definitely there. Just scroll down a bit:

http://fourtheye.net/f/viewtopic.php?f= ... 9&start=70

[hellboy]

Thanks for the review! Sounds like a great night!

[Fuck Mountain]

It was great.

It just felt....... special.

three little pigs?
cuntry boner with danny on drums?
maynard doing vocals on failure's solaris for (probably) the first time ever?
corina on lead vocals of apc's the package?
4 mer des noms tunes including libras (non-remix)?
sober with no guitar but maynard in a wig?
maynard singing at the front of the stage?

remember the "bizarro jerry" episode of seinfeld?, was kind of life that. it was a bit unpredictable and mjk is usually sort of predictable guy.

I am really beyond happy that it worked out that I managed to be there.

Maynard seemed in good spirits. Everyone on stage from all the bands sounded solid. The bands seemed to get along fine and it was a refreshingly original experience to have the bands alternate constantly, collaborate in new ways and for us to get 9 distinct short "sets" rather than 3.

Hopefully the night 2 folks have as memorable a show, I fly back to Toronto, Canada in 12 hours.

[Ettan]

This sounds awesome! Maynard sounded great on Sober as well, and I can't believe they played the real 3 Libras. Can't wait to see what they'll do tonight.

[hellboy]

[Ettan]

Not digging the keyboardist tbh.

[hellboy]

Not digging the keyboardist tbh.

I thought his interpretation was pretty good, certainly no replacement for the real thing though.

[satanbakesale]

According to reddit Adam was at the show atleast for the first set, seating in the first couple rows. I myself can't confirm as I was in the B section. Seeing Manspeaker up there with Maynard and Danny was truly a great moment. It felt like a MJK timeline going back all the way to Green Jello.

[badkittygothgirl]

That doesn't make sense that Adam would be there and not join them on stage.

[Ravenpig]

Or maybe they're saving the whole band song for tonight?

[Ettan]

This is after all the last show until the new album drops, I fucking hope

[junior]

I would call it more of an "interpretation" of Sober.
I think Danny and Justin were being kinda loose about it. Justin was playing through Puscifer's bass rig, though he had his own bass guitar, so his sound was a little different than normal.
They'd also been hanging out for a few hours getting "loosened up".

No specific intel as to why Adam wasn't there, but again, he does have a 4 month old at home.
I had heard Adam is not feeling well this week, but don't know if that had any bearing.

Danny was set to play on the encore songs, regardless, and they got Justn to join in for fun. I wouldn't read much into all of that.

[Ravenpig]

Good stuff. I was more curious about Adam than anything. Them playing Sober with a keyboardist (he did great I think) kinda fit in with the theme of the night too.

[iloveposters]

I would call it more of an "interpretation" of Sober.
I think Danny and Justin were being kinda loose about it. Justin was playing through Puscifer's bass rig, though he had his own bass guitar, so his sound was a little different than normal.
They'd also been hanging out for a few hours getting "loosened up".

No specific intel as to why Adam wasn't there, but again, he does have a 4 month old at home.
I had heard Adam is not feeling well this week, but don't know if that had any bearing.

Danny was set to play on the encore songs, regardless, and they got Justn to join in for fun. I wouldn't read much into all of that.

Thanks again for all your input, it's really apprecited.

HOWEVER

The real question that remains to be answered is HOW MANY 'JUNIORS' WERE SUBSTITUTED THAT NIGHT FOR ACTUAL LYRICS???!?

YOUR JUNNNNIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRR IS SLIPPIN DOWNNNNNN

TO CHOKE YOU NOW!!!

[lipanconjuring]

I wish I could have been there for one of the shows, but I'm enjoying some of the Youtube footage... It's kind of jarring seeing Maynard perform APC songs without his wigs. Not like it really matters but his getup is so integral to their live identity to me that its almost like seeing a different person standing there and singing. I'm guessing that would make it the first time he's played an APC set without his fake hair since their first show in '99 at the Viper Room. He sounded bitchin on 3 Libras & Sober.

Those costumes during the Green Jellÿ gig were awesome, haha.

[hellboy]

Was there any indication that these shows were being filmed for some kind of DVD release?

[Ns1]

Was there any indication that these shows were being filmed for some kind of DVD release?

i did not see any pro camera rigs there.

[badkittygothgirl]

Meats Meier and Tim Cadiente were wearing their photo ninja costumes, thought.

[arbutron]

Was there any indication that these shows were being filmed for some kind of DVD release?

Yeah - the big side screens playing live video of the show were really well shot & even had crossfade from person to person on most songs. It looked really good.

[Ettan]

Full show: [BBvideo 560,340][/BBvideo]