A powerhouse three-headed rock monster invaded Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI on May 28th as part of a season-long celebration of the 61st birthday of alternative rock legend Maynard James Keenan, a tour known as Sessanta 2.0. Two of Keenan's three bands, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, along with friends Primus, presented a unique and unpredictable show that rotated between each band every two-to-four songs, with no clear headliner or opening act. After the success of the same tour in 2024 (Sessanta 1.0), the 2025 leg hit cities that were not featured on the first run.
In addition to music from all three bands throughout the night, some songs featured collaborations with members of one of the other groups, the premier of a new Primus song that features additional vocals from Keenan, and the debut of new Primus drummer, John Hoffman, additional attention was directed at A Perfect Circle drummer Josh Freese as he was loudly and unexpectedly fired from replacing the late Taylor Hawkins in Foo Fighters while the Sessanta tour was in-progress. The audience was also treated to an unannounced appearance by Billy Strings, the psychedelic bluegrass Michigan native, who performed two sold-out shows at Van Andel later in the week and another sold out performance at The Charlotte Bluegrass Festival in June. In this case, Strings handled vocals on the second verse of Primus' "Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" and took a guitar solo while he and the band were all smiles through the end of the song.
All three bands entertained with many of their hits and a handful of deep cuts that no doubt satisfied those who were primarily there for any one of the groups, and while many concertgoers seemed to enjoy the music of each, some were seemingly less acquainted with Puscifer, essentially Keenan's solo project and the band with the fewest hit songs of the three. Surprisingly, the tone established over the first 20 minutes of the show maintained throughout the rotating performers, where Primus classics from as early as 1990 sounded right at home next to Puscifer songs from 2020. Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle sounded amazing on all of his signature guitar leads and solos, and the continually excellent pairings of Keenan and Puscifer singer Carina Round, and the demented duo of Les Claypool and Larry LaLonde of Primus, made each song engaging and significant, both individually and within each mini-set. During a few different points in the show, all three drummers were onstage together and tagged in and out of a brief solo.
While some have argued Sessanta is a tough format for a rock show because no one band ever gets a chance to truly build momentum before tagging out with one of the other bands, the creative uniqueness of the presentation made it interesting and unlike previous tours by any of these bands (or any bands, really). It was as though a selection of each group's catalogs were loaded onto the same playlist and then presented on shuffle, but it was live on stage. When has anyone else ever done that?
While Keenan's famous cell phone ban was certainly in effect in Grand Rapids and throughout the entire tour, fans were allowed to photograph and film during the final song of the night if they wished.
It's hard to imagine this particular show running for a third time again next year, but those who had the chance to see it last year or this spring got to witness something really cool and extra special regardless of their personal concert histories.
Sessanta 2.0, Grand Rapids, MI (5/28/25) set list:
A Perfect Circle:
-"Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums"
-"Disillusioned"
-"Blue"
Primus:
-"Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers"
-"Too Many Puppies"
-"Duchess and the Proverbial Mind Spread"
Puscifer:
-"Man Overboard"
-"Horizons"
-"Indigo Children" (versatile mix)
Primus:
-"Little Lord Fentanyl" (w/Maynard James Keenan & Carina Round)
-"Welcome to This World"
-"My Name Is Mud"
-"Jerry Was a Race Car Driver"
Puscifer:
-"Postulous"
-"No Angel"
-"Bullet Train to Iowa"
-"The Algorithm"
A Perfect Circle:
-"The Contrarian"
-"The Doomed"
-"Weak and Powerless"
-"The Outsider"
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(intermission)
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Puscifer:
-"The Humbling River"
-"Polar Bear"
-"The Remedy"
Primus:
-"Pablo's Hippos" (w/Maynard James Keenan & Carina Round)
-"Wynona's Big Brown Beaver" (w/Billy Strings)
A Perfect Circle:
-"The Noose"
-"Kindred"
-"Judith"
Primus:
-"Southbound Pachyderm"
Puscifer:
-"Grand Canyon" (w/Primus and A Perfect Circle)
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