Sessanta 2.0: A 61st Birthday Celebration for Maynard James Keenan in San Antonio!

Primus, Puscifer, and A Perfect Circle performed at Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Tx on April 29th, 2025 for their Sessanta 2.0 Tour in celebration of Maynard James Keenan’s 61st birthday!

Primus is an American rock band originating from El Sobrante, California and was formed in 1984. Their current lineup consists of vocalist/bassist Les Claypool, guitarist Larry “Ler” LaLonde, and drummer John “Offer” Hoffman.

primusville.com

Puscifer is an American rock band originating from Los Angeles and was formed in 2003 by Maynard James Keenan, lead singer of the bands Tooland A Perfect Circle. Their current lineup consists of vocalist Maynard James Keenan, guitarist/vocalist Carina Round, guitarist Mat Mitchell, bassist Greg Edwards, drummer Gunnar Olsen.

puscifer.com

A Perfect Circle is an American rock supergroup originating from Los Angeles, California and was formed in 1999 by guitarist Billy Howerdel and Tool vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Their current lineup consists of lead vocalist Maynard James Keenan, lead guitarist Billy Howerdel, rhythm guitarist James Iha, bassist Matt McJunkins, drummer Josh Freese.

aperfectcircle.com

**A Perfect Circle Tour exclusive poster**

Sessanta 2.0 is a sequel to the resurrection, and expansion, of the 2014 Los Angeles event, Cinquanta, which was originally a one-time only celebration. Much like that fabled evening, which commemorated Maynard James Keenan’s landmark 50th birthday, Sessanta 2.0 celebrates the Puscifer and A Perfect Circle frontman as he turns 61.

Sessanta’s unique format sees the musicians from the trio of bands joining each other’s performances throughout the concert. While each group will have their own distinctive set, the players will continually transform as the night unfolds.

Maynard stated:

“The Sessanta run was by far the most fun and delicious extended birthday party I’ve ever had thanks to all of the attendees and the master musicianship of Primus, Puscifer and A Perfect Circle. No comparison. We need to share this with people who missed the first round in places we couldn’t get to. Strap in.”

As you should know if you’ve been following Maynard’s bands, is they always implement a strict no phone policy. There’s no exceptions and if you don’t comply you will be immediately ejected from the venue.

Maynard explaining his strict no phone policy:“It’s rude. Not to us, I mean, I just did a whole photoshoot. I’m not afraid of cameras and I’m not afraid of phones. I’ve got mine right here. It’s a very useful tool.”

“There’s no way you can actually capture what’s happening in that live moment on a phone. You’re missing the opportunity of actually absorbing in real time what’s happening. The art of storytelling. Being able to actually recount what you saw without having to record it. Training your brain to live in the moment and see the thing, but more importantly, stop annoying the person behind you. It’s annoying, it’s distracting and it’s distracting for us, too. So put it the fuck away, grow the fuck up. And at the end of the show, we usually let you film a song, so you get your souvenir.”

Maynard said:“Stay with us. Stay present. If you can’t do that for three hours, you have a problem and need to see somebody. Keep it in your pocket. At the end of the show we’ll let you film the last song. Don’t annoy your neighbors. This is going to be fucking amazing. It’s a fucking birthday party!”

A Perfect Circle opened the evening promptly at 8 pm. There was no openers so when they said the show started at that time they meant it. The highly captivating band started with “The Package“, the first track off their sophomore album “Thirteenth Step“.

Second they performed “Disillusioned“, one of the singles from their latest full length release “Eat the Elephant“. If you’re familiar with this song you already know you’re about to witness the softest part of the evening. Two minutes into this beautiful ballad it slows down, with Maynard guiding you with his soft voice through this trance before it starts to pick right back up.

They wheeled out a hospital cart decorated with a birthday balloon to present Keenan a single cupcake with a candle to blow out early in the evening. The celebration was very brief and no one sang “happy birthday,” although there was a large standing ovation for the beloved frontman. Thus far, Sessanta 2.0 had been almost completely identical to it’s predecessor. If that were the case then “The Contrarian” should be up next, except they threw a curveball at us all. They dug deep in their arsenal and performed one of their deeper cuts, “Blue“. This went over rather well with the crowd. No complaints here either.

Primus took the stage to an uproar of applause after that gentle start of the evening. Les Claypool is arguably one of the best bass players of our time. With his distinct sound and signature unconventional style of string-slapping, he immediately won over the crowd. Whether you knew who he was prior to this evening, you knew who he was following this performance. His bass playing is more astonishing in person than it is in the studio. It’s very impressive how he can belt off his vocals while still maintaining his relentless percussion of the bass. His unconventional approach is truly something to marvel at!

Primus decided to take a complete opposite approach this time around. Last year’s tour they came out the gate swinging with three of their most beloved songs. This time they took people a little further beneath the surface and introduced everyone to some of their deeper cuts. You could tell they were having a great time performing these songs as they extended them in jam session fashion.

Last but not least, Puscifer emerged unto the stage. Typically, their shows are tied to the release of a new album so they base a fresh setlist off of that. For Sessanta, that obviously wasn’t the case. So they put together a compilation of hits just as the other bands did. For their first set, they pulled “Man Overboard” and “Tiny Monster” from their 2011 release “Conditions of My Parole“. They concluded this set with “Indigo Children” from their 2007 debut album “V Is For Vagina“.

Now for the fastest paced set of the evening. Maynard and Carina stayed on stage for the start of Act II where they offered backup vocals for the premiere of Primus‘ latest single “Little Lord Fentanyl,” which Puscifer is featured in. This was a very refreshing addition to their set. Following, Primus took us back to their 1993 release “Pork Soda” for a few tracks, first of which were “Welcome To This World“. Primus continued with their most revered hit single, “My Name Is Mud“. Claypool started blasting his bass strings with his thumb, making it sputter through the auditorium and pulsate through the crowd like a machine gun! This was their highlight of the evening and left the crowd in sheer awe of their performance. At this rate they weren’t slowing down any time soon. Ironically, Primus ended this portion with “Jerry Was A Racecar Driver“. Expressing how he “drove so god damn fast“. This got everyone off their feet! I don’t know how anyone could stand still to this song. With Les Claypool shouting “GO!” almost mid way then following with “Hee hee hee! Dog will hunt!“.

Puscifer and A Perfect Circle rotated sets back and forth with one another. Puscifer returned to stage with “Flippant,” followed by “No Angel“. This was the first song of the evening from the Sessanta E.P.P.P. After performing “Bullet Train To Iowa,” they debuted “The Algorithm” live. This recent release was crafted exclusively for the soundtrack of popular “American Psycho” comic book series. The main theme centering around the idea of phone addictions, referring to those doom scrolling as ‘social mediots’ in Patrick Bateman style. The song is basically him voicing his emphatic stance on the no-phone policy in form of song. He really means business when it comes to ‘living in the moment‘ and ‘staying present‘. At this point he’s really driven it into his fans’ brains with several nails. As serious as Keenan may be at times, he is equally if not more comical and likes to make the show feel as fun as possible. Wheeling out a ping pong table for the members to absolutely botch in front of the crowd and also Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots to battle Carina. This performance had a true house party feel to it and was much more intimate than other shows. Especially ones of this caliber.

A Perfect Circle returned to stage with two newer songs “The Contrarian” & “The Doomed“, and two older songs “Weak and Powerless” & “The Outsider“. Whenever Puscifer came back this time around they were accompanied by Mr. Claypool for “The Humbling River“. Last year, he dawned a pig mask while playing an upright bass. This year he wore a disco ball helmet, which was much more suitable for the party.

Primus returned with their Sessangta E.P.P.P track “Pablo’s Hippos” and their highly anticipated hit “Too Many Puppies“. This fun song had everyone singing “Too many pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-pup-puppies“!

**SESSANTA Tour exclusive signed E.P.P.P.**

A Perfect Circle started their last set with “The Noose” slowing things down a bit. Although a sudden change of pace, it was rather fitting for the evening. The last song of the celebrated EP, “Kindred,” was then performed. I think I speak for everyone when I say the next song was the one we were all waiting for! “Judith” not only hails with their most streams on Spotify (167 million), but drew the largest reaction of the evening from their adoring fans. There was an immediate uproar whenever the song began and the audience sang in unison to fill the auditorium with their angelic voices. This song was from their debut album “Mer De Noms” and will forever hold a special place in my heart. My sister introduced me to that album at an early age and it helped shaped me into the person that I am today. I might not be writing this article if it weren’t for her showing me way back then.

Primus played their last original song of the evening, “Southbound Pachyderm“. This groovy track was performed with all three drummers from the bands!

The entire evening was comprised of three acts and one grand finale. For the last song of this glorious evening, all three bands joined each other on stage for their finale performance of “Grand Canyon“. This was truly a spectacle to see. I’ve only ever witnessed something like this one other time and it was the first year of Sessanta. Thanks so much to Maynard and company for allowing me back for the second round of this! It truly meant the world to me.