It was a blistery cold night at The Factory in St. Louis but that did not stop the fans of Puscifer from coming out.
Puscifer lands at the Factory in Saint Louis. Act One begins as a dramatic story line of the concert following the antics of a trio of secret agents hunting down dancing aliens and other space creatures to the tunes of what would closely resemble metal electronica if having to be defined in a box. Different from Keenan’s other bands was the sheer addition of humor and nods to the great 80s culture in this Men (and Woman) in Black substrate of Tool and A Perfect Circle.
Videos intertwined the live performances with messages not unfamiliar to fans of Keenan’s dislike of recording devices- insisting that violators of technical manipulations will be yelled at as “SPAM!” and forcefully ejected. Giving the largest nod to the earliest of the 80s iconic figures the front man suggested he was a gender morphed reincarnation of sorts of Plasmatics frontwoman Wendy O Williams, sigh; if only. It’s chilling the abject perfection and Midas touch Keenan has but this particular vehicle performed like a juggernaut for almost 2 hours for what was labelled as Act 1, 2 and 3. One would think that like movies – the 2 hour mark makes you yearn for the ending but absolutely no one wanted to leave this existential holy ground. There was a peppering from each audio release throughout the acts. From “Bread and Circus”, through “Grey Area”, and “Humbling River” ending with “Bedlamite”. The ending was satisfying but a bit somber to go back to ‘real life’ and the woes of the daily grind after this journey we’d just been on. At least fans wouldn’t leave saying they saying they saw Puscifer and all they got was this damned t-shirt.
