The SNHU Arena hosted a unique musical celebration: Sessanta, marking Maynard James Keenan’s 60 ish birthday celebration. This event featured Keenan’s bands, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, alongside Primus, in a collaborative performance that defied traditional concert formats.
If you, like many other fans wonder what “Sessanta” means the explanation is simple. In Italian “Sessanta” translates to 60 which makes sense because the tour is billed as a 60ish birthday celebration for Maynard James Keenan.
Rather than separate sets, the evening unfolded as a continuous musical experience. Each band performed 3-4 song mini-sets in rotation, with musicians from the other bands often remaining on stage, lounging on couches. This setup fostered a sense of camaraderie and spontaneity among the performers.
A strict no-phone policy was enforced throughout the concert, encouraging attendees to immerse themselves fully in the live experience. This approach was appreciated by many, as it allowed for an undistracted connection between the performers and the audience .
As the lights dimmed in the venue fans were greeted by a video of Puscifer front man Maynard James Keenan stating the fact that if the fans used their phones or cameras with bright lights/flashes they will be escorted out of the venue and ground up into little Bitty pieces and processed into the secret ingredient of spam.
The stage was adorned with three drum kits atop a large riser and plenty of additional gear scattered around the stage to allow for virtually no turnover between bands.
The set was divided into Three Acts of each group’s material, beginning with A Perfect Circle for three songs then Primus for three songs followed by Puscifer for their three. What transpired was part concert, part Ripley’s-esque celebration, with video interludes that veered toward the surreal and moments that were literally playful, such as when a ping pong table was brought out onto the stage for non-performing band members to square off. Not to mention the fact that each staircase leading up to the back drum risers had its own chair lifts both of which were used to great comedic effect throughout the evening.
At a typical concert featuring Maynard James Keenan he would be lurking in the shadows throughout the show but to the fans surprise tonight he almost immediately came to the front center stage, blowing out a birthday candle and playing rock, paper, scissors with a fan before setting into a show where he would spend the majority of the time in the clear view.
In all, a Sessenta show isn’t unlike an overlong blockbuster movie-one that starts a bit slow, saves its crowd pleasing moments for the end of its first and second acts, then settles into a groove before crescendoing into a big finish, which in this case would be musicians from all three bands coming together for a show-closing version of Puscifer’s “Grand Canyon.” They created a theatrical ending where fans want to come back and see this again. The show was all what the fans were looking for and a whole lot more.
Primus
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Puscifer
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