Guy Who Screams a Lot Starts Talking
By Casey Ydenberg

Maynard James Keenan and his two band's Tool and A Perfect Circle are best known for their rants about the evils of religion, and studiously avoiding political parties, unlike some of their metal contemporaries such as Metallica and System of a Down. However, the latest APC show I attended, May 1st in Holmdel, NJ, was riddled with references to current situations. At one point Maynard said that "If you don't vote, you deserve to be manipulated by those in power", followed by his famous mantra: "Think for yourself. Question authority." The set for the show seemed to be designed around the lyrics for "Pet", a song containing the lyrics: "Swinging to rhythm of the New World Order", and seems to be thinly veiled reference to the Bush administration's culture of fear and the fictional war on terrorism. He also said: "The fucking terminator is the governor" (the band is from California).

However, much if what he discussed was in protest of censorship, and may stem from the fact that APC is releasing their latest music video on DVD because MTV has refused to play it. At one point he had the audience yell "Shit-fuck" and then look at their neighbour to determine if it had adverse effect. He also dedicated "Magdelena" to "middle America's obsession with nipples", tying it to the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction.

All this was quite odd because the previous time I saw APC he was pretty much mute (except for singing, of course). And with Tool he is known for his mysterious demeanor; the one Tool show I saw featured only a single monologue that could have been lyrics. No "Hello St. Loius" from these guys.

Music-wise, highlights of the show were "The Package", "Thinking of You", and "Judith", which seemed to engage the crowd in a strange question-and-answer session (Audience: Fuck your God/Maynard: Your Lord, Your Christ/Audience: He did this, and so on). Probably the only thing that didn't belong was "The Nurse Who Loved Me", which is basically a joke anyway, and seemed out of place. All in all, the set list was a good mix of material from Mer De Noms and Thirteenth Step; the band played the better songs from both albums rather than focusing on new material. They even added a new verse to "Orestes", which is from their first CD.

There were two opening bands: The Burning Brides, a seventies nostalgia band who can carry a tune but can't write to save their lives, and Midgits Playing Rock, who sucked, but were midgets, which made up for it several times over.

Setlist: (songs are right, order I think is right but can't remember exactly)
Vanishing
Pet
The Hollow
Magdelena
Weak and Powerless
Orestes
Blue
Thinking of You
Brena
A Stranger
The Package
3 Libras
Gravity
The Nurse Who Loved Me
The Outsider
The Noose
Judith

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