Sessanta Melts Minds At Baxter Arena!

Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming

My mind is still in melt mode from the Sessanta tour at Baxter Arena on Tuesday (6.3.25)! If you're unfamiliar, Sessanta is a celebration of Maynard James Keenan from Tool fame. The tour started last year to celebrate Maynard's 60th birthday and continued into this year for Maynard's 61st. Both tours featured A Perfect Circle, Puscifer, and Primus, the three Ps if you will, ha.

I've been a fan of A Perfect Circle for a long time but I never got the chance to see them live. I was able to see Puscifer a few years ago and I had a great time. I had seen Primus twice previously, but I was stoked to see all three bands on stage at once, something truly unique.

The set started off with three songs from A Perfect Circle including "The Package", "Disillusioned", and the hit single "Blue". They sounded incredible! Maynard's voice is clearly the stand-out of the whole show but the guitar wizardry from James Iha and Billy Howerdel was mesmerizing. Let's not forget about Josh Freese! This band is a total supergroup and it shows. For me personally they were the best part of the show but Puscifer and Primus are no slouches!

After the first APC set it was time for Primus to throw some funky rock down. Les Claypool is arguably one of the best bass players ever, period. While I've never been a Primus superfan you have to respect the talent there. I really didn't know any of the songs until later on in the show when they broke out "Welcome to this World", "My Name is Mud", and "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver", but they brought the grooves that had the fans on their feet. One guy was going nuts jumping up and down in the aisle (the floor was seated) like a one-man mosh pit. Les shouted him out saying "Hey where you going guy in the white shirt!" The dude was having the best time. I'm sure if there weren't seats he would've come out of mosh retirement.

After each set the bands would go up and hang out on couches at the top of the risers and cheer each other on. One of the highlights was Maynard swinging a checkered flag during "Jerry" so funny! I love that while Maynard makes some really thought provoking and serious art, he's a total goofball! Like the opening video for example.

Puscifer played this video the last time I saw them but it was still just as funny. It basically eluded to SPAM having a secret ingredient and that ingredient is the meat from fans who took photos and had their phones out during the show. It was a great way to get the point across that they don't take kindly to cell phone photos during the set. All around the arena there were signs posted. At first I thought it sounded a bit pretentious but after you settle in and you realize everyone is following the rules it really does keep you locked in and focused on the band. Everyone enjoying the music and having a moment being together. One late-comer must have missed the message and did take several videos which was pretty annoying. The phone in my line of sight was distracting. I think more bands should take a queue from Maynard. It might be annoying at first, but it really does make for a better show.

Another goofy moment was when the band brought a ping-pong table on stage and started having a match! The balls were flying into the crowd and everyone was having a blast.

Following the photo rules, us photographers were only allowed to shoot the very last song, just like the crowd. As all the bands gathered to play "Grand Canyon", a Puscifer song, the crowd had their phones in hand trying to capture a moment. A lot of fans in the front row stood in awe with tears streaming down their face. The bands popped streamers and confetti as they celebrated victoriously. It was truly one of the best shows I've seen this year or ever really. I really wish more bands would adopt this format. It could be really fun! I'm so glad I got to catch this tour. I'm even more excited to see A Perfect Circle and Puscifer again. Maynard said they love coming to Omaha and they have a new record coming this fall. So keep your eye out for new tour dates! You know I'll be there camera in hand (even if it's just the last song).

A huge thanks to Baxter Arena and Puscifer management for photo access! Thanks for reading and we'll see you at the next one!