Four words that no one wants to hear in close proximity are Brixton, Academy, Tube, and Strike. Unfortunately, a tube strike is exactly what we’re facing today and so, instead of a relatively easy journey, we end up driving from Leicester to a marginally dubious parking spot near Clapham Common so that we can safely walk to the Academy for the second of a two-night stint at the Academy for A Perfect Circle. We may not, as the Proclaimers once sang, have walked 500 miles, but it makes for one hell of a journey, albeit one we’re glad to undertake for a band whose shows are as rare as hen’s teeth.
At any event, the length of the journey combined with the typically labyrinthine process of entering the Academy means that we arrive just in time for Jehnny Beth, having missed Reclus.é.
Jehnny, late of Savages, has carved out a unique niche for herself in the music world. With her solo output far darker and heavier than her former band, her confrontational presence is a perfect mix of Nick Cave, Patti Smith, Henry Rollins, and Courtney Love, and she utterly dominates the stage tonight. Unfortunately, while it is clear that she’s an imposing front person, the mix is muddy, to say the least, with the guitars all but buried beneath pulsing bass frequencies that lack all definition. As a result, opening number Broken Rib lacks the punch that might be expected, while a cover of Bjork’s Army Of Me is rendered all but unrecognisable across its opening bars.
None of this, of course, is the band’s fault, and it is a testament to both the quality of their material and their stage presence that, even with these limitations, they turn in a set that captivates a good portion of the audience. And it is clear that Jehnny has much to offer as a solo artist, her band dealing in a compelling mix of alternative rock and industrial that nods to the likes of Gary Numan, P. J. Harvey, How To Destroy Angels, and Idles. Most of all, however, it is her attitude and energy that saves the day. From tearing into the mic on stage to belting out her lyrics from the barrier, she has a punk rock energy that is utterly irresistible and, by the time she wraps things up with I’m The Man and I See Your Pain, the sound has cleared enough for us to appreciate what those close to the amps already know – Jehnny Beth has the musical chops to sit alongside her unfettered energy.
By the time Jehnny leaves the stage, the Academy has filled up considerably, with eager fans squeezing themselves into every available space. It’s hot, crowded, and the aura of anticipation is palpable as a voice warns us that tonight is a phone-free zone (and thank goodness – the brief relaxation of restrictions at the end is enough to highlight just how brilliant it is to watch a show without a sea of glowing screens up in front of you).
The band come on to the skittering rhythms of The Package, the sort of atypical alternative rock song that most bands would hide away at a set’s core, it’s a track with which A Perfect Circle gleefully opened their second album and here (as there) it acts as a scene setter for a set that seems to ebb and flow across its runtime. And then there’s Maynard’s voice. Ever a thing of wonder, he emerges on his platform to sing with grace and poise, husbanding the raw power that lies beneath for those moments where he can allow it to uncoil, stretching out across the packed venue to touch everyone present. Always captivating, tonight he’s on top form and he sounds simply amazing throughout.
Following a brief greeting, the band take us through three core tracks from 2018’s Eat The Elephant. Maintaining the album sequence, we get the shimmering beauty of Disillusioned, which reinforces Maynard’s injunction that the audience remain in the moment throughout the show, free from digital distractions. It’s followed by the mid-tempo and atmospheric post-metal of The Contrarian and, building a rather more imposing head of steam, The Doomed, the latter all howling guitar lines, wiry bass, and punishing rhythms.
From there, A Perfect Circle take us on a tour of their storied history, invoking not only cheers but spontaneous singalongs from the sweltering audience. Highlights be damned, the setlist is the highlight, with Weak And Powerless, a splenetic Rose, and Blue all following one after the other as the stage lights fizz and burn. With the band cast as silhouettes and, periodically, as smoke-wreathed outlines on the vast screen dominating the rear of the stage, it’s easy to lose yourself to the music, allowing Billy’s guitar to wash over you in waves. It’s intense, emotional, and it only goes to reinforce the vital message of unity that runs through Eat The Elephant (and Disillusioned in particular), bringing the audience together as one for 90 glorious minutes.
The biggest cheers of the night are reserved not for the singles but for Gravity and Orestes, neither having been played by the band in some eight years. The latter, a potent emotional cut from the band’s still-mesmerising debut, sees the audience singing as one, almost threatening to overpower the band at points.
It leaves A Perfect Circle to wrap up the main set with an epic TalkTalk – given new life in the live environment; an alternative version of 3 Libras (All The Main Courses) which, based on a Massive Attack remix, piles on the bass to establish an aura of dread; and a monumental The Outsider. This final song finds the audience increasingly vocal, having shaken off the hypnotic power of the opening numbers to fully give vent to the excitement that has built over the last hour.
Somewhat contrarily, this is the moment the band choose to leave the stage and, having finally let all the anticipation and tension of the night boil over, we get to watch a digital representation of a steaming Maynard for ten minutes. Thanks guys!
Oh, but the wait is all part of the band’s master plan for, when they return, they deliver a remarkable encore that makes it all worthwhile. They open with a blistering Counting Bodies Like Sheep To The Rhythm Of The War Drums, a scything industrial nightmare envisaged during the Bush administration and all the more pertinent given the increasingly hawkish tendencies of the current Commander in Chief. The band play it dead straight, the thunderous percussive blasts given additional weight when Josh Freese is finally let loose to augment the stuttering beats.
They then follow it up with one of the single best songs in the band’s catalogue. A wonderfully dynamic work, The Noose pairs a killer melody with a build-up that finds layer upon layer of grinding guitar slowly take over from the sublime sparseness of the introduction. Long one of my favourite songs, it’s clear I’m not alone, for the entire audience find their voice for this one, leaving us emotionally cleansed in its wake.
Bringing the night to a close, Maynard takes a moment to thank us for being so firmly in the moment, graciously giving permission for those who wish to film to do so across the final two tracks. It says much of the band’s utter ascendancy over the senses that relatively few do, and it’s worth leaving your device in your pocket for, following new cut Starless, the band power through Judith with all the rage and wonder the track first evinced back in 2000.
A Perfect Circle appear on these shores all too rarely and their performances are to be treasured. Over the course of some 90 minutes they deliver a masterclass in slow-burning intensity and, obeying the injunction to leave the phones out of sight, the audience remain firmly in the moment, singing, cheering, and simply letting the music permeate their senses in a way that is all too uncommon in this era of endless connectivity.
While, given the band’s incomparable back catalogue, there will always be songs that you’d like to hear (Passive is a painful omission for me), the beautifully constructed and generously diverse set the band air tonight covers a huge amount of ground and we leave the white hot confines of the Brixton Academy in something of an awed hush, with most simply trying to process what they’ve just witnessed. Gigs like this are a glorious reaffirmation of everything that is wonderful about the power of music to bring people together, to provide catharsis, and to distract from the every day, and A Perfect Circle more than deliver on all fronts.
