Arcosanti proves perfect setting for Puscifer show
The experimental desert town of Arcosanti proved itself a brilliant backdrop for Maynard James Keenan and Puscifer to stage a live performance of their latest album, “Existential Reckoning.”
As Keenan summed up the appeal of that location in a press release before the show, “Imagine if you were an extra-terrestrial traveler and you landed in the Southwest and wanted to assume an identity here and blend in. This would probably be a good spot to do that.”
It was an even better spot, it turns out, to bring the haunting, futuristic
vibe of “Existential Reckoning” to life.
They played the album track by track, in its entirety, filmed in advance and streamed the day the record hit the streets, Oct. 30.
‘Existential Reckoning’ fit in with the surroundings
Arcosanti architect Paolo Soleri began construction on the town in 1970 and it still looks like what the future was supposed to look like at the time — or more specifically, the way the future looked in any self-respecting sciencefiction movie of that time.
And “Existential Reckoning,” in which Keenan’s dystopian visions of a world skidding into Armageddon are underscored by an ominous soundscape of analog synths and guitars that groove like “Scary Monsters”-era Bowie, felt right at home.
After setting the tone for the show with the world premiere of a music video for “Theorem” (Keenan reprising his role as Billy D), the concert began with a dramatically underlit performance of the album’s atmospheric opener, “Bread and Circus.”
“Here we are,” Keenan sang, “in the middle of our existential reckoning” as the camera panned across the individual members of the group, who dressed in matching black suits and dark glasses, as though they were ready for a close encounter of the third kind.
It was on the second song, “Apocalyptical,” that the cameras started panning out and Arconsanti really made its presence felt.
The concert made full use of Arcosanti’s cinematic possibilities, played out on multiple backdrops, with Keenan and Carina Round performing on raised scaffolding above a stage divided into quadrants, their robotic movements further adding to the dark, apocalyptic vibe of the proceedings.
And by the time they made it through that darkness to the final track, the optimistic “Bedlamite,” with its reassuring chorus of “It’s gonna be alright/ Everything will be alright?”
The shift in tone was underscored by filming that song as the sun rose on the Arizona desert floor with Arcosanti in the background, a visually stunning conclusion to a cinematic triumph.