Live Review: Puscifer

A local Hobart coffee shop once wrote on their sandwich board sign a couple of years ago, ‘Did you see that big light in the sky over Hobart last night? Apparently David Walsh was trying to get in touch with Batman, he is going to teach him how to save a city.’ 

The unwitting saviour to our fair city, David Walsh, is the owner of MONA and overlord of two festivals, Mofo and its winter cousin Dark Mofo. It was easy to be reminded of that café sign while watching Puscifer as part of the Mofo festival. The cold and rainy evening became a warm inviting inferno on stage complete with Mexican wrestling ring, wrestlers and captivating (if a little creepy) visuals on the screen. 

Despite the perhaps a touch too contrived ‘performance’ of the wrestlers on stage throughout the set, it really was the Maynard Keenan show. Front man of a little band called Tool as well as A Perfect Circle, Maynard is no different as part of Puscifer, regardless of some amazing supporting cast; he is the main event. Puscifer would still be very interesting without him, but there is no mistaking the Maynard magic wand has been waved across every element on stage. 

The show itself was divided into Acts, each having its own progression and direction into the next, building to dramatic crescendos and then letting the audience drift into a trance and calm down before letting rip with some more throbbing guitars. Songs without Maynard on lead vocals saw Carina Round deliver some bluesy haunting tracks that gave Puscifer an unexpected extra depth and diversity. 

The main man of few words wrapped up before the end of the show with saying, "We’ll do a couple more songs and then I am heading back to stare at the plastic vaginas." If you don’t know what he is referring to, better get yourself to Mona. Batman’s back in town.