By Scott McLennan

Sessanta succeeded in making “old” songs and “old” bands sound powerful, vital, and progressive.

Les Claypool of Primus. Photo: Sam McLennan

Last Tuesday, the Sessanta tour launched its five-week trek across America at Boston’s Boch Center – Wang Theatre with a stunning three-hour show that wove together the music of Puscifer, A Perfect Circle, and Primus.

This unique 30-song revue by three of alt-rock’s top-tier bands is a celebration of Maynard James Keenan’s 60^th birthday, which occurs on April 17 when this show reaches Arizona. But don’t mistake Sessanta as one big ego trip by the dynamic frontman of Puscifer and A Perfect Circle, the two bands Keenan leads when he’s not busy working with Tool. Sessanta’s opening night drew a sold-out crowd deeply into a pool of music made by bands who share a heritage but also offer contrasting perspectives. A second sold-out show at the Wang was set for Wednesday.

With A Perfect Circle, Keenan collaborates with guitarist and songwriter Billy Howerdel to create a brand of angular rock that swings between heavier and lighter tones to create big, communal rallying cries.

With Puscifer, Keenan is in cahoots with guitarist and keyboard player Mat Mitchell and singer Carina Round. That group takes an experimental and exploratory approach to its music while still being able to produce grand, embracing gestures.

Primus is the wild card on this tour. The trio, led by bass virtuoso Les Claypool, exploited its lurching, metallic funk to bring a distinctly different texture into a presentation which was structured to have each band play rotating mini-sets. Primus drummer Tim Alexander has performed and recorded with both A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, but Sessanta offers listeners an invaluable opportunity to watch Claypool and Keenan, two rock ’n’ roll visionaries-turned-elder-statesmen, mix their creativity on stage to exuberant effect.

Maynard James Keenan left and Billy Howerdel performing with A Perfect Circle. Photo: Sam McLennan

The concert unfolded on a two-tiered stage, with three drum kits stationed on the upper level, flanked by couches for the musicians on break to perch, watch, and to occasionally descend into the action happening on stage.

A Perfect Circle opened the evening and turned in a magnetic performance despite its long period of inactivity. Original drummer Josh Freese, on loan to Sessanta for a couple of weeks from his new gig with the Foo Fighters, was a powerhouse, generating the big dynamic surges that give this group its dramatic flair. Keenan, decked out in black suit, raccoon-eye makeup, and blonde faux-hawk wig, chewed up the scenery on the opening tune “The Package,” relishing the lines “Clever got me this far, then tricky got me in.”

APC closed its first appearance with “Disillusioned” and “The Contrarian,” both from the band’s last album Eat the Elephant, which came out in 2018. Puscifer’s Round sang with Keenan during “The Contrarian.” Failure’s Greg Edwards pulled double duty all night, playing guitar alongside Howerdel in APC and handling bass duties in Puscifer.

Primus took the second slot with a three-song set that forecast its approach to Sessanta’s opening night: stick to the classics. While Keenan’s bands rifled through their catalogs with a bit more sense of adventure, Claypool kept it old-time Primus: hence we heard “My Name is Mud,” “Too Many Puppies,” “Jerry Was a Racecar Driver” and other popular repertoire staples.

Greg Edwards, on keys, Maynard James Keenan, singing, with A Perfect Circle as members of other bands watch from above. Photo: Sam McLennan

But Claypool, guitarist Larry LaLonde, and drummer Alexander were devastating, no matter what they played. From its opening  number“Those Damned Blue-Collar Tweekers” to the band’s final outing on “Southbound Pachyderm” at show’s end, Primus was a pillar of brute sonic stability.

That’s not to say Primus wasn’t willing to stretch out. In the show’s middle section, Keenan was given the mic to sing Claypool’s tall tale of “Tommy the Cat,” and during “Southbound Pachyderm” Primus welcomed Freese and Puscifer drummer Gunnar Olsen into the fold for an extended jam.

Puscifer ranged farthest of the three bands, simply because it could. A Puscifer concert is usually tied to the release of a new album so the show’s narrative structure is aligned with the fresh setlist. For Sessanta, Puscifer is just winging it, and it is a joy to experience.

For its first set, Puscifer pulled “Man Overboard” and “Tiny Monster” from 2011’s Conditions of My Parole then “Indigo Children” from the group’s 2007 debut album. Puscifer’s appealingly elusive and shapeshifting sound was matched by the frenetic energy Keenan, Round, and Mitchell displayed on stage as they bound about, mugged, and danced their way through this provocative material.

In the show’s middle section, Puscifer concentrated on the dystopian themes of its last studio album, Existential Reckoning, playing “Postulous,” “Bullet Train to Iowa,” and “The Underwhelming” from that record, though the band did reach back for the rootsy life-lessons lecture “Momma Sed.”

Carina Round and Maynard James Keenan performing with Puscifer. Photo: Sam McLennan

The best collaborations that occurred in that segment took place in APC’s set. Alexander from Primus played drums on “The Hollow” and Claypool, wearing a pig mask and bowing an upright bass, sat in on a rapturous “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.”

The concert’s final section featured a blend of new material and big numbers. Before the tour began, the bands released a three-song E.P. (or the “Sessanta E.P.P.P.” as it has been dubbed, given the tour’s alliterative lineup). It was also the portion of the show that felt the most tentative. While APC’s contributions of “Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums” and “Judith” were dependably rock solid, Puscifer seemed to run out of steam on an otherwise beautiful rendition of “Humbling River” before shifting gears into a thuggish “The Remedy.”

The aforementioned “Southbound Pachyderm” seems to be positioned to become the evening’s big jam vehicle, what with APC bassist Matt McJunkins joining into this drumming extravaganza of a number.

The new Puscifer song “No Angel” and APC tune “Kindred” were solid performances. They signified that Keenan’s mission was to keep forging ahead – 60 is hardly too old to rock and roll. “Pablo’s Hippos,” the new Primus song produced by Keenan — on which he shares vocal duties with Claypool — was too much of a Frankentune, composed from familiar elements of the Primus sound to take seriously — let’s consider it a one-off whipped up for this tour.

Thankfully, Sessanta ended on a glorious note, as all the musicians took part in a majestic reading of Puscifer’s “Grand Canyon.”

Age jokes were sprinkled throughout the performance, both in videos shown between songs and with antics on stage. But there was nothing geriatric about these performances: Sessanta succeeded in making “old” songs and “old” bands sound powerful, vital, and progressive.

Scott McLennan covered music for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette from 1993 to 2008. He then contributed music reviews and features to the Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Portland Press Herald, and WGBH, as well as to the Arts Fuse. He also operated the NE Metal blog to provide in-depth coverage of the region’s heavy metal scene.