Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
If you ask me what it feels like to wait eight years to see a band again, I don’t think I can fully answer — but for many people in that venue, including myself, it wasn’t even a wait. It was a first time. A Perfect Circle‘s first European tour since 2018 landed at the O2 Academy Brixton for two sold-out nights, and June 4th was the second of them. The room already had the energy of a crowd that knew exactly what they were in for, and Brixton is exactly the kind of place where a comeback like this should happen — even when it falls on the day of a full transport strike.
Supporting on the night were Reclus.É and Jehnny Beth, two acts that turned out to be a far better match for the headliner than you might expect on paper.
The night opened with Reclus.É — a brand-new project from Daniel P. Carter, the longtime BBC Radio 1 Rock Show host, and Soren Bryce of Tummyache. For a band with barely a debut single to their name, they carried themselves with surprising confidence across their thirty-minute set. Their sound is wide and hard to pin down, but the punk aggression is right there on the surface, wrapped in a warmth that felt distinctly post-punk.
Bryce switched between clean and full-throated vocals in a way that kept you on your toes — at times the melodies settled everyone into something almost calm, and then suddenly she’d throw the full weight of her energy right in your face, no warning, no easing in.
I will say, though, the lighting during their set nearly blinded me more than once, which is a note someone on the crew should probably take. Even so, as a way to set the tone for the night, Reclus.É did exactly what you’d want from an opener.
Photo: Peterson Marti.
Then came Jehnny Beth, and honestly, I particularly loved everything about this set. Best known as frontwoman of post-punk band Savages and as a solo artist — her second album “You Heartbreaker, You ” came out in 2025 — she arrived on stage with the kind of presence that makes everyone in the room sit up straight.
The band dynamic was tight, but it was Jehnny herself who made the performance feel like an event. Her moves on stage felt deliberate, physical, magnetic, and there was a real sense that she was performing for the room, not just in front of it. The highlight, for me personally, came when she removed her blazer and jumped into the crowd, lifted up by the fans at the front while still singing. It was one of those moments you can’t plan or rehearse — it just happened, and the room felt it.
Photo: Peterson Marti.
You know a show is going to be great when even the wait becomes palpable. By the time A Perfect Circle stepped on stage at 9:20pm, the energy in the room had been building for well over two hours.
Opening with “The Package” was exactly the right call. Each member walked out to a progressively louder crowd, and when Maynard James Keenan finally took his position — perched on his stand at the back of the stage, as is his way — the room erupted. He asked everyone to keep their phones away for the duration of the show, with the exception of the very last song. And somehow, we all obliged — which, as it turned out, also earned us the chance to record the final two songs, since the whole room had behaved. Thanks, Maynard.
What followed was close to an hour and forty minutes of music played to a room full of people actually watching it.
The setlist drew heavily from “Thirteenth Step” and “Eat the Elephant”, but the real moments for longtime fans came with the return of “Gravity” and “Orestes” — both unplayed since 2018, and both received with the kind of reaction that makes clear how much this night meant to people who’d been waiting the better part of a decade. The lucky ones who were there for the first night also got to hear their cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine”, a classic that’s long been part of their live repertoire.
The staging was minimal throughout, though the iconic logo was there — and honestly, that’s exactly how it should be with APC. Most of the show revolved purely around the music, and that restraint made the moments that landed hit harder.
It was really with “Weak and Powerless” that the evening began to fully unfold. The first three songs set the scene, but that one shifted something in the room — every voice joining the chorus was just something unbelievable to witness.
After “The Outsider” closed the main set, the band left the stage. The encore wait stretched to nearly ten minutes, and not a single person seemed to mind. When they came back, it was with “Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums”, which built the room back up before giving way to “The Noose” and then the live premiere of “Starless“ — their first new song since “Kindred” on the 2024 Sessanta E.P.P.P., and only the second new track since Eat the Elephant in 2018.
The night closed with “Judith”, as it should — leaving the room with nothing left to ask for and no words to reach for either. Before leaving the stage, Maynard mentioned he’d be back later in the year with Puscifer — something the crowd clearly already knew and cheered loudly for.
Eight years is a long time to wait. It was worth every minute, and I’m already looking forward to seeing them again. The musicianship, the atmosphere, the way they inhabit a show — pure bliss.
Setlist:
Photo: Peterson Marti.
