Concert Review: Puscifer keep Austin weird during intense, spirited set, performing new album in full, interspersed with fan favorites.
Puscifer has always walked a tightrope between satire and sincerity. The multimedia project, fronted by Maynard James Keenan alongside co-vocalist Carina Round, builds soundscapes spiked with absurdist lyrics that provoke and entertain.
This approach has proven particularly effective live, resulting in an experience that blurs the line between a rock show and performance art, embracing Keenan’s love of 80’s post-punk and 90’s alternative comedy.
Their stop at Bass Concert Hall was no exception. The band barreled through all ten tracks from their 2026 album Normal Isn’t, a record that subtly skewers the country’s current political disarray without ever slipping into heavy-handedness.
Click here for my Normal Isn’t review
Rather than preach, Puscifer set the tone with a pre-recorded video featuring a Keenan and Round, both marked with streaks of red eye makeup, asking the audience to keep their phones tucked away and disengage from the surrounding chaos.
It was a gentle and humorous demand for the audience to stop doomscrolling, be present and share the moment. It was a welcome invitation to leave the noise outside.
From there, the pair moved like twitchy automatons, scurrying and spinning with eerie precision. Keenan, never one to resist absurdity, at one point suggestively brandished a Shake Weight (remember those?), leaning fully into the band’s signature mix of juvenile humor and conceptual art.
Musically, the Normal Isn’t material translated seamlessly live. Tracks like “Thrust,” “The Algorithm,” and “The Quiet Parts” pulsed with mechanical tension, while “Pendulum” and “The Underwhelming” added a more hypnotic, slow-burn groove. Even as the themes circled modern anxiety and disconnection, the band avoided didacticism, letting mood and repetition do the heavy lifting.
The older material provided both contrast and continuity. “Bullet Train to Iowa” and “The Remedy” (from Existential Reckoning) slotted in naturally, their synth-heavy textures aligning with the newer songs, while “The Humbling River” and “Momma Sed” (from “V” Is for Vagina) brought a more organic, almost spiritual weight. The latter even morphed into something heavier by the set’s end, with guitarist (and the band’s chief sonic architect) Mat Mitchell pushing it toward a metallic climax.
Elsewhere, fan favorite tracks like “Conditions of My Parole” and “Grand Canyon” expanded the show’s dynamic range, while “A Public Stoning” reinforced the band’s flair for theatrical tension.
Interspersed throughout were the band’s trademark skits, including one surreal segment involving cooking and mind control, further leaning into the night’s overarching themes of manipulation and detachment.
The rhythm section, featuring Gunnar Olsen on drums and Josh Moreau on bass kept everything tight yet fluid, particularly during the extended bass showcase of “Seven One,” which gave the set a moment of stripped-down groove.
Near the end of the night, Keenan reflected on the city’s influence. “Austin is where I got the goth bug,” he quipped, referencing local dance club Elysium. That influence seems particularly formative given Puscifer’s darkwave leanings.
By the time they closed with “A Public Stoning,” the message was clear. In a world that now feels beyond parody, Puscifer doesn’t offer answers. Instead, they invite you to sit in the discomfort, laugh at the madness, and, if only for a couple of hours, experience communal catharsis.
Setlist:
- “Thrust”
- “Normal Isn’t”
- “Bad Wolf”
- “Self-Evident”
- “The Algorithm”
- “The Quiet Parts”
- “Pendulum”
- “The Underwhelming”
- “Mantastic”
- “Bullet Train to Iowa”
- “The Remedy”
- “The Humbling River”
- “Momma Sed”
- “ImpetuoUs”
- “Seven One”
- “Conditions of My Parole”
- “Grand Canyon”
- “A Public Stoning”