Puscifer Brings Their 'Normal Isn't Tour' to San Diego
- Kaiya Vandemark
- May 14
- 5 min read
Puscifer brought their Normal Isn't Tour to the San Diego Civic Center on May 13th. I grew up at this venue but for a totally different reason. I was a theater kid, so I saw plays and ballets here but never a concert. Being in a sit down theater where ushers are escorting us to our seats with chandeliers hanging over the bars brought a whole new vibe to this show and I loved it.
Maynard James Keenan has a super strict no phones policy to ensure the crowd is present in the moment and respectful of others views which I respect so much. This policy is so strict that they were checking all glasses and sunglasses at security making sure none of them were those you could film with. Once inside the venue, there were signs almost about every ten feet or so that further enforced this no phone policy.
After being shown to our seat, which was a first at a concert for me, it was time for Dave Hill to kick off the show. At first I had no idea what I was watching, but by the end of his set, I still had no idea what I was watching. He was not the type of opener I’m used to seeing but honestly he’s the type of opener I want to see more of now. With a mix of music, dry humor, some portable strobe lights, and nunchucks, it was definitely entertaining. Anytime he stopped talking for even a split second, the crowd just “magically” started chanting “Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave!” He asked the crowd for song requests. He played riffs from Pantera, Van Halen, and obviously he had to play a snippet of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird”. Honestly I was impressed because of how his set started, I was so not expecting him to pick up a guitar and just shred. He taught us all some San Diego specific pick up lines that you can only use in San Diego, and then after a few more minutes of nonsense, he got back on the bike he rode in on and very gracefully, stumbled off the stage.
After a 30 minute break, the lights went down and it was finally time for Puscifer. Their set opened up with a video reiterating the whole no phones, no video, and no photo policy. The video told everyone to put away the distraction, connect with the people in this space, and live in the moment. I love that they have this policy because it’s annoying these days to watch concert video through cellphone screens the whole night so it was refreshing to not see a single phone in the air. The end of this video had that whole crowd chant “We Understand” before the show could actually start.
From start to finish, Puscifer is a very mesmerizing band to watch. I may not know a lot of their songs, but it is so hard for me to look away even for a second. The way that Maynard and co-vocalist Carina Round move and interact with each other is so captivating. Every piece in their set and their voices moves in such a harmony that's hard to explain unless you’re in that room.
During “The Remedy”, Dave came out on stage with a brief case. Carina and Maynard reach for what was in this brief case and it was two prop pistols. They back up and start shooting at each other. Maynard then reaches for a cross bow. Then Carina pulls out this huge nerf gun. You see these little nerf bullets flying all over the stage. During “Grand Canyon”, the whole band paused and stayed in place. A spotlight appears and Dave comes back out of stage, stumbling in on his bike. The crowd started doing the “Dave” chant again, he whips out his nunchucks for a second, and then leaves. The band went right back into the song like nothing happened. As ethereal as this set is, I love them adding these random bits of comedy in there.
They closed out the night with “A Public Stoning”. Before the song started, Maynard introduced the band and then said that if you wanted to video, you could video this one song. The tour ended tonight in Los Angeles but Puscifer will return later this year with a tour in Europe and then will be joining A Perfect Circle in Australian, New Zealand, South America, Mexico, and Japan and will even be making a stop in Hawaii!
Normal Isn’t European Tour Dates:
25 October - Stockholm, SE Annexet
26 October - Oslo, NO Konserthus
28 October - Warsaw, PL Stodola
30 October - Berlin, DE Uber Eats Hall
1 November - Zurich, CH Komplex 457
2 November - Brussels, BE A/B
3 November - Tilburg, NL 013
5 November - Amsterdam, NL Gashouder
7 November - London, UK British Airways ARC
8 November - Manchester, UK Manchester Academy
9 November - Glasgow, UK O2 Academy
12 November - Dublin, IE The Helix
A Perfect Circle tour dates:
3 June - London, UK O2 Academy Brixton SOLD OUT
4 June - London, UK O2 Academy Brixton SOLD OUT
6 June - Nürnberg, DE Rock Im Park
7 June - Nürburg, DE Rock Am Ring
9 June - München, DE Zenith
10 June - Warszawa, PL Torwar
12 June - Wien, AT Nova Rock Festival
13 June - Ferrara, IT Ferrara Summer Festival
15 June - Budapest, HU Budapest Park
16 June - Zagreb, HR SRC Šalata
18 June - Zürich, CH Halle622
20 June - Clisson, FR Hellfest
21 June - Düsseldorf, DE Mitsubishi Hall
23 June - Tilburg, NL Poppodium 013
24 June - Amsterdam, NL AFAS Live
26 June - København, DK Copenhell
27 June - Oslo, NO Tons of Rock
28 June - Stockholm, SE Gröna Lund
1 July - Berlin, DE Zitadelle
2 July - Praha, CZ Forum Karlín
4 July - Esch-sur-Alzette, LU Rockhal
5 July - Werchter, BE Rock Werchter 2026
7 July - Paris, FR Zenith Paris
9 July - Oeiras, PT NOS Alive 2026
10 July - Madrid, ES Mad Cool Festival
25 November - Mexico City, MX Estadio Fray Nano
28 November - Buenos Aires, AR Microestadio Argentinos Juniors
29 November - Santiago, CL Hipodromo de Chile
4 December - Adelaide, AU The Drive
6 December - Melbourne, AU Rod Laver Arena
8 December - Brisbane, AU Riverstage
10 December - Sydney, AU Carriageworks
11 December - Sydney, AU TikTok Entertainment Centre SOLD OUT
13 December - Auckland, NZ Spark Arena
15 December - Tokyo, JP Zepp DiverCity
17 December - Osaka, JP Zepp Bayside
19 December - Honolulu, HI Neal S. Blaisdell Arena
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