Tucked in the shadow of Trust Park (home to the Atlanta Braves), the Coca-Cola Roxy played host to experimental rockers Puscifer, with support from comedian Dave Hill, on a mild spring Saturday evening in the South. Opened in 2017, this venue anchors The Battery, a sprawling mixed-use hub of dining, retail, and residential spaces adjacent to the ballpark, which is located approximately 10 miles northwest of downtown Atlanta. Unfortunately for music lovers, sharing the Saturday spotlight with a Braves home game meant navigating dense traffic and shoulder-to-shoulder foot congestion before even reaching the doors.
Biking onto the stage at 8:00 p.m. to warm up the early crowd was comedian Dave Hill. Hill played less like traditional stand-up and more like a deliberate slide into controlled chaos. His material (some focused specifically on Atlanta-based themes and locations) pivoted between dry, sharply written jokes and absurd, self-mythologizing tangents, all delivered with a presence that felt intentionally unpredictable. Just as a comedic bit seemed ready to unravel, he snapped it back into focus with a well-timed punchline, and to the crowd lovingly shouting “Dave, Dave, Dave!”
What elevated the performance was his hybrid approach; Hill folded in musicianship, grabbing a guitar for exaggerated, arena-rock send-ups that were as technically solid as they were ridiculous. The result was a 30-minute set that felt loose and off-kilter on the surface but was tightly constructed underneath, leaving the Atlanta audience disoriented in the best possible way.
Out on the road in support of Normal Isn’t (released February 2026), the band’s first new album in over five years, Puscifer took the stage shortly after 9:00 p.m. following a video warning to the crowd that phones needed to be put away. Anchored by 61-year-old frontman Maynard James Keenan (of Tool and A Perfect Circle fame), the band launched into “Thrust,” the opening track from Normal Isn’t, to kick off their evening. What makes Puscifer compelling live is that they never chase catharsis in the traditional sense. There’s no obvious peak, no singular moment engineered for a roar. Instead, their entire set simmers, coils, and quietly consumes your attention until you realize you’ve been fully absorbed.
From the jump, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a standard live set. It was theater, satire, and sonic hypnosis rolled into one meticulously odd package. Keenan — part ringmaster, part reluctant narrator — floated between characters with a kind of dry, deliberate absurdity that kept the crowd leaning in. One minute he was deadpan and detached; the next, he was fully immersed in the band’s ongoing mythos, trading lines and glances with his onstage counterparts like a surrealist stage play unfolding in real time.
Musically, the set pulsed rather than pounded. Tracks stretched and breathed, driven by elastic basslines, glitchy electronics, and slow-burn percussion that favored mood over muscle. Where Keenan’s work with Tool hits like a seismic event and A Perfect Circle aims for widescreen emotional sweep, Puscifer thrives in restraint, locking into grooves that feel more like a trance than a release.
Puscifer’s compiled performance was a celebration of both old and new, offering up a live exploration of the entire Normal Isn’t release (albeit not in track order), along with familiar fan favorite tunes in “The Remedy,” “The Humbling River,” and “Momma Sed” buttressing a 10-minute intermission mid-set. However, it was the visuals that really sealed the entire experience.
Large video screens flickered with cryptic transmissions, looping narratives, and tongue-in-cheek propaganda, all synced tightly with the band’s pacing. Costume changes and character bits didn’t interrupt the flow, they were the flow. The entire show felt less like watching songs unfold and more like stepping inside an ongoing, slightly unhinged broadcast. By the end of their final song, “A Public Stoning,” the applause felt almost secondary, like waking up from something strange you’re not entirely ready to leave. That’s the trick Puscifer pulls off; it’s not just a performance, but a headspace you temporarily inhabit, equal parts unsettling and hypnotic.
Puscifer’s “The Normal Isn’t Tour” continues on through mid-May, wrapping up on Thursday, May 14, in Los Angeles, California, at The Greek Theatre.
PS: The Braves staged a 9th-inning comeback to beat the Kansas City Royals, 6-2.
Puscifer
Maynard James Keenan – Vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, drums, clarinet
Mat Mitchell – Guitar, bass, programming, keyboards, synthesizers, production
Carina Round – Vocals, guitar, percussion, keyboards
Touring musicians
Gunnar Olsen – Drums, programming
Josh Moreau – Bass
Setlist:
1.) Thrust
2.) Self Evident
3.) Bad Wolf
4.) Normal Isn’t
5.) The Algorithm
6.) The Quiet Parts
7.) Pendulum
8.) The Arsonist
9.) Mantastic
10.) Bullet Train to Iowa
11.) The Remedy
(10 minute intermission)
12.) The Humbling River
13.) Momma Sed
14.) ImpetuoUs
15.) Seven One
16.) Conditions of My Parole
17.) Grand Canyon
18.) A Public Stoning
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Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.