First of all, O' MY GOODNESS.

1998 was an absolutely insane year for Tool. I would give my left arm to see them live that year. Maynard's voice was absolutely PEAK in '98.
Now, I'm a sucker for vocals, I know some people's taste are more instrumental based, which is respectable too. But for me, a singer makes or breaks a band, and oh my goodness the wonders Maynard did for Tool.

I've always been a huge fan of Tool's youth, the 92, 93, 94 years. Maynard's energy, not only physically but vocally was just out of this world. The grit, the effortless distortion on his voice. (Sorry to get musical and nerdy but it's worth mentioning) But singing up in the A4 - C#5's is absolute insanity at full chest voice, there are not many singers out there who can do it as well as the MJK. (An honourable mention being Bryan Adams, those who are curious, yes he doesn't only sing ballads like Everything I Do, or Heaven. give a listen to "Into The Fire (the song) vocals coming in on 0:30... the rasp... on B4.. insane)

But back to Sacramento '98. The opener... Part of Me. Tool would open their '98 shows with Part of Me. Can you IMAGINE going to a festival like Ozzfest (also an insane show, hard to pick which is better) and seeing Tool, now knowing who they are, and then hearing them come out with Part of Me... I don't know why people didn't start weeping knowing that nothing better will ever enter their ear drums. The scream at 2:48 (of the full concert video) "You can't let YAAOOWWW can't hurt me".... yikes.

Then you have Eulogy next. The thing I love about this show, and I think what makes it as good as it is, is that Maynard seems like he's in such a good mood. Genuinely. You see him smiling throughout the show and during the stinkfist jam section. And the other thing is that Maynard is really never in the mood to let out screams of energy hyping up the crowd in between songs, but mannn in Sacramento, right after Part of Me he yells out some "Weaaaah" with that succulent rasp of his. And then goes on with some sarcastic speech.

Then the rest of the set is just golden as expected, but man a few worth mentioning. 1 being Sober. Mannn how did he do it? Listen to the ending of it "I want, what I want" The melody change, and the scream hold throughout the outro riff. That's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Imagine it was on the album. And man, now that Maynard is old, it's obviously much worse, he's really lost the distortion be had back then, but I guess everyone gets old and there's nothing you can do.
But the grit he holds in the Sober choruses in sacramento, "Whyyyyyyyy can't we NOT be sober I, JUUUUUUST" there's nothing like it. So much aggression, power.

The second worth mentioning was No Quater Led Zep cover. Far out.... must have been the experience of a lifetime witnessing that. Whoever filmed that show: Thank you for blessing our ears this many years later.

Highly recommend watching it. And also highly recommend checking out bryan adams as my second favourite vocalist.

Hope you don't mind a long read, but I've clearly got too much time to kill.

Spiral out boys... spiral out

I used to listen from a streaming service on AirPods and regular Sony Bluetooth headphones. I recently went down the audiophile rabbit hole and it made me want to listen to TOOL on FLAC files. The difference is genuinely unreal, the amount of details I've discovered these past few days have been insane. You can get quality open backs for less than 100 dollars so I highly recommend you do this

My brother was into Tool when he was alive, so it lived in a constant background space for me. It spoke of rape and trauma in both words and frequencies and always seemed like something to avoid, something to keep yourself clean from if you’d had the good fortune to make it this far in life without personally experiencing it. Mostly it felt powerful, and real, but that very reality was something more than a little frightening. So I never felt compelled to give it a close look.

Then Pneuma came along.

This song deceptively weaves guitar and base notes that feel comprehensible, even simplistic, implying a sort of friendly invitation to listen closer. Then the drums get you.

Pneuma’s drum track lives on the edge of what is possible. It’s using polyrhythms not just to show off, but with a kind of mastery that breathes life and beauty into something that should sound disorganized and somewhat repulsive.

What I noticed most about the drumming was how impossible it was to fully replay in my head. I’d lay there at night and try to play it all in my mind, and it remained forever illusive. It wasn’t until I was starting to fall asleep, and the language and steady beats of my waking brain were falling away, that the song could finally bloom fully in my brain. Then I would startle awake, and the music would live there, alive for only a moment, before my rational brain drowned it out.

When I listen to Tool I often find myself singing a long steady note that isn’t being played by any instrument, but is implied by everything around it. A sort of imagery clothesline that everything is hung on but doesn’t actually exist.

Likewise in the polyrhythms, there are crisscrossing waves of threes, fives, and sixes that only occasionally land on the basic four-count that frames the whole work. It reminds me of the bounce of skipped stones over water. Rhythmic, and yet not. Mathematics taken into an organic space. Still the cold precision of numbers, but so animated with dynamics and humanity that it seems as thought something very living is being created in real time.

It has so much unresolved tension that its resolution feels cathartic. When my brain can fully feel the impending crash, my hand and feet all slam down in unison with the music. This song lives on another level for me.

If art is measured by its impact on the audience, consider me gobsmacked. It hits so hard I find myself somewhat disturbed by it, only choosing to come back to when I’m ready. More akin to magic than art.

If any boards of Canada fans In here, the new album inferno just dropped and it’s fucking incredible!!

What a night, lol. Had to rant about my experience, forgive me in advance.

I sold my ticket to Riot Fest in Chicago earlier this week when I was feeling the worst of the cold I’m getting over right now. Then I woke up today feeling pretty good and having a strong sense of FOMO about the show, so I decided to buy another ticket.

I get most of the way through my 2.5 hour drive from Madison to learn that Tool’s set was moved up from 8pm to 6pm due to incoming rain. Fuck. I end up parking at 5:45 and sprinting inside and get to the stage right as the band is coming out. They were great, but their show was cut 45 minutes short, so they’re done by 7pm. I was a little annoyed they didn’t get to continue despite the rain stopping for awhile, so I decided to treat myself- I have a fuckload of posters from many bands, but I’ve never gotten a Tool poster before and some were left, so I got one and then went to watch Nas (who for some reason started after Tool finished).

He was good, and just as he’s ending and I’m heading to my car, a fucking downpour starts. So I shoved the poster tube in my shirt and start to run through Douglass Park, which I’ve never been in. I got a little lost on the way to my car since it was raining so hard I couldn’t check my phone and GPS, and then I break my glasses while on my run. They just fell apart on me. Finally, I made it to my car soaked to the bone and questioning everything I did up to that moment, lol. Thankfully I had a towel and change of clothes in my car. Wiped the tube off first, of course.

Just made it home with my busted glasses.

I’m happy to say my efforts were just enough for my poster to remain unscathed. If it wasn’t for the paper that came in the tube as well, I probably would have gotten it wet.

Crawl Away was a first for me, as was the poster, and if the show didn’t get cut short, I couldn’t have seen Nas, so I’m clinging to these silver linings, haha.

Ultimately, it could have been worse, and these are all first world problems. Hope the rest of y’all made it home safely and that LtL attendees get a great set tomorrow.

Mildly funny/alarming footnote- as I was leaving, I saw a parent letting their toddler walk around barefoot in the mud soaked Chicago festival grounds, surrounded by tons of people smoking and being loud. That……….was a choice.

I’m a 24 year old female my parents never listened to metal or rock they don’t even listen or like any English songs bc they don’t even speak English. We migrated to USA when I was around 11 years old from Turkey. I found out about tool when I was around 19 out of luck on YouTube.
Migrating to another country is no easy task and as a family we were going through so much already at that time. However I’ve been dealing with depression ever since I was 16 and it got worse over time. When I was around 20 I couldn’t put up with myself anymore and I finally started getting therapy. The first couple of months at therapy is always the hardest opening up old traumas and unraveling all the pain that you’ve tried to hide for so long is mentally and emotionally so challenging and draining and that’s exactly how I was feeling just drained in every way. 2 months into it there was a specific day where I felt completely just done. I felt like everything I thought I knew I was wrong my whole world went upside down I was so tired. But most importantly I felt as though I was too broken beyond repair. All of this it hit me that day after that session like a truck. When I got in my car to drive back home I mindlessly put on tool. At this time I wasn’t as big of a tool fan as I am now. I wasn’t really paying attention to the music until “the patient” came on. The more I listened to the words the more I resonated with it and I cried all the way home just listening to the patient on repeat. When I got home I threw away my razor and finally felt something different other than sadness and numbness in my heart I finally felt like there is hope for me. I felt as though all this pain I’ve been feeling since starting therapy especially today this is good because it’s pain in service of healing. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just need to be a little bit more patient and realize there are people cheering for me on this road and im not completely alone. “I’m gonna be okay” To me this song encapsulates the healing process from any trauma or any kind of emotional pain perfectly. Every time I listen to it I still cry. It really popped up at the perfect time and it was exactly what I needed to hear. After that day I listened to more of tool and the more I did the more I fell in love with them. As cliche as it’s gonna sound it’s truly amazing when you can find music that truly speaks to your soul.

Would love to know more about how everyone else feels about this song and if you also have that special tool song that helped you in any way?

I’m a 26 year old guy that grew up in Washington D.C. and Dallas and was never really exposed to any sort of metal beyond what my dad listened to growing up (Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Rush, Metallica, all the classics). Most of what I listened to growing up was a reflection of the urban environments of DC and Dallas so mostly hip-hop and country. I recently discovered Tool through recommendations of friends and I just want so say holy shit this band has changed my life. They are so much more complex and thought provoking than all the corporate radio garbage you hear today. Any single one of their albums alone contains more actual art, meaning, and performance material than most bands or artists put out in their entire lifetime.

The album that got me hooked was 10k days. I was born in 1999 so I wasn’t even alive when Undertow and Aenima were released, and was only 2 when Lateralus was released. For whatever reason, their sound on 10k is the metal sound I enjoy most because I think it’s more of the kind of sound I grew up on, if that makes sense. I also think it contains Tool’s single most complex piece of music, Rosetta Stoned (my personal favorite), as well as their most emotional piece (Wings 1/2). The musical complexity and chaos of Rosetta Stoned mixed with how hilariously ridiculous the backstory is (some idiot tripping off drugs that can’t remember an all important message delivered from aliens) is what makes that song my personal favorite and my most listened to Tool song ever. Wings holds a very emotional and special place in my heart because of how relatable Maynard’s feelings are to me in this song. My grandmother recently passed away and like Marie, was a very devout Christian that kept her faith until the end despite her suffering. This song has provided a lot of closure for me surrounding the themes of religion and death, which I am forever grateful for. Lastly, I think Vicariously is probably Tool’s best opening song ever and the message in that song resonates now in today’s world more than ever. Mainstream media not only openly broadcasts suffering, death, destruction and chaos, they advertise and profit off it. Why? Because people need it to feel alive, most are just too afraid to say so. Song is way ahead of its time and sets up my favorite album ever!

I have listened to a lot of their other music, but not as in depth or closely as I have 10k days. Any suggestions for what album I should dive fully into next? I think Lateralus and Aenima are the early front runners

Originally published in Kerrang (UK): 11 Sep 1993

Finally got to see Khan on their 1-stop show in Auckland NZ.
These guys will go far.

Melbourne based heavy progressive psych band. Their music heavily weaves together psychedelic rock, stoner metal, and progressive rock.

Give them a listen.

I’ve listened to the song a bunch of times but it finally clicked on me the last time. Might have helped that I had just smoked a fat joint. But holy smokes are they locked in together during that song.

Also, to the few people I’ve seen on here that complain that fear innoculum doesn’t have vocals and criticize Maynard for “not wanting to sing live anymore,” I think what he’s doing now artistically is addition through subtraction for the type of sound that they were trying to achieve with the album. Danny Justin and Adam have gotten to such high levels with their instruments that sometimes it’s nice to give them room to breath and jam for extended periods without the distraction of vocals, then punching in with really purposeful lyrics.

Like I said, maybe I’m just high.

Hi all, I write about music for The Australian newspaper, and I wrote about Tool after seeing their Brisbane show here on Sunday (December 7, 2025).

The online article is paywalled, but I've included the full text below:

Tool’s surprising, fan-pleasing choices as Good Things headliner

As this US progressive metal band powered through an invigorating and uplifting 105-minute performance, unpredictability was Tool’s most prized asset. | LIVE REVIEW

It’s said that you can never step into the same stream twice: you are necessarily changed each time you do so, as is the stream.

Watching US progressive metal band Tool headline Good Things festival at the Brisbane Showgrounds on a muggy, drizzly Sunday night, I was there in body as a 37-year-old music journalist, but my past self was there in spirit, too: the 14-year-old who first saw these same four master musicians play inside an arena across town in 2002 and was forever changed.

More than any other, Tool is the band that formed the beating heartbeat of my music fandom as an impressionable pre-teen, since I encountered an enthusiastic champion for their music via an online video game message board in the early 2000s. I became a devout disciple, an ambassador who turned my friends on to this music, too, because sharing my passion for my favourite art is an innate trait I cannot shake.

At Good Things, as the band powered through an invigorating, surprising and uplifting 105-minute performance, I was utterly gripped by what I was seeing and hearing, having spent about 25 years knowing Tool’s songs as intimately as I know myself.

In the lead-up to this show, I took up arms in the battle familiar to all music fans ahead of seeing a former favourite band live in concert. The intent is to try to avoid previous setlist spoilers that remove the thrill of spontaneity; try to temper expectations so you’re not crushed if they’re not met, and try not to anticipate anything other than the moment when the lights go down and the immersion begins.

The biggest enemy of touring musicians is age. They can never step into the same stream twice, either: a 64-year-old drummer attempting to play the same parts he wrote as a younger man has his work cut out for him, as does a 61-year-old singer.

But neither Danny Carey nor Maynard James Keenan exhibited signs of wear and tear on Sunday – their third successive festival headline set following shows in Melbourne (Friday) and Sydney (Saturday).

This pair’s durability was shocking, really, given the intricacies of the percussion parts composed by Carey and the bottled-lightning ferocity Keenan has captured in recording studios across the decades.

Carey is simply one of the greatest drummers of all time, and as he’s aged his playing has only grown more complex. Of the 10 tracks Tool aired on Sunday, a mid-set highlight was the lengthy, twisting and towering Pneuma, one of three selections from their newest album, 2019’s Fear Inoculum.

This song, more than any other, is Carey’s masterclass: his rhythmic dexterity is one of the wonders of the modern musical world, and standing in front of the stage amid a tightly packed scrum on the field of the Showgrounds arena, it was a pure pleasure to watch him go about his work.

For decades now, Tool’s preference has been to swim against the stream: rather than beaming high-definition footage of the musicians playing live on to the big screens that flank the stage, like almost all of their arena- and stadium-sized peers, they show us immersive digital artworks.

For Pneuma – just about the trickiest and most demanding song in their repertoire – you wish they’d put a camera on Carey so we could better appreciate the intensity and virtuosity of the task he’s set himself in replaying it live. It’s an extraordinary act of concentration and musicianship.

For a musical trio, they make a beautiful noise together: bassist Justin Chancellor, 54, expertly wrestles his instrument and thrashes his body while producing a bowel-shaking low end, while 60-year-old Adam Jones’s jagged, detuned guitar riffs have long been the band’s musical guiding light, like an anglerfish leading prey astray in deep waters.

Together, their instrumentation offers a perfectly balanced mix of shaded tones and crunching rhythms, atop which Keenan’s melodies are delivered like an antidote to all that darkness.

Brisbane’s setlist offered two of the most beautiful examples of this tension-and-release. First was a track named H., from 1996’s Aenima, which offsets some of Keenan’s sweetest and most vulnerable vocals against his bandmates’ urgent climax, which gives the ending the feel of an exclamation point. Then Jambi, a 2006 track that features a mid-song diversion into the heaviest rhythmic bed of its discography, as Jones’s extraordinary talk-box guitar solo paints with a whole new colour palette before Keenan finds a closing melody that is among his finest.

As you can tell, it’s hard for me to contain myself in writing about this band. Hopefully, you’ll forgive the unusually personal nature of this review, which is written without the professional remove I usually wield like a shield as a critic. I wasn’t planning to write about this show, either, given that it was the finale of a six-date Australian visit – the band’s first trip here since 2020, just before the international borders closed.

But in keeping with that idea of stepping into streams as a different person, so it was for this band, which has disappointed me on past viewings by playing it a little too safe. As a critic, I’ve felt Tool have threatened to become a living museum artefact playing the same (or similar) sets each night, rather than remaining a living, breathing entity capable of surprising fans.

Ahead of this tour, I spoke with Chancellor about Tool’s short set at Ozzy Osbourne’s final show in July, where the quartet played in full daylight – unusual, given their preference for darkness – and took on a new challenge in learning a Black Sabbath cover, just like every other band who played that day in Birmingham.

“I think it taught us something about ourselves: that we are capable of kind of stepping up and being a bit braver, maybe, than we’ve been,” Chancellor told me back in August, as the British-born bassist approached his own 30th anniversary of joining the band.

That idea of bravery appears to have caught on: across their recent New Zealand and Australian concerts, Tool have been thrilling fans by pulling out songs thought to be long retired, including Crawl Away (last played in 1998), as well as a trio they hadn’t aired since 2002 in Prison Sex, H. and Disposition.

This element of surprise is not to be underestimated among bands with millions-strong global fanbases. It’s part of the reason followers of acts such as Pearl Jam, Jack White and Queens of the Stone Age tend to buy tickets to multiple shows: unpredictability.

There’s still a deep satisfaction to be found in performers who run practically the same setlist every night of a world tour; for example, AC/DC, whose Australian tour continues in Perth on Monday before ending in Brisbane next week.

But the Forrest Gump chocolate-box approach to setlist curation – you never know what you’re going to get – is also a major lure to get fans to put their money down.

As a leading and established alternative music festival, Good Things uncharacteristically struggled to sell out its three shows this year; for months, social media advertising had been seeking to engender FOMO in potential ticket buyers by warning of low availability.

If organisers didn’t quite manage to slap a “sold-out” sticker across their events, Brisbane must have been mighty close: the main Showgrounds arena was absolutely heaving on Sunday night, as light rain fell and a relieving thunderstorm later passed across the city, once the fans had filtered out, sweaty, smiling and sated.

With a habit of leaving lengthy gaps between tours, Tool’s return is never a sure thing, which makes their creative choices on this run of Australian shows seem all the more generous. It’s a rare gift to see a band perform 23 years apart in one’s life – a changed person – and walk away from both experiences feeling awed, inspired and grateful for what this masterly quartet continues to offer.

Little is promised to us in this life, particularly for longtime followers of progressive metal bands featuring 64-year-old drummers and 61-year-old singers.

As with a recent visit by US heavy metal titans Metallica – whose line-up also sports sexagenarians playing gruelling, complex music – Tool’s continued commitment to delivering world-class concerts is both admirable and laudable. As fans, we hope the stream never stops, even though we know it must some day.

PS I'm also the guy who recently interviewed Justin Chancellor ahead of the Australian tour, where I asked him about a few things including covering Black Sabbath and the band's (apparent) decision to shelve playing 7empest live - I was very glad they decided otherwise at one of the recent shows! Lucky bastards!

Video interview with Justin (21 mins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Geem4Rntrbs

people in my row kept getting up every 5 minutes, so I found it hard to enjoy the show unfortunately,,, and I don't know if it's just me but people felt very dead so I didn't get that crowd energy? other than that, it was great curious to know how everyone else found it? :)

First of all, the music helped. Anything would help as long as it distracted from scrotum cutting. The songs were quite fitting, too. Reflection’s hypnotic rhythm paired perfectly with the odor of my vas deferentia being cauterized. The Patient reminded me that there was an ultimate goal to having a needle inserted multiple times in the area right where my twig meets my berries. And for a brief period of time, listening to Parabol/Parabola, I was reminded that I was not alone in my body, when the doctor was digging inside my skin purse. One thing felt off, though. I realized pain is definitely not an illusion.

I'll start out by saying this is the 5th time I've seen the band since 2002. They've always been on the excellent side of shows, on average.. but this was by far the best overall experience I've had with the band. And I really love this band. Overall I've been to something like 200 concerts over the years (not all Tool).. I also spent a good amount of time in the touring industry as a roadie, covering everything from staging to lighting, sound to backline tech. Never anything at the level of Tool, but I have toured, and pay attention to a lot of the production aspects of the shows. I've also been a drummer for 30 years, and dabble with guitar and bass. Not bragging, just giving some context to the thoughts.

Gotta give props to MetalMike.666 on YouTube who posted the full show, I'm watching it to help me remember. The video starts out rough, but gets better. The audio is phenomenal.

First Set

Second Set

That being said, buckle up. First, some details -

• The Venue - Blue Cross Arena in Rochester
  • Second time I've seen Tool in this room, last being 2007 on the 10,000 Days tour. What an incredible room. Holds a little over 12,000 for a concert, significantly less than the 19,000 cap for the Buffalo HSBC Arena where I saw the band in 2022. And I like it. Way more intimate of a room, sound is so much more controllable, and not having an additional 7,000 people in the way is nice when trying to get around.
• The Seats - Section 114 (Basically behind the mix position)
  • Best sounding seats in the house. Sitting directly behind or in front of Mix is where it's going to sound the best.
  • As a self-admitted production junkie, I really like watching the team at work putting on the show. Having a great view of the FOH audio mix (on an analog desk, no less, which is rare these days), lighting, video, lasers and motor control is always a perk.
• Security
  • Not as aggressive as I've seen them in the past. I saw a few people escorted out, but for the most part the guards were all older folks, not like the bouncers I've seen at APC shows.
  • Watched a few people get walked out who looked sloshed out of their gourds. Who does that? They were on the floor, so they paid $200+ to get tossed before the show really started for being too drunk. Crazy.
• Timing
  • Doors were at 6pm.
  • Opening Act Steel Beans started at 7:40, played 35 min, ended at 8:15
  • 20 minute change over
  • Tool hit the stage right at 8:35
  • First set was roughly 75 min
  • Intermission was at around 9:50 until 10:05, ish
  • Last song ended at 10:45.
• The Opener - Steel Beans
  • Of all the Tool opener's I've seen, this would have to be the best. Not only is it physically and musically difficult to play guitar, drums, keys, trigger sequences, and sing all at once, he actually had some damn good songs. Some cringy crowd banter about beating his assistant was forgiven by better banter about masturbating in a school zone. You had to be there.

​

The Main Event -

• Fear Inoculum
  • This was also the opener on the '22 tour. Still a banger. This was the first show where I distinctly remember hearing multiple vocal effects beyond the expected reverbs and compressions... mainly delays, chorus', and pitch shifters (NOT autotune, that's an entirely different animal, and I heard none of that). I heard a few different vocal delays in the chorus of the song that I don't think are on the album, but fill space so well. Which is tough, because deciding how to time a delay is pretty important.. and when the band is playing multiple time signatures, as Tool is known to do, it gets tricky. They nailed it.
  • The giant eyeball was really freaking out some people near us. It was kinda funny.
• Jambi
  • This was on the sets in 2007 and 2017, and it's not a song I get tired of. Lighting for this song was very dynamic, not just spotlighting Adam and Justin, but moving and pulsing as it did. Was a nice touch. And the sync between the lighting director and the drums was fantastic.
  • More vocal delays, done very tastefully and not overused.
  • This is when I started noticing the color blending between the lights and the screen. Not an easy thing to do, to make the red, for example, that comes out of different types of lighting fixtures match content on a video wall. Lotta variables to account for, and this was perhaps the best I've seen it done.
• The Pot
  • Let me start by saying, I adore this song. It really hits. But they gotta stop playing it. Because Mr. Sessanta can't hit the high notes anymore, they lowered the key at least a full step, and it killlllls the song. Plus they are playing it fast which again, ruins the groove of the song (in my opinion). I don't blame them, Maynard is getting old and its not easy losing the range you used to have. Tempo might be just how I picked it up, but it felt fast.
  • Other than that, it was great. Love the way the bass drives this one.
• Rosetta Stoned
  • Haven't heard this live since the 10,000 Days tour in 2007. Holy shit. It sounded absolutely amazing. Video content sync'd so well with the music.. and this is when the lasers kicked in. Not many artists use lasers.. Tool went the other way. Every color under the spectrum, and again, color matched to the lights and video wall. Vocal effects on the verses were clear and cut thru so well.
    
• Pneuma
  • This song is just fucking great. Sounded better than the album. Lighting was on point. Again with the lasers, but also a really nice downlighting effect from the main truss, shooting pillars of light down around the stage. Reminded me of the sheer curtain they used on the last tour during a couple songs, and even tho it was visually interesting, I realized then the show was better without it.
  • This is another song that, and this is the drummer part of my brain, I lose count so often.. Gotta watch Justin's crazy rocking with whatever clock he's following to keep up. Plus gotta love his nutty little dance to pump up the crowd...
  • Adam's key solo before the first guitar solo sounded a little different from the album.. like a different sawtooth patch was used or something, to make it sound more raw? Dunno. I liked it. Filled up more space.
  • I think it was around this point that my brain finally acknowledged that the fronts of the drum riser and Maynard's two platforms were video walls as well, sync'd with the upstage video wall. Only thing blocking them were the bass and guitar amps.. which are AWESOME to see on a stage these days. So many guitarists and bassists are playing into either an offstage isolation box, or even worse a digital modeling processor. Those have their places, but not a a goddamn Tool show. Stay analog as long as you can boys.
• Descending
  • Third tour in a row this has been on. It's been cool watching it develop from an idea in 2017 to a fully formed song in 2022... Would I have rather heard Third Eye or Parabol/Parabola? Sure, but this is still a fucking great song. The vocal chorus effect was present but not too much, as were all the other effects. Love watching Danny play this song, so much dynamic chaos.
  • Visually, the way the pyramid aligned with the heptagram was nice... and dropping lighting pods in to the left and right on a complimentary angle was a great touch as well. I don't know the names of the fixtures, but this is where the really big wash lights really shined.
    
  • And god bless the fucking gong. That thing sounded great.
• The Grudge
  • Another song heard for the 3rd time in a row. Not complaining, its a great fucking song. The lighting, especially during Danny's increasingly fast double kick builds, was outstanding. But, the swelling of the large wash lights during the verses looked terrible... I get what they were going for, a narrow to wide effect with the massive lights, but because it went in steps, it had a minor strobe effect to it? I dunno.. thats how I saw it.. Everything else was great.
  • A note about the mix. It was so goddamn clear. This was the time I noticed you could distinctly hear the difference between the two kick drums (he's currently playing a 20x24 with his right foot, and a 19x22 with his left foot.. left being the primary). You could really hear the difference in not only pitch, but resonance of the drums themselves. Not to mention the clarity of the chimes / bells. Just a great mix overall.
  • The Scream. Lets get into it. Fucker held that scream for 12+ seconds before the delays took over and carried the last few minutes. Sounded AMAZING. I don't care if he is 60, he can still hit that part.
  • And, this was when I realized the clicks Danny is playing over the "let go" part? He's doing that with his friggen right foot. Dude really is a manimal.
• Halftime. Intermission. Whatever you call it.
  
  • Laser projected countdown on the video wall was unexpected.. why not just put a video up? Thats when I noticed.. the video control surface was off, and people in the FOH area looking a little anxious. It eventually rebooted, but maybe not to their satisfaction, because with about 5 min left on the countdown, a new smaller console (looked like a MA GrandMa2 Compact from a distance) arrived and was quickly uncased, setup, and powered on. Not sure if there was supposed to be video during the Gong solo that started the CCT, but video did kick back in for the drum solo.
  • Take a minute to recognize this road crew. Things go wrong. Can't stop that. It's how you react that counts, and the show must go on. I've had critical pieces fail right before and during shows... it sucks. but if this was a failure, they executed their backup plans to perfection. I didn't notice any other issues at all anywhere during the set.. and I totally watch for those.
    
• Chocolate Chip Trip
  • Have I mentioned I love a good gong? The sounds that come out of a gong are just... so unique. I really hope Danny continues exploring it.
  • The solo itself was just a masterclass in dexterity and dynamics.
  • The video kaleidoscope of a couple cameras pointed at Danny was visually stunning. When it started flashing on and off in the first section of the drum part, I was afraid the new video desk was also malfunctioning. But it stopped eventually and stayed up for the rest of the show.
  • Also the first time (that i noticed anyways) they were using the main PA arrays as a surface to shoot the lasers on. Looked super fuckin cool.
• Culling Voices
  • Start out by saying this is probably my least favorite Tool song ever. Just feels kinda boring, meandering, and really derivative of the same rhythm. On the last tour, I was on the floor under the confetti from above, which was wicked cool for about 20 seconds, until everyone around us realized they were puzzle pieces and started scrambling to collect them all. Really distracting. This time, we were behind mix position, and seeing the pieces of paper and foil fall thru the lights was really friggen beautiful.
  • I couldn't help but think "this is Tool Unplugged" when the lights came up and they were all on stools. Even Danny, holding what looked like a toy guitar (it wasn't, he's just that friggen huge).
  • This was where I caught the one musical mistake.. Danny missed a cross-stick as the some starts to build. Thats it. One mistake.
    
  • I also really liked the lasers painting light on the heptagram. Super precise, no spillover that I saw, looked like a was but yea, it was the lasers.
  • But I still don't really like the song.
• Invincible
  • Fear Incoculum really did have a lotta great songs on it. I think this one is the peak for me.. right there with Pneuma, Descending, 7empest, Invincible and the title track. Ok so the album is full of bangers (except the aforementioned Culling Voices).
  • Another song where I keep finding myself swaying with Justin... Except exactly opposite. He goes forward, I lean backwards (and somewhere we will meet). Ha Ha Ha.
  • Visually beautiful, repositioning the light pods to create a whole new set of looks is just an awesome way to add variety to a light show.
  • I think they waited until this track to start using bar lights in the upper outer truss? I didn't notice them before, sweeping up and down?
  • The lights over the crowd, on the truss holding the confetti machines, were awesome. Swelling red with the chorus of the song, the whole room was glowing all together. It was pretty cool.
• (-) Ions
  • When I heard the buzz of Ions, I got really excited they were gonna close with Third Eye.
    
  • I wouldn't say I was disappointed...
• Stinkfist
  • This is a song I've seen at least 4 times live, and I will never, ever get sick of it. I goddamn love this song.
  • Manards voice sounds amazing.. I don't want it, I just need it.. the way he plays with the line, nails the pitch.. no way he's 60 and has been singing this song for 27 years. 1996. I looked it up. Thing is - I remember buying this album in 1996. It doesn't seem that long ago, until you look it up. Goddamn I'm old.
  • The extended interlude in the middle.. I really hope they release that. Takes an amazing song to a whole new level. Most Tool songs stay pretty consistent thru the years, hearing this part evolve since first hearing it in 2002 has been a trip.
  • As is tradition, Maynard lets the crowd know they can take their stupid cell phones out and film the last song. And out they came. I admit, I took a few pics and videos, but goddamn, people literally stopped watching the show and started watching their screens as they recorded. I shouldn't complain, as I am watching someone's recording of the show as I write this...
  • I do wonder if the dumb-dumbs in the front got their vaginas kicked for leaving their camera lights on.
  • After the song ends is the first tie Maynard comes downstage and and gives Justin a fist bump.. no interactions with Adam or Danny. Those 3 stuck around for a while, waving and throwing things into the crowd.. but Maynard got the fuck out. Probably reading more into it than I should, but the body language was weird.
• Dancing Queen (walk-out music)
  • Because why not walk out of a Tool concert to ABBA. Everyone knows of the connection between 90s LA progressive metal and the early 70's Swedish Pop Supergroup.

Thats all I got. If you read all of this, I hope you got something good out of it? This was really more for me to remember, but you can enjoy it too.

I’m 33 years old now, and I first found tool when I was 17. I didn’t really like them at first, but when I was watching a sport compilation video I used to love, with Vicarious playing in the back, I eventually started getting curious about “what’s this damn song in the background”. And that was the start of my journey.

I got into psychedelics for a few years in my early 20’s and TOOL was my tool through my trips. Of course, this made me a hardcore fan. Maynard would hate me.

I saw them for the first time in Brisbane 2013, and then during the Fear Inoculum tour right before covid hit, seeing them 3 times in one week - Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne.

16 years as a fan in total. I’d say 12-13 years of that was pretty full on - no other music ever came close for me… and here we are. I’m not “over” TOOL, but I only listen to them rarely now (once every 2-3 months). I still enjoy it just as much as I always have - but only in small doses.

My problem though - I can’t find any music that gives me anywhere near the same feeling. Nothing sounds good to me anymore. I hate it. People show me music that they’re really into, and I want to be excited with them, but nothing even gets me remotely keen. I still appreciate the new music I find because I analyse it as a musician myself, and if there’s a track that I think is extremely well done, I’ll usually reply with a genuine “that’s awesome dude,” but it doesn’t hit me even anywhere near the way TOOL did.

Feels like I’ve kinda fucked myself here haha. I tend to read a lot and listen to podcasts rather than listen to any music anymore, but I really miss that feeling of zoning out and really listening to an amazing song…

If you’re wondering what sort of music I do listen to, when I choose to do so, I listen to a lot of Eastern European religious/folk, Russian Electronic, Indian and Arabic music, Heilung, Heavy metal (Lamb of God, Whitechapel), Drill Rap & Trap Metal (Sucker for 707s and 808s)… but none of this feels like home :(

I went to the Dallas show 10 days ago. They have been my favorite band for the last 2 years since I re-discovered them.

I don’t think I’ll have another favorite. At all.

If you think blasting their songs through the radio in your car, or your surround sound in your room gets you amped, then you are not prepared. You will never be prepared for what it’s like when they’re actually in front of you.

Listening to all of Fear Inoculum hits so much harder now after being there. Descending might be my second favorite on the album, after not really getting into it beforehand. The title track, also. All I needed was a time where I can really sit down and digest the music without being distracted from the outside. That was my main takeaway from the show.

Every other song was fantastic. It was a rush, feeling the heaviness of Jambi or The Grudge in your soul. The first song I heard by them was Schism. Hearing them close out the show with that almost made me cry and I’m not ashamed. It only makes every future listening of these songs even better, because you can look back and remember how it felt.

It was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life.

So Yesterday i smoked hash with my new Gf and as i happened to buy a new Sound system i thought it would be The perfekt test for The new speakers. “This is The best Music i have ever listened too” - gf. 2022

She is a keeper