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Right. Tool.
It's been less than a year since I've seen Tool, so I was a little hesitant to
line-up for this ticket sale. Could I really justify spending 50 bucks on
a band I saw not too long ago? Then I remembered that I once paid
20 bucks to see Suicidal Tendencies perform in a gymnasium, and
had paid close to 70 bucks for Iron Maiden's appearance at Red Rocks.
No brainer. Get the Tool tickets.
This time, Tool was booked in Denver's Pepsi Center. Red Rocks really added
to the atmosphere, last year, so how would the same show
come off, inside? As it turns out, not too bad. Along with the setlist, they've
modified the video screens, stage and lighting. Additionally, the Pepsi Center
has assigned seating, so I wasn't subjected to the mass clusterfuck of
Red Rocks.
Before Tool came out, we got to check out the crowd...and an opening band.
The crowd was the typical stoner batch, and a guy behind me (looking
like a cross between Arlo Guthrie and Mr. Kotter) was too wasted to stand
and began tumbling over rows of chairs. We also saw some dude wearing nothing but
skateboard shorts, with his body painted silver. He was only missing the hat, and he would
have been a silverized Smurf.
To be fair, the opening band was a big steaming pile of dogshit. "Tomahawk"
was a four piece, fronted by Mike Patton of Faith No More fame. The rest of the band
was made up of Melvins, Helmet and Jesus Lizard veterans. Tool's hung out or toured
with most of those bands, so on paper it would appear that Tomahawk would
fit in. They were decked out in polyester police uniforms for some reason.
Patton's vocals were wretched. He whined too much and sounded like
a cross between fellow annoying vocalists Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins) and Corey Taylor
(Slipknot). Yeah, not exactly a combo that would excite. Patton
kept laying into a cropping of keyboards, sound effects and
vocal processors. A few of their
initial songs sounded like the Tool genre, but the whining and excessive noise
soon lost the crowd and left many eyeing the exit signs and restrooms.
Tomahawks's a relatively unknown band. Discouragingly enough, I feel that if half of the kids
knew who was in the band, then they would have yelled "yeahhhhh!" instead of
"You SUCK!". To me, it didn't matter if Bruce Frickin' Dickinson was in Tomahawk..
they were awful.
Sober
4°
The Grudge
Stinkfist
Forty Six & 2
Schism
Parabol/Parabola
Eon Blue Apocalypse
The Patient
Ænema
Intermission
Disposition
Reflection
Triad
Laturalus
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Tool arrived about 30 minutes later. Two video screens on each side of the stage
displayed the creepy "flaming eye" graphic, and some of the chants from "Parabol" could be heard.
As expected, the audience lit up (literrally and figuratively) when they opened
up with "Sober". I noticed the video screens were slightly altered from last year's tour,
and that they've added a new heptagon lighting scheme. This time, Maynard is in the dark while
Adam Jones and Justin Chancellor get the spotlight treatment. Maynard was decked out
in nothing but undies and had his entire body painted in weird flourescent
bodypaint (hey... I'd reckon that's what the Silver Smurf was
aiming for). Depending on what lights hit him, maynard appeared in different colors.
To me, he looked a cross between "Golem" from Lord of the Rings and
"The Spot" from Spider-Man comics.
After "Sober", Maynard introduced the next tune. "This song, like all the others...
is about ass-sex". He also disappointed
me slightly, after the fourth tune, by saying: "I checked
the schedule, and it says we're in Denver. This doesn't sounds
like Denver". Audience: "Wooooooooooooo! Yeahhhh!!" Maynard: "Last time we were in
Denver, people were naked".
Highlights would include bug-zapper lights and sounds
for the intro to "Stinkfist". During the breakdown portion of
this song ("I'LL! KEEP! DIGGING!..."),
it looked like Mike Patton returned to the stage to
adminster some sort of enema to Maynard. Maynard bounced and wiggled around
with a large dildo.
They played almost the
entire length of "Parabol", before breaking into
"Parabola". During this song, they were flanked in the rear by
two floating balls, which would remain
for the rest of the show. The balls resembled blueberries, but I'm guessing
they were signifiying a giant pair of gonads. Like all the other
songs, the screens featured clips from the song's video,
spliced in with additional imagery. Six banners also dropped from the
ceiling, with the layered images from the "Lateralus" album jacket.
The backdrop of the stage was plain, at first. After they started "The Grudge",
it changed to a freaky facial Rorschach image and finally into a large
"flaming eye" beehive collage as the show ended. As you probably know,
I've never smoked any wacky substances, but I zoned out and
really lost myself in the backdrops at times.
After a ten-minute sound collage/intermission, they finished up with
"Triad" and "Lateralis". "Triad" featured
Tomahawks' drummer (John Stanier) and another fellow playing keyboards.
Maynard identified them as "the Thompson Twins"... but I checked the bill and
the Thompson Twins were NOT scheduled.
When the show ended, all the band members performed a group hug, tossed
their disposable equipment and waved to the fans as the lights came on.
Maynard had a few other quips for the recordbook. Shortly after the intermission,
he deadpanned: "we've just opened up a Chuck E. Cheese out in San Bernardino. So bring your
ticket stub and you'll get a discount on a lapdance." Later he
gave his happy speech about "making something positive from this
feeling".. then capped it off with: "In the meantime, everybody
go home and have sex". I've whipped up what I believe is the set-list, to the right.
So take a gander, be interactive and place Maynard's comments in their appropriate
slots.
I actually enjoyed this concert more than last year's. Red Rocks was a phenomenal
pain in the arse, and the crowd was awful. This time, there was only
one dork I ran across. He was a guy in his 30's, with his wife/girlfriend, and
was into the whole "Fist-Banging Mania" gimmick. He bounced into me a few times,
but I was able to elbow his gut or flash my hand in front of his face. Things didn't
get out of hand and it was rather quiet.
Tool's probably my favorite current band. That is, one that
puts out fresh content and can be heard on the radio. I'm not sure, but
with all the shit that's been slapping into my fan lately, this show
had a special signifance to me. Several times I got 'chills' up my spine
and was able to detach from my current situation and fly through a
fucked-up fantasy world. One where the music doesn't necessarily suck and
timesheets, productivity, cancer and other crappy things are never spoken of.
When I turned to walk out the Pepsi Center, my thought was "Thanks, guys.
Oh fuck...back to the real world, now."
