Music: Tool Concert!

They've still got it (not that I was afraid that they didn't). Every time I've seen Tool, this concert being the fourth time, they've been excellent. It is rare to see a show in which the musicians surpass their recorded albums with their performance, but Tool has always been such a show. Surprisingly, the show started immediately on time - I thought it was a rule that shows had to start late by at least an hour. I guess it's different with the American Airlines Center (which I'm not horribly fond of).

A band called Isis opened, setting the stage with emotionally-charged, almost exclusively instrumental and lengthy songs. They had a very rich and full sound, complemented nicely with an occasional third guitar playing lead and keyboards. The keyboardist had a Mac laptop with him, you could see the little apple glowing happily throughout the whole show. Isis wins the award for "skinniest overall band I've ever seen" - they may want to eat some hamburgers or something. I really enjoyed their set and thought they did a great job setting the mood and tone for Tool. They didn't say much in-between songs, but that's likely because their set was so short - would've liked to have heard from them a little, though! My only complaint was that their set was unusually short; it ran only about half an hour.

Tool took the stage about forty minutes later. Here's the setlist (may not be in order as my memory is unfortunately unreliable):

Stinkfist
The Pot
46&2
Jambi
Schism
Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned
Wings/10,000 Days
Lateralus
Vicarious
Aenema

I was surprised that so much Aenima was in the mix - surprised in a very good way. Unfortunately, they don't play much from Undertow anymore, though I'd love to hear it. You'll get the occasional Sober sometimes. Anyway, regardless of what they played, the set was incredible. I'm still not entirely used to the new album, but I have a much greater appreciation for it after hearing some of the songs live, particularly 10,000 Days, which was just an incredible experience.

Maynard came out in cowboy boots, blue jeans, a hugeass belt buckle, and a cowboy hat - it's good to see him express his love for Texas. I always forget what a strange cat he is on stage and how nasal his speaking voice is - none of those are bad things, though. Tool's presence is excellent - there enough that you know they're interested in communicating and putting on a great show, but not so talky that it distracts from the experience. Maynard let us know that even though he was sick, he was there, and you know, I can appreciate that.

The arena was full to the top and Richard and I had great seats about seven rows back. There was no pit for this show, and they'd filled the floor area with folding chairs tie-wrapped together. People on the floor rushed the stage a few times, but the security staff at the AA Center is pretty ubiquitous, and they sent tons of people back to their seats. Real bummer, that. However, it WAS kind of nice to be able to stand so close and not be jostled around.

The visual portion of the show was, as usual, really well done. The stage was built up with low white platforms, and Danny had white monitor speakers next to him. Behind the band was a wall of projection screens, and they broadcast their usual mix of music videos, fractals, and other strange otherworldly imagery throughout the show. The lighting was extremely well-done also, and near the end they pulled up from behind the stage a net with color changing lights in branching vertical patterns and fired off some pretty rad lasers.

Right before the band launched into Lateralus, Maynard complained to us that he really needed to piss, so he was only going to play half of one more song (riiiiight...). The complaint continued as they launched into Vicarious, and he made a token lame but appropriate joke right before beginning aenema, "you didn't read the part on your tickets that said 'doors open at 8 and don't forget to bring your ark in case Maynard has to piss.'" During Aenema, he replaced some of the "learn to swim"s with "got to piss", and sang a little about a urinal. It must've been difficult to hold in the pee singing that particular song, and as soon as it was over, Maynard was off the stage very quickly.

All in all a great show. The sound was great, and Tool is as powerful a live experience as ever. My only complaint is that when I go see Tool, I have to be around Tool fans. I'm sure that there are some intelligent, enlightened individuals amongst the throng, but goddamn do I ever only see the mindless retards. I guess it's good that they like Tool, and I probably shouldn't be one to judge, but GODDAMN. Really this happens almost anytime I go to a show, so I shouldn't be surprised by how moronic some people are. I'm sure they think they're very deep because they listen to Tool.