Tool

[JACkory]

thorny said:

hmmm; well, @ least we can consider ourselves lucky we got one more album after LATERALUS. For awhile after that record came out, I was convinced they could do no more. That is perhaps the only album I can think of which I consider impeccable.

But 10,000 Days is a very nice eulogy.

That sounds a lot like a fan grieving a broken-up band...PLEASE tell me Tool has not thrown in the towel...especially after that lame 10,000 Days album...

[Thorngrub]

This day is going down in history as a quite significant one, for me. There is a lot of spirituality and shedding of skins going on. If this be Tool's will, to end it here, why I can't think of a better time or place in their history to do it. It reminds me of the perfectionist quest of the Japanese to freeze beauty at its peak, with their lovely traditions of seppuku and lucid eye for art. The way Yukio Mishima was obsessed with immortalizing beauty at the crest of its wave, rather than allow it to decay slowly into oblivion. As much as I cannot agree with those ideals (being a westerner), I can discern the alien beauty of it, and admire it from a distance.

I feel that this is the final TOOL tour, as well as the last album for them, in my bones. It just makes a sort of sense. Consider Maynard's mother passing away last year. Consider the last album's title track, its shattering homage to her passing on. Consider the perfection of their penultimate recording LATERALUS. I surely thought it would be their final recording, as it didn't seem possible for them to release anything beyond its shadow. Now I will remain forever grateful they had it in them to release such a beautiful, transcendent, and meditative piece as 10,000 Days. It is a work that manages to go beyond the perfection of LATERALUS due in part to its minor flaws, as well as to its amazing strengths. The fact it manages to skirt so many musical motifs, including ambience worthy of the recordings of Brian Eno, as well as tribal percussive influences and an immaculately rendered sense of atmosphere, lends it moments of brilliance that outshine LATERALUS as one turns its many facets before one's inner eye.

The fact this will be the first TOOL show I have ever attended that is entirely seated, is a sign. The fact this will be the only TOOL show I will attend perfectly sober is a sign. The fact that this will be my seventh TOOL show is a sign, when you consider the mystic attributes to their recordings. Tool acolytes know perfectly well they utilize the symbology of the 7-sided Star of Babalon in the construction of their sets (their stage light scaffolding is constructed into the 7- sided star, above them).

All these synchronicities merge together in view of my third eye and tell me that, yes, this is it, folks. Tool have grown up and so have we. (Well, some of us... I carry this feeling inside me, trapped in my chest, that is like the bird of paradise struggling to get out. To be freed of its cage. I think I will be putting down the ganja for awhile, its all just part of the evolving paradigm-shift that is undergoing on a universal scale even as I type out this message.

I feel deep in my heart and soul that the Mayan prophecy of 2012, only six years away, is rooted in something very real, albeit almost completely misapprehended by all of us. What is happening right now my fine feathered castaways, is nothing short of a radical shift in human consciousness, and I, for one, want to be as lucid and clear -eyed for this time in human history as I can be.

Tonight is not a mere "concert", for me. It is a very real participation in a ritual - a magick ritual utilizing sonic and visual expression rendered by the human soul. It is a gift which entirely makes the price of admission a moot point. This will be as close to a real moving spiritual experience for me as I can imagine, because my ears are open, as are my eyes, as are my heart and soul, to the message behind the words and music conjured by these modern day mages.

Tonight is the beginning of my rebirth.

[Thorngrub]

ISIS began playing promptly @8, opening w/that familiar instrumental song from Panopticon, the one w/crashing chords & soaring screams at the end. They played 4 songs for a total of 30 minutes. The last song had a killer rockin' outtro. The lead singer thanked everyone at 8:30 & they walked off the stage. A short but sweet set from everybody's favorite post-hardcore band.

Thus began a very curious intermission wherein stage technicians efficiently assembled TOOL's stage & set. The curious part was when, after removing ISIS's equipment offstage, they first laid down this pristine, glossy white floor w/a backdrop of the same material that stretched from one edge of the stage to the other in a 5 foot tall strip. The results looked like a miniature hockey rink of perfect white, and for a moment we wondered: Were we going to be treated to "TOOL ON ICE" - ?

After Danny's drumset & the amps & the rest of the equipment was finally set up, the results were a very sparse looking stage w/a long white backdrop strip behind it with a perfectly unblemished white floor (the techs who set it up wore special clean rubber shoes so as not to mar that flawless surface).

The setup gave the stage a very clinical appearance. Throughout the show this effect was complemented by Adam's guitar tech, a woman in a white hospital lab coat. Apparantly we were going to have our minds operated on after being abducted by TOOL. Yet nobody panicked or made a rush for the EXITS as the infamous quartet strolled casually onstage. Instead, they were received w/a bonafide full house standing ovation of thundering applause, whistles, and cheers.

Maynard wore blue jeans w/an oval silver belt buckle, and no shirt. He sported the old school mohauk. He said something cryptic to the effect of "So you're all still here-?" insinuating an impending calamity, and they tore into the familiar pummeling of Stinkfist, as we knew they would. This came as a relief, since we all understood if they opened with anything else, they would have been cleverly disguised imposters.

The 2nd song picked up the momentum with a redemptive version of The Pot. I would wager doubters understood, like losers never would, how much collective booty this tune actually kicked. Unsurprisingly, nearly half the freakin' place lit up for this one. Well not your trusty reviewer, who chose not to partake in substances leading to sensory distortion or enhancement. For once in this reviewer's life, I just wanted to experience a TOOL show perfectly sober. I am very glad I did. (Clear-eyed alert sobriety is really interesting, actually; I could even get used to it.)

Then they launched into 46 & 2, and by this time, their warm-up was through and the sound began to level off to a more satisfactory focus. It turns out the white backdrop strip behind the band comprised of about six seamless panels was a carefully modulated video screen (duh). During the first song only one panel lit up w/trippy imagery, the one directly behind Maynard.

During The Pot, the psychedelic visuals stretched out to cover two panels. Little by little, as each subsequent song began, more panels were integrated with sharp, hi-contrast imagery that soon enough resolved itself into the familiar videos for the songs. The entire floor lit up to mirror the backdrop strip, and we felt lucky to have seats close to the stage and eleven rows up into our section which afforded us a view of the cinematic stage and floor.

Jambi sounded awesome and it was a pleasure to listen to Adam's Joe Walsh -inspired guitar solo midway through. TOOL have a way of making any song they perform sound fresh & dynamic, regardless of how overplayed the song may be. This was certainly the case w/the opener Stinkfist as well as w/Schism and even Sober and Opiate; no matter how many times they've been heard, these tunes always sound fucking killer live.

After Schism, the high point of the show began in earnest. Starting with Rosetta Stoned (featuring the most outrageous & trippiest visuals of the evening) and continuing on with a nicely evolved sounding Opiate, a strident & crushing Sober, & on into the set's peak w/the superb title track Lateralus.

You should have seen the visuals during Rosetta Stoned: there was repeated motifs of hallucinogenic meltdowns, and halfway through all the screens merged to showcase planet earth seen from about the moon's orbit, and then it pulled back eventually to show Saturn, which really lent a majestic feel to the song itself. At the end of the song there was this creepy ass alien Grey -like face, only really disturbing looking and not your typical stylized Grey. It looked more real - reminescent of Aleister Crowley's depiction of a higher Enochian being.

The moment the song Lateralus began, we were all reminded exactly why the album LATERALUS is the crown jewel in TOOL's canon. Justin Chancellor was thrashin' like a heavy metal madman, near us on stage left, his long curly hair whipping about all over the place, while Jonesy remained rooted to his spot like he always does, over on stage right, doin' what he does best, strangling the sickest array of sound effects out of his axe. Danny Carey never fails to impress behind his magickal drum kit, although to be honest I thought he wasn't quite up to par with his usual kinetic clarity.

Maynard also wasn't 100% up to snuff, perhaps the years of belting out these tunes have begun taking their toll, but whether that's from worn out vocal chords or enthusiasm is the real question. I rather tend to think it's the latter. Herein may be glimpsed the one possible weak link in the chain of camaraderie, for I got the feeling Maynard's heart may not be into it anymore.

After Lateralus, Keenan walked off stage while the other three guys actually sat down on stage front center, obviously exhausted, and drank their bottled waters while soaking in the thunderous applause. This was a first for me; usually they all retire backstage for a few minutes before returning for the final encore.

It didn't occur to me right then, but looking back on it, I can almost see Adam, Justin, and Danny just soaking in the fan-worship as if they may not be getting to for much longer. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Eventually Maynard came back out and they launched right into Vicarious. As w/The Pot earlier on, this live rendition was so kickass & heavy, it managed to transcend the perception it's "just another derivative single" and proved itself worthy as a bonafide TOOL epic, similarities to older songs notwithstanding.

Finally they ended the show w/Aenema, half drowned out by the crowd shouting along w/middle fingers raised. The song was great but ended kind of muddy instead of with its usual dynamic & resounding punctuation mark.

As for in-between song chatter and the like, the first incident (during the 2nd song The Pot), I spotted down front on the floor (all seated) people began passing the fold-up chairs hand over head. Maybe a half dozen chairs floated to the front by song's end, and Maynard paused to tell them to quit with that shit and that if anyone got hurt because of him singing, he would leave. "They're just rock songs, people," and that settled them down real quick. Then they launched into 46 & 2.

After Lateralus, Maynard made "Mooing" and "Baaahing" sounds, real funny huh. When the band finished their encore, Keenan walked off stage-left flashing the peace sign w/his right hand; he was so outta there. Meanwhile, the rest of the guys remained onstage without him to salute the crowd cheering them on. Danny walked over and gave Jonesy a hug, and Justin joined in for a group hugs, while the crowd showered them with screaming love.

P.S.

Maynard James Keenan is an asshole.

[Thorngrub]

ISIS

1. That instrumental one from Panopticon w/crashing chords
2. An older song, w/vocals
3. The opening track from Panopticon
4. "Always Be Fallen" (that's all I could discern from the vocalist)

TOOL

01. Stinkfist
02. The Pot
03. 46 & 2
04. Jambi
05. Schism
06. Rosetta Stoned
07. Opiate
08. *Drum/guitar/bass jam*
09. Sober
10. Lateralus

~encore~

11. Vicarious
12. Aenema


~fin~

[Thorngrub]

So in comparison with the LATERALUS tour (which I would give those live performances a 10 out of 10 rating; they were immaculate sonic conceptions), I must say I would give this one about an 8 out of 10, maybe 8-and-a-half out of sympathetic nostalgia.

The clinical setting and the pure white cinematic floor/backdrop screens were a really cool touch, and something new for the fans. The imagery conceived & executed for the new songs were really cool and trippy as all get out, in particular the extended meltdown in your face psychedelia for Rosetta Stoned (the highlight along with the song Lateralus).

Other than that, I found the show to fall a tad short of the previous 6 concerts I've attended.

Let me say this: My sense of awe & unparalleled respect for them as some sort of "modern mages" was somewhat corrected last night, as I watched and realized that just as Maynard had suggested, they are merely a rock band. Of course, I believe I myself mentioned this a few pages back here, when I cited Tool as just being a really good rock band, and not demigods walking the earth. Well that feeling has been cemented into a firm resolve, as of last night. Not only are they just another rock band - - a particularly talented, kick-ass rock band, sure -- but I see them now as being more fallible than ever, what with either Maynard's slow disillusionment with either the mewling faceless masses assembling each and every night before him, or who knows what particular reasons.

The fucking meat heads that attend these TOOL shows are pathetic. I thought I was going to have somewhat of a "spiritual experience" at this show, but hooo-boy, I ain't got nuthin' on the buzzcut dumb jock in the aisle next to us, with the generic tribal tattoos, who for realz was half possessed by the Spirit Of Tool, throwing his arms out in Jesus Poses and generally making a complete ass out of his retarded self.

This must become an embarrasment for Maynard, if you think about it. One thing's perfectly clear: he loathes, despises every single one of us in the audience, and although it is an understandable sentiment to a point, when you get right down to it, it is elitist, holier-than-thou, and snide as fuck. It is no way to treat your fans. It is why I think he is an asshole. (Believe me, I've been close enough to MJK to look into his eyes, and I have never seen more genuine contempt for humanity than I did in that gaze. We truly are naught but cattle or sheep to him)

In any case, despite still having an immense respect for the music, even in particular the meditative beauty of 10,000 Days, that does not mean I condone their singer's misanthropic attitude. I concede that MJK may pen the most brilliant lyrics this side of Bobby Dylan, but that doesn't mean I have to like the bastard.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

Being a musician and having toured, I can tell you that I like about 5 percent of the population of the world's musicians. We are a strange lot, but in reality, what makes us drive is the fact that we are shy, insecure assholes with nothing really to say and when given just a glint of power, we become the very bully that beat the shit out of us in high school. It's the guys that just do it to do it are the ones that I like the most. Yes, having knuckledhead fans is a downer, but come on, if that guy wasn't singing for Tool, he'd be face down in a parking lot with some beefy numbskull kicking the shit out of him in a parking lot.

In the end it doesn't matter and I'd much rather see somebody who is still having fun than going through the motions and biting the hand that feeds.

[sisyphus]

yeah. those shirtless oily tatooed freaks assuming ecstatic quasi-religious poses were creepy dorky. ick. ick. that was the first time i've seen tool. i've gotta think about it. i was never a die-hard fan, but i liked undertow and some of lateralus. maynard seems too disdainful for my taste, though.... and i didn't like his cock-strut dancing.

still, i enjoyed a lot of the music....

[JACkory]

Interesting thoughts, guys...and as always a stellar TOOL review from Thorny.
MJK showed his true asshole colors when he pulled his "I've been born again" hoax last April Fool's day. Surely he knows that Tool has A LOT of fans who are Christians...I mean there are countless Christian metal bands out there who claim Tool as an influence. I saw nothing remotely humorous in the prank and it showed a certain amount of disdain to Christian fans who probably get enough grief from brethren peers for liking a band that flaunts with the occult to such a degree.

[luke]

I been telling folks for years that Maynard's a piece of shit...

That said, isn't he pretty solid with the jiu-jitsu? Maybe he wouldn't be getting his ass kicked quite so much.

[maarts]

MJK looked pretty frail and down when I saw him earlier this year. Danny and Justin were very dismissive about him and didn't want to discuss him when I talked to them- they were heaps more enthousiastic about touring here and the new album so we had a nice chat. Justin's a frigging nice guy!

Missed out on tickets for TOOL's gig next year though because they sold out in TWO FUCKING MINUTES!

[maarts]

And Thorn- ace review mate! Still makes me hungry to see them!

[Thorngrub]

Cool maarts - *and thanks for the props!* - yeah, it's a solid rock show that's for sure, and you can thank Justin and Adam and DAnny for that, and of course Maynard still "sings the songs", and you gotta hand it to him, he was born w/a powerful set of pipes, so it goes w/out saying the show's still worth seeing.

JAC - I gotta say man, I've backed off my over-the-top allegations of TOOL's so-called "deep involvement" w/the occult. True, the lyrics to the album LATERALUS reference a lot of mystic knowledge (in particular the Kabbala, or ancient Jewish mysticism) and things like the Tree Of Life and whatnot, but I gotta say I experienced quite a bit of sobering on this last live show, when yes, my eyes opened to the fact that, once again, I have been guilty of hyperbole.

Let's face it: TOOL's "involvement" in true occult matters is superficial, at best. They ARE just a rock band, nowhere near the "modern mages" I so excitedly have been making em out to be. Just cuz you throw in some seven sided stars into your stage set up, or reference Qabbalistic notions, does not a true occult practitioner make. I should have realized that in my prior assessments, but you know me: always gettin' carried away w/my own enthusiasm...

[sisyphus]

thorny IS the best reviewer of all, for both movies and concerts.

[skvorisdeadsorta]

Maynard is no Alan Moore, that's for sure.

[luke]

Doesn't Alan Moore live in a solid black house? Or is that Gaiman?