Posted-Date: Sun, 17 Dec 1995 16:33:40 -0500
From: UXDX70B@prodigy.com (MR CHAD CHRISTENSEN-WOODS)

ok, first I want to say that it was fucking AWESOME...as in one is 
inspired to the state of awe by the spectacle before them. 

We got there late due to some bum directions but that turned out for 
the better. Whoever was first on the stage was some sorta Simon and 
Garfunkle alterna-shit. Then came out Paul and Zom...kinda a cross 
between tool, pink floyd, and nin (heavy on the nin). Maynard came 
out and added some voice to a song, he was sportin a sweet afro (sp?).
 Overall it was pretty interesting music, but at some points it just 
seemed like they were up there trying to make noise...anyway...they 
finished about 10:00 and it took 'till 10:35 or so for TOOL to take 
the stage...Maynard said something about getting bum directions too, 
apparently they went to the old Soma, i dunno, whatever, as long as 
they were on stage everyone was happy. 

Someone said to listen to the stuff between bands, well I found it 
rather difficult to make out any of it, Zom kinda blew your ears for 
the entire night. I did catch something about "stick your big black 
dick in my pussy, oh oh oh oh oh oh, fuck me fuck me fuck me fuck me 
fuck me fuck me, oh oh oh oh oh oh oh..." and then there was some 
sorta "Frankenstein gangsta" spoken word. 

After a LONG ASS time of gettin their stuff set up, they finally came 
out with Flood. From where I was standing (about yea far from the 
stage...about 10-15 yards) everyone I could see was just staring. 
Some people's heads bobbed a bit, but mostly people just stared. And 
Maynard definitely stared back. I can't really explain that part, if 
you've ever seen those holograms that have eyes that follow you 
wherever you go I guess that's it. And his posture up there is 
amazing, he twitches and contorts and does the wave with his body to 
the music. During Intolerance, he put his arm out like he was going 
to hug you, it seemed so possible at the time. Adam looked pretty 
wicked up there, he had the light coming down onto him, the shadow 
that it made hid most of his face, kinda looked like the face of 
Death recessed in the shadow of his hood (Adam's hair). Danny was 
hidden by the drums and some tall mother about 5 feet in front of me 
(I'm 6'2", so this guy had to be about 6'5"). The new bassist is 
unbelievable, played everything as well as Paul, maybe better, 
everything seemed more fluid...i don't remember his name, but Maynard 
said he was from England and became available when Dokken and Odin 
broke up and formed a new band :)

As best as I can recall, the songs went: Flood, new song, new song 
(could be extension of the previous song??), Intolerance, new song 
(he used some altered mega-phone with the bell cut off and a funnel 
attached to "sing" most of it), Prison Sex (maynard added some new 
lyrics), new song (animal, I thought, but now I've read it's enema), 
Sober, new song...encore OPIATE!!! Maynard dedicated it to all the 
little white supremacy kids in the audience, and held out his middle 
finger on the hand he was holding the mic with. I thought all the new 
stuff was very good, except for that mega-phone bit, I think the new 
album will be better than undertow. 

The crowd was pretty tame until the end of Intolerance, but everyone 
calmed down for most of the new stuff. The place erupted for Sober, 
from then on it was bodies flying everywhere. Two pits formed, which 
was nice cause you could bounce through one, wade through some people,
 bounce through the second one, and then "HEY, I'm in the third row!" 


he said "no more of that reverend Maynard shit" too, then said that 
he does nothing in writing any part of the songs, he just sits on the 
couch. that led me too some quick philosophical thoughts...maybe the 
crowd is the body, the music is the soul that torments the anguished 
body, and the lyrics (Maynard and his great voice) is the 
consciousness guiding the crowd to...that's when I got leg whipped by 
some little kid getting tossed around the pit like a rag doll.  Well, 
I don't know about any of you, but Maynard can be my shepherd leading 
me along the path through the valley of darkness beset by the 
righteous man and the tyranny of evil.

I guess that's all from me, toodles, and I hope all you people that 
didn't get to go see 'em eventually get your due. 

                                        Chad