| concert reviews firsthand, immediate, from the heart |
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08/05/2001
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Review written by: ryan lund (ryan.lund@home.com) Review posted on: 08/07/01 06:51:49 ETThis was this reviewer's 1st? Tool show
the grudge stinkfist prison sex 46+2 schism pushit disposition/reflection sober parabol/a Ænema lateralus i`m 90% sure. the stuff in the middle might be a bit out of order. words do not describe how incredible this show was. we got there pretty early, and got inside pretty quickly after an intense security check (the metal detectors went off on things like zippers) and got over to the will call line (couldnt get down to eugene any time sooner) early on. by the time the doors to the auditorium opened, the line was huge. anyway, my friend and i were the first ones in to the mezanine, and as we rounded the corner into the part with seats, we both stopped dead in our tracks and said 'holy shit'. the entire place was about half the size i had anticipated. i could read the 'fender' and 'marshall' on the front of the amps. a roadie came up and announced that the band was about to start, and that no one should take any pictures or anything like that because it distracts "this guy"... i think i might have caught a total of 3 flashes during the entire show. not sure how many non flash photos were taken. so crimson come up on stage, and start playing. the bassist was ... interesting to say the least. he played with both hands up on the neck. looked like a 7 string bass, at least a 6, and that guy knew how to play it. at one point i was really digging the guitar solo until i realised it was the bassist, which was pretty amazing. it took a graphing calculator to figure out what time signatures those guys were using, amazing stuff. not exactly party music, but i think i`ll be looking into buying some KC discs. the girls sitting next to me actually left during the kc set. after arguing with her friend (who wasnt listening) over which member of blink182 was the hottest, crying 'what the hell, i came here for music, not this shit, lets go'. the same girl ruined several amazing moments in the tool set with her incessant screaming. i kinda wish she had stayed home, but oh well. at least her friend wasn`t so bad. at the end of the crimson set, we left and went for the restrooms and some water. by the time we got back, the tool stage was almost completely set up and the drum tech was testing out the drums. once everything was set, the lights dimmed. the guys entered the stage and assumed their proper positions. tak. tak. tak. tak. the grudge begins. the mix during this part was probably the low point of the set, as the guitar drowned out most of everything else. danny worked his drum kit like a giant machine, looking left then right, like a robot. maynard was just the opposite, dancing around like a monkey in his grey and black body suit. adam and justin played out their parts, with adam looking up at the audience every once in a while with just a slight smile, the same face that he held the entire night. there was some smoke of the cigarette variety for about a minute, but after that the air was clean the entire night (from where i was anyhow). the downside to the bad mix was that i didn`t hear any of the awesome double bass during the grudge, but they more than made up for the bad mix. at the end of the song, maynard introduced the band. "eugene, tool. tool, eugene." and so began stinkfist. by this time, the screaming and whistling (amazing how some people`s whistling can override a pa of that size) had subsided and the mix had been adjusted. at the end of the song, adam switched guitars, and began the opening riff to prison sex. as maynard began whispering 'show me something', there were mixed reactions. most of the crowd shut up immediately, while others cheered for the alternate version. justin started the opening bassline to 46+2 seemingly out of nowhere, and the performance was absolutely amazing with the whispers and electric pads all played out with amazing accuracy. the moment i was waiting for finally came, and without a single face contortion, danny executed the drum solo with 100 percent accuracy and 1,000,000% energy. at first i was air drumming along with him (and probably half the audience), but i finally gave up and just watched an amazing man do amazing things to an amazing solo. i belive it was at the end of this song that maynard ran out and behind the screen off the stage. danny kept the audience well entertained with some random tappetytaptappas on the pads and cymbals. maynard returned in his new attire... spandex shorts 12 sizes too small. he stayed in that uniform for the remainder of the show. a chorus of several hundred what the fucks began stirring up as maynard set up a mic stand and whipped out a guitar (one of those wierd looking ones with no headstock). justin and adam nodded at each other and silently counted off to the beginning of schism, which maynard assisted. as the song progressed to the middle, the reason for maynard`s guitar became clear, he was playing the echo guitar part. he wasn`t having such a good day with his guitar at that point, but it was fun. the real (or so i thought) treat for me came with pushit. it was not the slow version. but it had an enlongated middle section which rocked heavily and gave me a couple extra minutes to get off on my favourite song. maynard picked up his guitar yet again to play the harmonics in disposition, and he and the guitar got along much nicer this time around, he didn`t miss a single note. as disposition came to a close, danny smacked the far right pad, and an absolutely monstrous thooouuummmmp ensued, followed by the stick bounce on the smallest of his new gold and bronze toms. as the drums to reflection began, danny was just sitting there, playing out the complex patterns without even looking. disposition/reflection turned out to be (in my opinion) the greatest part of the entire set. all four were so intent on what they were doing, it was unreal the way it came out. at the end of the set, amidst the intense pad work and tom rolls, danny did scratch his ear a few times, which was the only clue that he was human for the entire night, even if the scratching didn`t affect his drumming. the band then left the stage as adam played the ending riff for a couple minutes. people around he were screaming and yelling, but i didn`t even notice them. at that point, i *was* adam. nothing was real except those notes, over and over and over and over and over. i could sort of see the walls and stage and everything, but i don`t think they were really there. as adam walked off stage, i pretty much just sunk back into my seat and put the pieces of reality back together. sober was the song in the set that just plain *rocked* the most. i don`t think there was a single person in the entire audience that wasn`t screaming 'WHYYYYYYY CANT WE NOT BE SOBER' during the chorus. parabol went well, plenty of people singing along througout the audience. as the feedback started to build up, the screams from the audience drowned out the majoirty of the feeback itself, but the opening riff and accompanying drum explosion was loud and clear. directly behind me, a tool fan had brought his tool-virgin friend along. throughout the set, i lost count of the number of 'holy shit' 'oh my god' and 'fuck!' style statements that came from behind. i think it was safe to say that the world gained another tool fan last night. adam switched back to the sober and prison sex guitar, and everyone was pumped for one more undertow song. adam nodded to maynard, and maynard began the familiar chant-whisper-grunts of Ænema. adam came in with his guitar riff, and then danny and justin joined in. i was ready to start grooving to the song, but what was i going to groove to? from listening to the album i knew that they were all doing something different, but actually watching them do it right in front of me, the effect was multiplied. watching maynard convulsing, adam nodding his head, danny shaking his head, all in different rhythms was overwhwelming. i think i ended up sticking with adam`s rhythm, but it doesn`t really matter. it was amazing either way. at the end of the song, maynard spoke again. "thank you. if you have a friend with you who is ... i dunno ... sleeping? then you might want to ... sorta ... wake them up. caus this is going to be the last song, so you`ll want them to at least be able to be awake for the last song. i hope that you can all take this experience home with you, whether you had a good experience... a bad experience ... or a sleepy experience ... and ... maybe ... in a couple weeks or so, use that energy to create something positive. thank you." it was just noise as half the audience screamed in aproval and the other half (including myself) screamed back 'no, thank *YOU*!!!' the band all huddled around danny`s drums, and adam began the opening notes to lateralus. i got the bright idea to play dannys drum part by clapping, and the guys behind me caught on, followed by the girls to one side of me, followed by my friend, and then the rest of my section. some people down in the orchestra section had the same idea, and it spread even faster down there, so the entire audience was clapping along do danny`s thumthumthumthum up until the heavy part of the song started. almost everyone was standing at this point. everyone in the audience was shouting along 'SPIRAL OUT, KEEP GOING' and the shouts and screams and applause complimented the searing guitar and bass tones along with the drum outro. the band walked to the front of the stage, as sticks, water bottles, and used drum heads flew out into the audience. the guy behind me was a bit upset that there were no encores, but he thought it was 'fucking flawless, dude' so he was happy. i`m really happy that those four guys met up.
Review written by: TheDude (cableer@mailbox.orst.edu) Review posted on: 08/07/01 07:02:01 ET
This was this reviewer's 1st? Tool show
WOW. I don't even know if words can express what happened last night. It was incredible. Being my first tool show I don't think it can get better than this. This is by far the best show I have ever seen. From the second the grudge started the crowd went insane. In a way I was glad it was a seated show. Every person got their own little world where they could experience Tool how they wanted to. The setlist was the same as ive seen here before except there was nothing off of opiate. I was a little dissapointed about that but I can't complain about anything else. The show had almost too many things going on at once. It was hard to focus on one aspect at a time. The drumming was so strong, my heart started beating to the rythem and when the drums stopped I stopped. Or the basslines that just flowed through every song. Or the hypnotic guitar playing of Adam or when he just looked into the crowd with his blank stare. Or maynard's voice just ripping into every fiber you have. During pushit every piece came together and that now is my favorite song of all time. I left the show during that song, my body stayed behind but I left it. I was contemplating using mind altering substances before the show, breaking my promise to stay clean for the summer, and im glad i didn't. TOOL is a mind altering substance. They did things during their songs that made everything go away. They made time stand still. The small pause that they did before parabola which in reality was probably a second, seemed like forever. parabola is my favorite song off lateralus and seeing it live made it even better. right now i am sitting not moving because i threw my back and neck out of wack and the adreniline wore off. i have so much more to say about this life changing show but i will leave with one of the only things he said during the night...(not direct quote) he said no matter what your experience of this show tonight was , good or bad, i hope you leave here tonight and make something positive of that experience, thank you....and then they busted into lateralus to end the show. i want to thank tool and i am going to use this experience to help me play and write my music even better peace...
Review written by: mo'belly (bigperm024@yahoo.com) Review posted on: 08/07/01 12:54:17 ET
This was this reviewer's 2nd Tool show
more like a story than a review...beware... As I rot away slowly at work and try to recall last night in Eugene, a smile of materialistic happiness attempts to spread across my face..."Eugene...Tool...Tool...Eugene". After over a month of planning time off from my very hectic and very fucked schedule. After getting the royal treatment from the fuckers at ticketmaster for the Portland date. After finding tickets on ebay for $600...$600!?! After moping around feeling like my dog died, Bobbi Sue ran off with my pa and my trailer's floor fell through (stereotypical country song) I watched the weather change when I read on one of the better tool sites on the web that tool added another oregon show to the list of lucky cities. This city being closer than the first, this venue being smaller, the date was sooner, the tickets were not through ticketmaster!!! AWWW SHHHIITT!!!! The Hult Center only has two places to walk up to and buy tickets at. The box office at the Hult, and an external box office at the UofO campus a few miles away.This greatly increased the chances for those tool fans who also got the royal treatment trying for the Schnitzer date to get a good shot at seeing tool up close and personal. Tickets went on sale at 10 am on friday the 27th. At the aforementioned walk up box offices and online. Oh yeah also over the telephone. Having to work from thursday night to friday morning, chances of me driving the 40 miles to eugene in time for a decent chance of obtaining tickets dropped dramatically. In her infinite compassion and ultimate wisdom, my partner, who was not a big tool fan at the time, suggersted she go down to Eugene on thursday and try to get a spot in line. Thank you Sweet jesus for my beautiful woman! Christan got to the E.M.U. on the campus at about 3:30 or 4pm on thursday. After going through some connections to help with parking on campus she walked up to the door to find she was the only one there! First in line!!! She waited around pondering what events might be in store for her over the course of the next 18 hours. Some fellow friendly toolers showed up and lickety-split there was a line. No lottery, No fucking lame ass raffle tickets, a genuine old fashioned line. Early perv gets the tool. Closer to sunset, a feeble and narrow minded security guard approached this brave band of bastardos and attempted to harrass and belittle our heroine and those that followed her. The feeb continued to inform them that they could not "camp out" and cited some rule probably decades old about campus curfew, they wouldn't be allowed back until 5am. I don't think Britney fans would have been told to go home. 40 miles from home and no where to call her own, my best friend and her trusty canine steed, Chupi the rat terrier, departed the scene with the two friendlies in line behind her. With nothing at the E.M.U. to ensure their places in line but a list of names, they headed to Mcmenamins on High street for some fried potatos and some brew to help them conjure up a plan.... ...2am friday morning... Our story continues on a moderately warm mid-summer's night. while I wring my sweaty anticipating hands at work many miles away, my love and our dog leave the apartment of a fellow line stander and head for the E.M.U. After falling asleep halfway through an incomprehensible viewing of Snatch, Christan and friends decide it's time. Unmolested, they reaffirm their spots in line and form what is to be the final verson. More heads show up as the night goes on. Most pleasant, few un... ...6am... I am released from my duties slanging chemicals in a "cleanroom" for a major electronics company due north of our compatriots. I immediately head south. I stop by and pick up some flavored cow's milk, bagels, assorted hard candy, water and about 18 doughnuts. Reinforcements for troops at the front. I arrive after minor hassles with parking and walk into the E.M.U. to multitudes of new college inductees walking around with mom and dad. Right smack in the middle is a long ass line of tired "different" looking toolheads. I approach the front of the line and notice my beauty of a partner and Chupi on the floor discussing life and other wonders with the warm and wonderfully friendly tool fans waiting, waiting, waiting.... ...10 am... The line is in order tension builds as the seconds tick away, each passing minute somebody gets a ticket, that means those of us still in line still don't have a ticket! tension rises even more when the very nervous and somewhat young college student behind the very slow and somewhat old computer starts to print out tickets. The first eight tickets out of that computer went to the girls behind the counter!!! Not only that, but some dude walked back there and picked them up and turned around and left!! You can imagine how some of us felt, but it was better than fucking ticketmaster. We were next. I gathered our shit of the floor and prepared to leave as soon as possible. The tickets were printed and paid for. I could feel eyes burning the back of my skull, or maybe not. We turned to leave and received applause from some gracious toolheads that were just happy that somebody got some tickets, that some good came of this whole thing. We walked out. Sunday August 5th As we waited in line to be detected for metal objects, the sunshine, good friends, many beers and a little mary gave me this giddy, little boy feeling that I haven't felt in a long time. Not to mention I was a bout to witness what was to become the best musical experience to date. The crowd was as diverse as it could have been. A testament to the power of music, I thought. Upon walking in the doors of the Hult Center lobby there were little groups of people talking, laughing, sharing and basically being good citizens. Not what the Hult people were expecting Iam sure. Mainly a good sense of community and easy going feeling filled the Hult Center the whole night. And they were serving alcohol!! Everybody got along and everybody seemed excited as everybody else. Much different from any other show Ive been to. After contributing to the band like good consumers, we went to take our seats in the Silva Concert Hall. As we got to the ticket takers we could hear the intricate yet somehow familliar sounds of King Crimson. The theatre was already darkened and the show had begun! We took our seats and watched that which is King Crimson. Quasi-Futuristic, complex, spacey with a touch of Butt Rock is my uneducated opinion of the performance. Overall I dug the set and the sounds, more compelling than I could have Imagined. Pretty tight band. I only noticed one fuck up. Pretty tight. I intend to look into these guys. The butt rock sound came mostly from Robert Fripp's guitar. It just had what I would call a butt rock sound. A little too much in my opinion. King crimson was taken aback by the standing ovation after their 45 minute set (about that Im guessing) and just took a few moments to revel in it and look at all the hands clapping. Another 30 minutes or so passed as the equipment techs set up the bands tools. Danny Carey's new gold drum set was on hand and to the right. (looking at the stage) Justin Chancellor's bass setup was in front of the massive conglomeration of percussion. To the right and in the back was Maynards's platform with a movie screen directly behind it. In front of the platformand to the right was Adam Jones's guitar stack. I did note the brands of both guitar stacks but somewhere in my mind were lost in the shuffle. A large video screen was shown behind and above the band. The Grudge One of my favorites from Lateralus started with a kick in the head. The band didn't fuck around and was on stage for about a minute or two before they started with this powerful opener. The guys exploded in my face like a facial video. It was just the beginning. Wish I could remember the visuals that were played. Iam sure somebody will. Stinkfist They began to fall more and more n'sync with each other as the sounds began to seep into my body more and more. The way the instruments meshed with one another was very powerful. very powerful. 46+2 This recital made me move. The way they stay with each other without looking that much. fucking awesome. Prison Sex You could feel the crowd come together more with each song. Looking out over the crowd I could see waves of movement in time with the music. Maynards movements were mesmerizing. Not what one would call dancing but probably what I would call the purest form of self expression body movement. Or was it dancing? Pushit Album version, still powerful and moving, What else to say? Schism Strange noises from the rhythm section boys who took a seat on the stage floor as they played before this song started. Maynard left the stage and took off what looked like a parachute jumpsuit and returned in hot pants and nothing else. beautiful rendition of Schism true to the studio version, but some improv was incorporated. Dispositon and Reflection closed the first part of the show, very moving and heartfelt. One of my favorite parts of the show. slow and then faster and faster yet very heartfelt and emotional. At least for me it was. Adam continued as the others left the stage. I wouldn't ahave minded if he stayed another fifteen minutes hell, gimme twenty. There was a 10 to fifteen minute brake with no visuals but sounds, I think. Sober Fucking hot! The crowd really moved for this hot little number so did I, couldn't help not too Fucking hot!!! Parabol/Parabola By this time I felt like another person. I didn't want it to stop. My rational mind kept telling me it was going to but I didn't want it to. words have become meaningless at this point. Aenima We were seated right behind the sound board so we got a look at the setlist early in the show. Which kinda sucked because we knew what songs were gonna be next. The others in the crowd didn't so they were more excited to hear this one. We knew it was almost over. Kinda anti-climatic. Keep going. Lateralus before they started my favorite tool song as of now, Maynard said the usual about taking tonights experience and turning it into something positive in the next few weeks. He also announced it was the last song. The band gathered in front of Danny's drums with Danny behind them and this gem of a song started. Immaculate Maynards voice rang true in every atom of every molecule of all matter. The Guitar, bass and drums kicked plentyo'ass as well. My partner which stood, sat and layed in line for this show cried as the song ended. I shit you not. The applause almost hurt my ears, the guys waved and threw bottles of water and picts and drumsticks in the air. It was chaos, it was melancholy, it was beautiful. Thanks to everyone who made it what it was and what it will be. Keep going... Anthony
Review written by: Lyndon Becknah! (amnesiac@exitmusic.org) Review posted on: 08/07/01 14:58:16 ET
This was this reviewer's 2nd Tool show
ok.. so.. i've waited a few days to post my review... and i'm at the bottom. where no one will read me. oh well. moving on... king crimson started at 7:30. i thought it was very funny that NO ONE noticed that danny was just walking around the auditorium before he went to the soundboard area. he walked by me twice or so.. then again on his way out. not a soul recognized him. blergh. ok. moving on.. the big lateralus ring of eyes comes on the screen and the band takes the stage. maynard was wearing a tight greenish 'aliens' getup. with a sort of greenish/blue stripe painted down his face. once he got to his little platform he took a drink of water and started shaking manically a good 45 seconds before the grudge started. great live song. stinkfist had some new vocals in the middle. 46&2 was exactly the same as previous tours. still great, though. prison sex was nice to hear, as they never played it in oregon or washington the entire aenima tour. great extra verse. the album version of pushit was played, and in the middle a short guitar line from the salival version. a few little new twists. for schism maynard held a headless guitar and sang into a mic on a stand. he kept fucking with the volume knob, and being only a few rows back it was obvious he wasn't playing anything.. disposition/reflection were among the evening's highlights.. when justin started the bass riff at the beginning of disposition this chick next to me was telling her boyfriend that it might be "sober" or possibly "flood". i promptly spit on her. ok, i didn't. but i should have, in retrospect. maynard did the thing where he holds a guitar and doesn't play it for these two songs. he's really a fucking moron when it comes to some things. adam stood on stage alone and played the closing riff of reflection for what seemed like the length of king crimson's set. (approx. 3 hours). salival guy... dumb loops.. YAY TOOL'S BACK they did a generic rendition of sober. then parabol/parabola. these were REALLY good. the band are really able to play this one well. very good visuals of the geometric designs that danny used to have on his kit. (now he uses the one made from melted down idols from a cival war museum or whatever.). then uh... uhmm... aenema, i think. maynard got into this little number. at the end he hit the floor and sang the last 'hey hey hey' curled up in fetal position on the floor of his platform. this worried me, because when i saw him when apc opened for nin he hit the floor and didn't get up for the rest of the show. then he gave a little speech he gives every crowd. take this experiance. do something positive. personally i used the experiance to beat up people smaller than me and ruin THEIR experiance. just kidding again. then they played lateralus. which was really heavy and a good closer. i'm still laughing that no one else recognized danny. he's HUGE. i could see him sitting at the soundboard and i was like thirty feet from the stage. i believe he was having sex with camilla during king crimson's last song. highlights of the evening were the morons screaming 'GOOOO MAYNNNAARDDD' whenever a song would slow down. and the idiots in front of me that insisted on being the shirtless morons no concert would ever lack. thank you tool, for taking fifty dollars and giving me somewhere warm to be for three hours. oh yeah, the music too. good show. - lyndon 'la vida loca' beckner.
Review written by: brightshadow (shad@squid.org) Review posted on: 08/07/01 18:21:59 ET
This was this reviewer's 2nd Tool show
I don't know about the set list, but the first one posted was close enough. This's just a quick edit of the quickie review I posted to the tool-list lastnight, for the sake of doing so. I'd like to take this moment to say "Ha, ha, second row seats!" insert cut and paste here: I was kind of sad that we didn't get to hear The Patient, but maybe we'll get that in Portland this Wednesday. Maynard came on wearing some wonky little bodysuit; Geoff identified it as some outfit a Replicant from Blade Runner was wearing; my first impression was that it looked sort of like a Fremen suit from Dune. He took that off after the first few songs.. makes sense, it looked like it was made of fuckin' rubber, and was probably a personal sauna. He had some face paint on (can't describe the shape, made him look sorta like a moai from Easter Island ;p) and extended that up and over his head, which sorta made him look like oldschool mohawk-maynard. Anyway, he took that off and danced around in teeny little black shorts after that. Apparently he's standing in the back now; Adam was front left, Justin was front right, Danny was rear left, and Maynard was rear right standing up on an elevated stage (*cough* golden highchair *cough*) so he looked as tall as everyone else in the auditorium. All in all, it was an excellent set; there were a few little guitar/bass oopsies, but nothing too terrible. Stage was small there.. I had those second-row seats, so had an awesome, awesome view (Portland on Wed is gonna stink; I'm second row there too, but it's second row lower balcony :P) -- I'm sore. Didn't thrash my voice as bad as I figured I would, though. Oh, and King Crimson? FUCKING ROCKED. Their albums do them very little justice compared to their live set; I'm not familiar enough with them to tell you what all they played (and i missed at least one song at the beginning because of my nicotine habit) but I recognized FraKctured (i think) and Into the Frying Pan from the latest album in there somewhere. If any of you get the chance to see this little leg of the tour, DO IT. King Crimson was great. The bassist had some kind of really fucked up 10-string bass (Being ignorant as I am, I did some research -- it's not a bass at all. It's a touch guitar, I believe that particular one was custom built by Warr Guitars. 10 strings, MIDI, has the full range of a PIANO.. Trey Gunn made that thing *sing*!) Anyway, I'm not sure what else to cover; the show was awesome. Great acoustics in there, I don't have concert ear - too- bad, it was great to have seats (wrestling to get in front is lame, and not being able to see is even lamer) so you could do your own little puppet dance, or bang your head, or jump up and down, or kick back and relax, or even go have a smoke between bands and not have to worry about losing the spot you had to fight for. Last time I saw Tool, it was on the Aenima tour in Salem at the Armory..this show beat it hands-down. -brightshadow
Review written by: Geoff (geoff@untool.net) Review posted on: 08/07/01 21:58:17 ET
This was this reviewer's 3rd Tool show
Read Shad's review...I was sitting next to him (2nd row, well actually 5th row, as row "B" wasn't 2nd row, but close enough:) What I have to say is not really a review, but a though, outloud... How come, every time I see Tool, I have to go to my doctor the next day? Every inch of my body is screaming out in pain, and it -MUST- be remidied before the Portland show tomorrow. It would make more sense if I had unintentionaly meandered into a mosh pit, but I had a reserved seat, and didn't make physical contact with -anyone-. Maybe I can get some tranquilizers for the Pdx show, so I can sit the fuck down!! Thanks to Shad for scoring me that delectable ticket. Rgds, Geoff
Review written by: Nathan Lowe/ Melissa Medina (N8modogger@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 08/07/01 22:17:41 ET
This was this reviewer's 3rd Tool show
Me and My girlfriend 3 weeks ago were quite depressed at the fact this show sold out almost as fast as the schnitzer. I didn't even think we would get to go. But with some quick thinking and a saint of a mom, I was able to aquire tix to BOTH shows!! Not only that but my mother scored 4th row seats!! King Crimson played a killer set, I"ve never heard anything like it. They even played some classics like Thela hun jin jeet and Elephant talk. While watching the show I noticed in the right hand corner a huge black bulge draped in the backround, we were crossing our fingers it would be the gold kit. After King Crimsons amazing set, Tool finally made their appearance. There were two video screens one behind maynard and one above the whole show. And of course the gold drum kit!! They opened w/ the grudge which got everyone pumped, then stinkfist, 46&2, prison sex and may other favorites. Each song was played with power, accuracy and just pure magic. The visuals and animations were just spectacular, I especially liked the swimming couple in green psychadelics! Maynard was dressed in what looked like a jumpsuit with a black mohawk that turned into a black mask that is an opposite of the white mask he has painted before. The last half of the show he stripped down to his skimpies and showed off his spine tattoo as well as a few shots of his butt(Due to a mike box attached to his hip) The guy right in front of me was lucky enough to catch Danny's drumstick and I was debating on grabbing it but I didn't. All in all it was even more than I had hoped for, and I can't wait to see them again on Wednesday here in Portland.
Review written by: Ieinz (ieinz@www.com) Review posted on: 08/07/01 22:54:46 ET
This was this reviewer's 1st Tool show
Well what can I say? I didn't know about the show until the day of. I called my friend up and we decided to drive to Eugene and hopefully score a ticket. And boy, did we score! We got two tickets from a couple for at cost plus service charge. $108 for two tickets. Eighth row. Center Floor. (Thanks for the tickets!) I thought we wouldn't even get tickets. People, there is hope. If you haven't seen Tool drive to Portland and hope. We had arrived about an hour before Once we got our tickets we had a little while to wait. We only stood in line for about five minutes before a Hult Center guy came and told us they were moving people in through the back. The metal detector went off on my shirt. Sheesh. The Hult Center is an awesome venue. It isn't the largest but it looks sweet. Inside Silva Concert Hall it looks like some giant wove the interior. Anyway, King Crimson rocked. They have these king of rocky spooky music that would go perfect with some old horror movie. The "bass" player was interesting. For a while I didn't know where the low sounds came from. I thought the guy sitting down was making them but he had a guitar. Another reviewer cleared it up for me. I want a touch guitar:( Tool rocked that house and through in plenty of surprises. Extra verse in Prison Sex, Pushit (the album version), visuals for Schism, and no Opiate. All the songs from Lateralus seemed the better performed songs. I was not expected for Schism to sound so good. Sober also surprisingly rocked. Maynard was just as crazy as ever. I heard people describe his stage presence before but I was still totally amazed. I especially like his little act during Aenema. All in all I left the show feeling content. I can now die happy. I have seen Tool.
Review written by: Erik W (WinchMan4@aol.com) Review posted on: 08/08/01 00:42:14 ET
This was this reviewer's 1st Tool show
Wow Lordy! Im a few days removed now from the show at the Hult Center, and all the crap getting into this show was damn well worth it! My day started off with a 2 and a half hour drive to Eugene where I met up with some freinds and they dropped me and my freind Will off at the venue. We were near the front of the line and were told to turn back because we had a cell phone (even though it was dead). After hiding it in the bushes because of our absence of a car we got in, got our tickets and made our way up into the cheap seats...the real cheap seats. King Crimson came on and played a 5 song set. If youve never heard their music, its a weird mix between tools songs length, les claypools awesome bass playing, and the 1970's guitar solo venture. An ok band, but now Im ready to see who I paid for. Maynard came on stage and got ready to sing in what looked like a position to tackle someone. After rocking out to the Grudge and the other first set songs, I noticed that the crowd collectively banged their heads to the music. It was great! After hearing pushit, I could have died right their, its the most powerful song played by tool that brings me to tears everytime I hear it. The second half really got the crowd moving. Ænima turned out to be the suprising favorite of mine from the show. The place erupted when Maynard began to brethe in the mic. Some funny notes on Maynard during this song: He shook his hips like a girl when the part about L Ron Hubbard and the actresses came up, and he curled up and started twitching at the end of the song. Lateralus - Great song to finish with. Coolest thing about this song was that I noticed Dannys stick bag was to his far right. He broke the stick in his right hand and hit the drums and the gong with his fist. After the show when everyone was exiting, everyone yelled in the building, letting out the energy of seeing something of this magnitude. Thank you TooL, for being a band that has so much positivity and emotions into music. Thank You for playing for us.
Review written by: A.I (mjkane14@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 08/09/01 22:35:19 ET
This was this reviewer's 1st? Tool show
I have sat back and waited a few days and finally I think it has all sunk in and I am ready to give my review. Finally my first Tool show as I have been a fan for so long but have never seen them. I thought I was one of the biggest Tool fans but I realized when I got there so early and there was already people there that I am the biggest Tool fan out there but tied with about a million other people . King Crimson was good. I don¹t like them, I don¹t dislike them, but I respect them if they were an inspiration to Tool. Tool came out and started to play the Grudge. Listening to this song live made me like the song 10 times more then I did before. The visual effects were mesmerizing. I don¹t know if anyone else recognized this but the lines ³Desperate to control. Unable to forgive.² were given so much emphasis and gave me the chills when Maynard bellowed those words. During Stinkfist I will always remember Maynard¹s movement throughout the song. He was very low to the ground and a had the greatest bob to his head. Swamp Song a little of a surprise but maybe fitting. It seemed as if everyone around us didn¹t know anything about Tool except for Sober and Aenima. So I was shouting the words to this song telling everyone around me to recognize what an opportunity they are having while listening to this band and if they do not understand to watch where they are wondering. Then I saw the stretching of the cords up on the big screen. I started to yell and everyone around me thought I was strange. I knew my favorite song was coming up next, Prison Sex. Simply put just one of the greatest moments of my life, but actually not even the highlight of the night. All I have to say about Schism is what a well written song with so much meaning and I think one of the best written songs ever. Pushit was awsome. What a song. What a combination of vocals, guitar and drums. It gets windy and they have to put away the big screen and Maynard says ³Blame God² as they go into Disposition with one of its two lines being ³Watch the weather change². Not just a coincidence folks. At the end of Reflection Adam played for a five minute solo which was absolutely amazing. Intermission and Maynard finally comes back out wearing just a speedo. Tool plays Sober and wow now everyone around me knows all the words. Maynard was great during this song as he had the body language of plea to someone during the whole song. As parabol played I was jumping up and down as I was anticipating the outstanding change between parabol and parabola. Once as it came so much energy went through my body and parabola was an amazing song as well. I was pretty much watching Maynard the whole night but I knew that there was one song where I had to just watch Danny and his drumming skills and Aenima has the greatest and fastest guitar throughout the song. So my eyes were glued to Danny and he beat the hell out of those drums for 10 minutes. The highlight of the night was next. Maynard gets on the mic and talks about the moment and how we are feeling. Use it. This made one of my favorite songs Lateralus mean so much more and easily the highlight of the night. The last verse has so much power running and through it as it finished with ³Spiral out, keep going². Amazing. GREATEST CONCERT I WILL EVER GO TO AND I WOULDN¹T BE SURPRISED IF IT WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST AND MEMORABLE TOOL SHOWS EVER.
Review written by: The Dude (jal@nonline.net) Review posted on: 08/10/01 16:40:46 ET
This was this reviewer's 21st Tool show
Hi, yeah, I dont even know where Eugene is, but I wanted to talk about the Edgefest show up here in Canada. It was excellent. They sounded great, very tight, good mix of tones, but maynard seemed very unlike himself. He is getting old. He stood in one spot the entire time singing and doing some sort of bodily interpretation of the music. Although the dance was amusing, I really expected him to be like he was on the Aenima tour, you know, running around and doing all sorts of crazy stuff. That was the only disappointing part of the show. Otherwise, I definetly did get my $53 cdn (thats $26 american) worth out of the show, and I would do it all again. Please feel free to contact me. Ciao.