From: jeremy johnson (graphite@teleport.com)
Subject: Tool: Salem, OR, 10/26/96 review
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        | -brightshadow- Review of TOOL @ Salem Armory, Salem, OR |
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        First thing I gotta say -- If you see Tool on this tour, and the
band "Cows" is opening...go back outside and wait an hour.  Ugh.  It was
HORRIBLE.  Nasty no-talent screechy  garbage, with a singer that kind of
resembled Axl Rose  with no volume, and  a bugle.  The  best thing about
this band was  definitely  the  fact that  Maynard introduced  them, and
maybe the fact that the music(?) drowned out the singer's voice totally.
...or the part where someone lobbed a wad of paper at the singer,  which
tagged him in the shoulder, and the crowd cheered. :)

        Second thing I gotta say -- Salem Armory is a crappy venue.  Too
big for a little venue (it's hardly a coliseum type place,  but it's not
exactly a tiny club either), and they confiscate cigarettes at the door.
Lame.

        Once "Cows"  finally left  (eleven or twelve  excruciating songs
later...aieeee!),  and a modest thirty minute  wait, out comes the band.
Maynard  was in  a ...white  loincloth,  i think.  Maybe they  were just
weird looking shorts,  (see? i talked about his clothes!) and white body
paint,  with black stuff around his  eyes,  so he sorta  looked like the
o-fficial depiction of an alien.  Gotta say he looked cool, though.  The
rest of the band was done up  with white body  paint too...  although I
didn't get a good look at Danny,  so maybe he wasn't.  Hearing something
about that tattoo he's got on his back,  I looked, but it was apparently
painted over. (Maynard's back, that is..woops)

        They promptly burst  into a beautiful  rendition of "Third Eye",
during which a  sold-out  (and  somewhat  overzealous)  crowd managed to
shatter the concrete  barrier at the front  of the floor.  They finished
up the song,  and then Maynard  says: "Now, now,  step back.  Somebody's
gonna get hurt.  That's right, just take fooour granny steps back."  The
crowd, full of obnoxious teenagers  (who woulda thought?), didn't budge,
and the  security  guards were forced  to crouch  onstage.  Five minutes
passed, the  guards trying  to move the crowd  back a few feet to repair
the barrier,  and then they told the band  to leave the stage (grumble),
and some security guy screamed at the crowd for twenty minutes while the
crowd grudgingly inched backwards.  Makes me wish everyone hung back and
just let  the music  move them, instead  of spending  the whole  concert
throwing punches and spitting out teeth...

        So, thirty minutes after they left, the band came back.  Maynard
comes on,  and says, "You  babies! We haven't been here for three years,
and  you guys  can't wait  five minutes....  Okay, this is  our encore."
The next track  was _Forty Six & 2_, if I remember right, Maynard was in
great voice,  and the band seemed pretty  tight..Maynard DID transpose a
couple  verses in a few songs,  but hey,  he wrote 'em, he's  entitled..
right? ;)

        After _Forty Six & 2_, he says, "Thank you, goodnight.  Alright,
I'm gonna make that  the running joke  of the evening, and I'm gonna say
it so  many times  that  it's gonna get  annoying, and  then  get  funny
again."  Then, they went into _Swamp Song_,  then _Eulogy_, and  Maynard
introduced  _Jimmy_ by saying  "This  song is ..sort of  the  sequel  to
_Prison Sex_.  It's called  Jimmy."  Anyway, the night went on,  the set
was brilliant -- the screens in the  background were showing some really
whacked stuff,  but hey..  (Elephants  screwing, fractals,  some tied up
hooker.. During  _Sober_ they showed bits of the video..)

        The only thing he said during  the middle of the concert was his
introduction  to _Hooker_,  where  he simple said,  "This song  is about
unity...and  about how  we're all in this  together.  It's also  about a
hooker with a penis."

        The last few songs  were _Opiate_,  followed by  another  "Thank
you, goodnight,"  then they didn't even bother to leave the stage before
going ahead  with the quasi-encore  (Aenema, of course)  ..that song was
*great*.  Greatgreatgreat.  [Of course, it's currently my favorite song
off the new album, so I'm biased, but isn't everyone??]

        After that, the band conversed for a few minutes, and played odd
background-noise-ish stuff through the amps.  Maynard came back up front
and said: "Hmm.. Should we...yeah.  Reason we took so long is, Adam just
got back  from working  on the new  video...MTV  hasn't seen  this  yet.
But...(he points at the crowd)..."

        And then the two enormous projection screens lit up with the new
video for _Stinkfist_ as the band  started in, and for once, the crowd's
attention left Maynard for a  few minutes..cool cool cool video.  All in
all, very worth the  ticket price.  Tool didn't sell out as fast here as
it seems to have in other places, (mainly because salem isn't the center
of activity  here..far  from it) but it  should have.  Great show.  Very
glad they're back on tour!!

                                -brightshadow-

Attempt at remembering the setlist follows  (mostly in order, but I  may
have screwed up somewhere)

Third Eye
Forty Six & 2
Swamp Song
Eulogy
Jimmy                   \
Hooker With A Penis      >-- not sure about the order here..
H.                      /
Sober
Opiate
Aenema (quasi-encore)
Stinkfist (quasi-encore 2 + video)

I think I might've missed a song...but going over it, I can't for the life
of me remember if I did or not...they played a 75 minute set, give or
take, not including the half hour of crowd control bullshit.