Subject: Concert Review -- Nov. 26, Strand Theatre, Providence RI
From: mtrainor@juno.com (Matt Trainor)

This was my first Tool concert...I'm forced to wonder if Tool is choosing
their opening bands on the basis of making Tool look and sound even
better than they already are.  From what I hear, the Cows are some kinda
awful, but they can't be much worse than Psychotica was last nite.  Boy o
boy were they horrible.  The dipshit lead singer comes out in his rubber
suit, giving the usual concert inanities; "I fuckin love you Providence,
this is our favorite place in the whole fuckin country blah blah blah..."
Sings an almost OK song... "You're all fuckin beautiful, i wanna fuck you
all blah blah blah... Here's a song that Christians hate us for..."
another song, this one worse than the first, not one understandable lyric
in
the whole thing, plus they got this friggin Bullwinkle lookalike girl
singer, with her hair in antlers, that really can't sing too well, and in
between singing, she just kinda walks around, doing an almost- air guitar,
shakin her hand and shit. VERY lame. back to the amazing rubber man;
"Here's one called icy frozen hell (or something like that) cuz it's
FUCKIN COLD OUT!"  another, even worse song. next song "It's 1996, and we
are a CYBER-NATION", leading to a REALLY lame song, as usual, very few
lyrics are understandable.  then (thankfully) the last song; "Here's one
called (living dead or walking dead or some shit like that)" yet another
lame-ass song. they were all really loud, really lame, and most had
these nasty strobe lights that caused everyone to shut their eyes, cuz
they were so bright, and gave you a nasty headache if you looked at em. 
finally they finished.  about 40 minutes later, Tool finally came out.
lights blacked out, screens dropped, and they showed the album cover
animation, but the edges looked more like flames than the CD cover
does....
First song, Stinkfist. Maynard had a second mic for this one, i'm pretty
sure it was an effects mic to give the kinda far-off sound you hear in
the the verses of the song.  however, it was either tuned wrong, or
Maynards voice was fucked up from touring, cuz it sounded almost like he
was on helium...  it was like that to a lesser extent thru all the songs
though.  We were in the balcony, which in this theatre is pretty nice,
good close view and all, becuase most of the floor below is a big pit, and
we just wanted to see and hear... there was ONE dipshit a couple rows in
front of us, who really shoulda been on the floor. he was all thrashing
around during the heavy songs, and was a general schmuck, trying to pick
a couple fights occasionally. Next song was 46&2, "For those of you who
are lost.... or Tooled"...Then Eulogy.  Then Prison Sex (extended
version, my first time hearing it, but i could barely make out what he
was saying...).  after that Maynard actually spoke (which he hardly did
at all thru the nite).  "That song is called Prison Sex [shitload of
cheering].  It's about recognizing the cycles of abuse. this next song's
about dealing with it"...played jimmy.  after that i can't quite remember
the order of songs, i think it went Sweat, H, then 5 minute or so pause,
introducing Justin; "This is Justin. [some cheering].  He's
French/Polish, grew up in New Zealand" I was laughing my ass off, but
very few others got the joke.  How many nationalities is that for him
now? i've heard Irish etc....  then was a LONG kinda intro to Sober,
started off with Danny just kinda slappin around on the drums, turning
into a beat, and Justin makin some noise, feedback etc.  This whole time
(probably at least five minutes) Maynard seemed to be doing Yoga forms or
something, hell maybe just stretching. Adam was creepier. he was kneeling
down near his pedals, i thought he was adjusting them, but then he just
froze. i mean FROZEN. i didn't see him move AT ALL during the intro thing.
i'd look away, and he'd be in a different position, but still COMPLETELY
still.  After Sober, was Opiate; "this is our last song..... [HUGE
booing]... from our first album [cheering]."  Unfortunately, it WAS the
last song.  "we have to go now" we waited a good 5-10 minutes for a
possible encore or something, but all the techs were really breaking
down all the equipment, so we left.  they played for about an hour and a
half, but only 9 songs.  I was pretty disappointed in that, and the fact
that Maynard was so quiet, said NOTHING to the crowd aside from what
i've told here.  He seemed very weary, or tired i think.  not so much
tired physically, but mentally from all the touring i think.  don't get
me wrong, his heart seemed to be in the performance, but it was like the
old "mind strong, body weak" thing i guess....
All in all, WELL worth my $16.50, except maybe the $10 for parking... we
were in the garage waiting to get out for well over an hour. THAT
sucked.  can't wait til spring tour, hopefully they'll hit the New
England area earlier in the tour or something, so Maynard won't seem so
drained.

later
/\\att