From: "Glenn Pearson (GLANDS)" (glands@interlog.com)


Saturday, November 30, 1996
TOOL at The Warehouse, Toronto, ON, CAN. 

This was my fourth time seeing Tool live, and it seems that each time I 
see them I have bad luck. The first show I got kicked in the eye by a 
surfer, the second show some guy plucked me from above the crowd and 
threw me to the floor (landing square on my head), and the third time the 
sound was just awful. I was hoping that this sold-out show would be a 
little more enjoyable for me...

I won't even mention the opening act.

I've read several of the reviews on this page, and so I wasn't really 
sure how the show was going to begin. The lights went down and this 
subsonic rumbling shook the place like I've never felt in my life... and 
it went on for about ten minutes, rising and falling in volume. 

So finally at 10:15 Tool actually took the stage and went right into 
Third Eye. Although it was great, I'm not sure that I liked it as an 
opener. 

Oh, here's the setlist:

Third Eye
Stinkfist
Forty Six & 2
Cold and Ugly
Eulogy
Prison Sex
Pushit
Sober
H.
Opiate
Aenema

I must admit that there was significantly less crowd surfing at this show 
compared to most shows in Toronto, but the floor was very violent. I made 
my way all the way to front centre, but I couldn't see the band thanks to 
people grabbing me, elbowing me, pulling my hair, etc. Maybe I'm getting 
old, but I'd be perfectly happy standing completely still to watch Tool - 
they're so amazing to watch perform. Oh well... 

Some interesting highlights:

Adam played four bars of "A Passage To Bangkok" (by Rush) before breaking 
into Forty Six & 2 which confused nearly everyone. 

The video screens didn't seem to have all of the facinating videos that 
everyone has been writing about - mainly trippy lighting, a gear video, 
some blurry skeleton things jumping up and down. My friend said he saw to 
elephants fornicating, but I missed all that... no piano-wire wrapping 
face or anything... no video for Stinkfist. Odd. 

Adam was painted blue with a pink stripe on his chin, Maynard was half 
blue and half white (blue on Adam's side and white on Justin's side), and 
Justin was, obviously white. I must admit that although it was a neat 
effect, it made it nearly impossible to make out the expressions on 
Maynard's face, and also hard to tell where he was looking, although I'm 
pretty sure that he was looking me in the eye as we sang a line of Third 
Eye together.

Maynard had lots to say last night. He said the Sunday morning cartoon 
bit before Opiate, he mentioned that the video for Prison Sex was banned 
in Canada thanks to MuchMusic and the CRTC (or whoever makes those 
decisions) - "I don't want to open any old wounds but we'll just pick the 
scabs..." After Opiate he said "Goodnight" and everyone screamed 
"Noooo!!" (repeat) and then he said "Ok, we'll do one more." Then they 
all stood in front of the drum kit and talked for a few minutes. It was 
kind of strange.

I was surprised that they didn't play jimmy, and disappointed that they 
didn't play Hooker With A Penis, but hey, I got to see Cold and Ugly, so 
I wasn't all that upset.

They did the five minute intro to Sober, which was quite intense. There 
was a weird new extended middle part to Prison Sex, and they extended the 
ending of Forty Six & 2 with about three times as many stops. 

Maynards moves on stage were very fluid - really interesting to watch. 
The best song of the night was definitely Eulogy. 

I was side stage for the last couple tunes (great view!), and got to see 
the guys walk right past me (some people were touching them) as they 
headed backstage. I didn't realize that Maynard was so short. 

Overall, it was an excellent show. I don't think that they missed a 
single note or beat anywhere. It was almost like listening to the studio 
recordings. I'm very tempted to go see them again tonight! 

Just for the record, I heard a bunch of people yelling "chickenweasel" 
after Stinkfist. At that point Maynard was just staring into the crowd 
with this weird look on his face... could he hear the calls? Probably... 


-TGP-


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