concert reviews firsthand, immediate, from the heart
05/15/2001
[all times Central Time; t.d.n is hosted in the midwest]



Review written by: Osama Bin Laden (OsamaBinLaden@terrorism.com)
Review posted on: 05/15/01 23:03:45

i walked into the stage setting, not knowing what to expect as i sat down, sweating because of the nervosa my anticipating was causing me to have.then tool came on, i was too fucked up to remember what the set list was, but all i know is that it was bad ass i will remember this day, May 15, 2001 to be the greatest day of my life, i got the new tool cd, and i saw the greatest show that i could ever possibly imagine, i cant wait til i see them again in Dusseldorf

Review written by: Zamba (zamba@mindspring.com) Review posted on: 05/15/01 23:54:47

Just got home..great show ! Long line (3hours) but worth the wait,,,,,,,

Review written by: Gimp (gimp@vt.edu) Review posted on: 05/16/01 00:34:35

Wow. Aside from waiting forEVER outside, it was worth it. I am thankful to the band for keeping the art in music. there was a big video screen showing even more powerful visuals than ever. there was a smaller screen that maynard stood in front of showing the same images. they showed the whole schism video during a break - wow again. ended with opiate then lateralis - no encore ("this isn't an encore, we just went to get our geritol and viagra" maynard said after they showed the schism vid). band looked good and 'fresh'. the show ran ~2 hours, ending at about 12:30am. there apparently was a problem with fake tickets being sold, which might explain the delay in getting into the place. maynard even mentioned it during the show - "we'll be back soon, and tell all your friends to get their tickets through the proper channels". it was also nice to have ~3000 tool FANS and not 3000 fans + 10000 adrenaline junkies. missed hearing a few songs, but i suppose they need to make room somehow for new ones! it was a great show overall, and for their first in quite some time, it was very impressive. that is all, signing off from atlanta. the gimp.

Review written by: jim (chaotic13@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 00:39:48

didn't start until 11, can't help but think the time the band got to play was compromised by this. the grudge stinkfist 46 & 2 prison sex schism swamp song disposition reflection "schism" music video parabol parabola sober opiate lateralis

Review written by: ME (anergy@earthlink.net) Review posted on: 05/16/01 01:47:29

They also played the watersport song (Ænema)

Review written by: Adam (AScot21@aol.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 02:09:21

WOW!!! This was my first Tool show ever and it was awesome! I was really impressed with the guys. They sounded top notch. Like they had been touring with this setlist for a while. I loved the visuals as well. Getting to see the brand new Schism video was great as well. Its fucking crazy. Job well done Adam. I wish they would have not played so many new ones. I missed Eulogy or Third Eye. But oh well. It was still one of the top shows I've ever seen. I thought I was going to die during Aenima. It was nuts up front. The long ass wait sucked but those damn counterfeits fucked it up. Bastards. Hope they come back to Atlanta after the Europe tour. I'll be there if so.

Review written by: John (roberrl@auburn.edu) Review posted on: 05/16/01 02:24:29

Well, the first Tool show of the new tour was everything to be expected for me and the people I talk to, but there were some big problems. First off, we got in line to get in at 5:15pm or so, which was kind of late but we didnt get in the door until about 8:15 or so. Then, we had to wait until about 10:45 for everyone to get inside that were still in line. So, by the time the show started,some people, including me were kind of tired and aching,but once Tool came on it was simply incredible. They opened with The Grudge, then played Stinkfist, (and not in any particular order) Prison Sex, Sober, 46&2, Aenima, Lateralis, Parabol/Parabola, Swamp Song, Opiate, and I think maybe one more song, but I'm about half deaf and wiped out and I cant remember. Overall, I'd give the show a 9.5 out of ten./The half a point off because I stood too close to the left and side of the stage directly in front of the speaker tower and am now in some serious pain!I also wished that they had played some more new material, but it was still Tool playing some great songs. Anyway, I wish I could see the rest of the shows on this tour, but I am content now to know that I saw the best band in the world tonight after waiting so long. (Last time I saw them was June '96) Note: Don't be a dumbass like me and not wear your earplugs if you're going to be upfront, this is some intense ear- ringing shit. I'm going to need at least two days before I can hear 100% again if ever. Oh, and the line took so long because assholes were selling fake tickets to people, so be careful!

Review written by: brandon (gonzo_nads@yahoo.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 02:32:07

i bow my head to TOOL. the show was the shit... the horrid line i stood in for 2 hours (i was at the end of the curly cue) was worth every second. i actually got in and a place to stand 20 min before the show started. maynard was very friendly with the crown. i think he likes us here in atlanta. i hope so cause im first in line for that show to. i took a whole roll of pics there to, soon ill have em up to look at :) peaceôut... Best damn show of my life.

Review written by: Ian (ian@thinkhead.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 02:43:40

man, where to start, how bout the begginning, First off we arrive at the venue around 7 an hour before the show is "supposed" to start. Upon arrival we look for the line which turns out to be wrapped around the building an then it spirals a couple times in the parking lot. Well after about 3 hours in line we finally get to the door. Apparently there was a big deal with counterfeit tickets so they were checking each one with a blacklight. why they had only one checker? who fucking knows. Anyhow one thing that really did suck was this couple who was behind us from the begginning of the line right up until the end ended up having fake tickets which really just made me sad. I felt like giving them some money to get drunk with but they booked out quicklike. Anyhow on to the show, soon as we get in I go straight to the bar to get a couple of stiff drinks in me to relive that "I just stood in a line for 3 hours" feeling. Who woulda guessed 2 jack an cokes was 11 bucks. Then the lights went off an out came what we had been waiting on for hours. The opened up with grudge which in my opinion sounded a lot better live than on CD, then they played a lot of stuff from Aenima, most notably 46 and 2 and prison sex that right there made my night. Then of course they played Schism followed by Parabol. Then a brief intermission while they showed the video for Schism which was just errie but definetly cool. (Sorry if this review is a lil blurry its almost 5 in the morning) The most memorable moment in the night was probably when they played Aenima an I thought the crowd was going to cave in the floor!! After Aenima they played The Patient I believe then ended with Opiate an Lateralus. All in all for being my first TOOL show it rocked the bands stage prescence just added to the show and the crowd was definetly into it sorry if this was such a crappy review but by far this has been the best show I have ever seen.

Review written by: Josh (flunkout@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 03:57:38

Let me first start out by saying thank you not only to tool, but to the crowd that came. Most of the fans where great :) Okay we got there around 7 pm and as the line progressed we ran into..and I kid you not HARRY MANBACK!!!…there was this guy who was parked on one side of the building and he sounded just like Harry. Okay in that little voice in your head that reproduces the sound off the Aenima album this is what he said. "American's all you need to learn is one language! (he has just gotten into is white beat up piece of crap Pontiac Grand Prix) I know 3 language, I never will go with out job. Fucking lazy Americans (at this point he has started his car and began moving) {lady from line} "Hey, we live here and we don't have to learn any other languages!" Well at this point harry has unsuccessfully tried to get out of a parallel parking space by nailing the red eclipse right in front of him and it occurs to me that since harry has spent all his time learning languages he doesn't know how to drive, or figure out where the power steering fluid goes. {harry again} "I move here, I translate for ________(couldn't understand) and I never go with out job (know please realize that harry has successfully hit the red eclipse now 3 times. There are probably 50 people helping him now and the hatred that consumes him of the people of this land has obviously pushed out the knowledge of the break peddle) "(harry again) You people cant even survive without me, I love this country what great place to live. I used to work for kgb." Alright…back to the street harry has now completed several rainbows in the same direction because he turns his wheel to late…I have know gotten tired of his slurred words and ask him if all the knowledge he has amassed over the years have made him forget how to drive a car…this of course gets a blank stare and he then pulls out and away… I kid you not this man sounded and acted like I would think a Harry Manback would act. Oh well…Im sure the concert will be well covered in the rest of the reviews and if anyone was out side in line and saw this happen….well it was definitely entertainment while we had to wait for all the greedy fucks who screwed up the concert by flooding the market with bootleg tix…and if you bought one and was not let in…it was a GREAT show and next time get them the legit way…:)

Review written by: Jeremy (preston2099@yahoo.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 07:42:13

well aside from the wait due to fake tickets, The concert at the tabernacle in atlanta was great. Tool played a good combination of new stuff and old stuff, mixed together with excellent visual effects, and a video for schism. When stinkfyst started, the place went crazy. The balcany was moving so much I thought it might colapse. To make a long story short, it was the best show I have ever seen. Oh and if you are one of the guys responsible for some of the fake tickets that delayed the show by 2 hrs and really screwed up the travel time for me and my frined who had to be at work the next day; well here is a nice big fuck you from all the tool fans who baught there tickets through the right channells!!!!!!!!! And if you are a tool fan, old or new. You must try to catch them live. YOu will never experience music like you will at a tool show....

Review written by: Blainard (blaineoberhardt@msn.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 08:20:04

WORD TO THE WISE: THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THAT THE OVERPRICED TICKET YOU BUY ON EBAY OR FROM A SCALPER IS FAKE. Last night at the show in Atlanta there were a lot of bummed out people who payed $300 bucks only to be denied entrance at the door! The band sounds so great. All the best songs with the new ones creates one hell of a set list. Last night they also played the video for schism during a break before the encore. MTV won't touch this work of beautiful art. It fucking rules!

Review written by: Jewseph (johnhutto@mindspring.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 08:51:02

this was my first tool show. i was absolutely floored by what i saw. straight up, it blew away anything i've ever seen. i've never seen a band that such absolute control over a crowd. i've been to too many shows lately where the crowd was obnoxious and violent. i was afraid this show would be the same but crowd was so cool and peaceful. even despite the long lines and fake tix. its a testament to tool's incredible and wonderful fans.

Review written by: Edward (edward.valeev@chamistry.gatech.edu) Review posted on: 05/16/01 10:17:34

Got there around 5:30. The wait outside was long. The wait inside was agonizing. People kept chanting Tool, trying to get them to start, but there were still people outside. It gave me a chance to look around. The stage setup was a bit different from before: drum set was set up on a podium to the right, and to the left there was another one for Maynard, with a smaller screen behind (I think it showed images inverted with respect to the main screen). The large screen was right up the middle. Finally, lights went out. As expected, there was no opening band. A flaming eye appeared in the middle of a ring, Danny, Adam, and Justin showed up. Finally Maynard came out, looking like a cenobite from "Hellraiser" - black leather suit up to the neck. No paint or wigs. They opened with "The Grudge". The set list has been described but here it is again (I believe, in the right order): The Grudge, Stinkfist, 46 & 2, Prison Sex, Schism, Swamp Song, Disposition, Reflection, premiere of video for Schism, Sober, Parabol, Parabola, Aenema, Opiate, Lateralis. I thought the show was a bit too loud - was hard to understand Maynard. Bring your fucking earplugs in. The Grudge was a great opener. During the end of 46 & 2 I thought the floor was going to break - people were moving in unison that it was probably trembling outside. That was another heavy number. With Disposition they started to slow down the show and play more physcadelic stuff. That culminated in the premiere of the video - the entire crowd stood enchanted watching the screen as Schism was played over PA. Parabol/Parabola was my favorite - the range of emotions this combo goes through is stunning. By that point the crowd was so energized that it had to release somehow and they went into what I thought was their usual closer Aenema/Opiate. Before Aenema Maynard said something like "This is an old joke, but I haven't used in awhile. The next song is about water sports. Is it still funny?". During Aenema the entire floor was a big moshing pit - that was insane. People were moshing like there was no tomorrow! How the fuck the floor didn't collapse into the Cotton Club I have no idea. Lateralis was an excellent addition - it's heavy as hell and people can't mosh to it due to its fucked up meter. Wow, this was an amazing night - probably best show I've ever been to. One of my friends who saw them yesterday for the first time and compared it to somewhat of a religious experience. Scary how moving a band can be.

Review written by: Zach McEvoy (Z.Mcevoy@worldnet.att.net) Review posted on: 05/16/01 10:22:07

I just wanted to let you know what I thought of the show last night in Atlanta. The doors at the Tabernacle were due to open at 7:00pm and as it was an all general admission show my brother and I decided to get down there early so we showed up at 10:00am and were tenth in line to get in. (We consequently were able to get right up to the front three feet from the stage :) ) We got in at 7:30 and then the wait began. Due to some filthy bastards counterfeiting tickets and screwing Tool fans out of their hard earned money and dashing their hopes, the venue had to check each persons ticket for validity. The security guards told me that by 10:00 they had already collected 750 counterfeit tickets and there were still 1000 people in line. (The moral of this story is that you should not buy tickets second hand unless you are absolutely certain of the source and know that they are real tickets.) By the way these bogus tickets were nearly identical to the real ones right down to the paper they were printed on, don't trust some shitbag with your money boys and girls:( . There were two poor girls there that drove 17 hours from Louisianna only to get there and find that they had paid $250.00 a piece for a pair of fake tickets and get turned away. But enough of the gloomy shit on to the concert. As always the band was incredible! You can tell that Adam, Danny, Justin and Maynard put a great deal of time, effort and emotion into their show. Each song sounded flawless to my untrained ear and the weight and power of their performance left many first timers awe- struck and left me wondering how can they possibly progress from this point? How can it get any better? I am sure that set-lists are already floating around so I will not spoil the surprise for anyone but they hit plenty of the favorites and a ton of the new material. The new songs are all outstanding and though I have not had a chance to really digest them and think about them they sound fantastic and seeing them performed live gives you a frame of reference and gives you a little emotional insight into the music. They had some great new visuals playing on the big screen along with the music. I assume (not knowing better) that Adam Jones was in charge of creating/directing the creation of the visual effects for the shows due to the similarities between the artwork and video clips play during the performance and the work in the videos, but needless to say the visuals were fucking incredible and many of them are burned into my memory forever. And a teaser there was a very special intermission last night that should make everyone in the audience squeal with delight. Very spiffy :) (P.S. I guess this has been spoiled already but the video is tooooooooo cooooooooool :) I can't wait to see it again! Danny Carey of course thundered like an angry God mounted on his throne up there. At the beginning of one of the new songs he was doing an effect on his kit that sounded just like droplets of water falling into a half- full sink, really neat. I have no idea how he was doing it but it sounded great. Justin Chancellor's bass playing is so important to the sound that makes Tool stand head and shoulders above the crowd that I can not say enough times, The members of Tool obviously treat their music no less seriously than a symphony orchestra, each note lovingly rehearsed and poured out to us during the live performance. Fantastic. Maynard, what can I say? He is a powerhouse. Each syllable, like each note has the power to change the crowd from an awe-struck mass to a thrusting, swirling ball of utter excitement. I could not, and would not put any member of the band on a pedestal as being more important than any other. Tool put on a great show, they played for 2 solid hours and completely fulfilled my expectations. They leveled the place with intensity, and we, the fans that were able to make it to this show are extremely grateful.

Review written by: Dave the Rave (ibdavetherave@aol.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 11:19:35

I gotta represent for the Tool fans that were not fortunate enough to go to the show. Theres alot of whiney bastards who obviously dont appreciate their good fortune. I would have waited 3 hours next to a fetid dumpster to see last nites show. You wanna blame somebody for the counterfeits, you wanna send a big fuck you? Send it to the band. I know that its friggin awful to bust the balls of the best band out there right now with the best album out there, but who picked the small venue, knowing only 800 tickets would be released to the true tool fans. I know this isnt part of the tour, special arrangement, whatever. Reality says that a great fucking band is gonna have a shitload of rabid followers who would do anything to see their show, especially on the nite of the release of their cd. If they wanted a small intimate gathering, they should have distributed the tickets themselves among their friends, and not some shit on fans method in a rinky dink venue. Quit crying you fuckin babies, at least you were there. And if the band happens to read this. "don't just call me arrogant, try and read between the lines." Tool needs to apply as much thought to their concert fans, and the damn file sharing issue, as they do on their albums.

Review written by: Locke Figaro (deathstrike@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 11:56:41

Well first off, I'd like to say what seems to be obvious, that the show was awesome! But I'm pretty glad they didn't play anymore new songs than they did, cause as much as I love and have loved Tool, some(mostly the latter half) of these "songs" just pissed me off. Not that I don't think they're cool, but when I have to pay 18 bucks for a CD, I'd like to get more actual songs for my money. But nevertheless, I paid my fat ass dirty dollars and I will continue to do so for the rest of Tool's career. Now, more about the show. This was my fourth encounter with them, and as usual it was flawless, sometimes I couldn't totally hear Maynards voice though, it was really loud, but that's always good. I think the maintenance people should check the foundations to make sure nothing's cracked cause I thought the whole place was gonna fall apart, especially during 46 and 2 and Aenima. The video of schism was cool and it's about time I got to see it after 2 false MTV airs. Will they ever play it? I'd have to say the best thing about the whole night was AFTER the show when me and some friends went home, lit candles all around us, turned the stereo up loud and listened to Lateralus on 4 hits of lavender acid and 2 tabs of tulip ectasy a piece...Now THAT is the shit, you should try it.

Review written by: Aaron (chargar18@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 12:49:58

Absolutely stunning, that's the best way to describe the experience i had last night i was tired and in pain because of the waiting and standing but when the lights dimmed and the circle of eyes appeared on the screen, all my problems went away The new songs were great, even though the crowd didn't know them that well, and the old songs were incredible, better than i had imagined my first tool show and i'm sure not my last, thank you tool for the greatest experience of my life

Review written by: adam watkins (perlaien@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 13:58:46

Well, many people are way ahead of me, but I still feel it my duty to post a review of the show. I'll start from the beginning. I typically look at toolband.com and toolshed every day, reading the news, hoping for something spectacular. A couple of months ago, I got it. Tool is playing one of four US shows in Atlanta, which is two hours from me? It's as though someone actually was watching over me. Then, of course, my friends fell through getting my tickets, and I discovered that they were sold out, and going for unreasonable prices. It still didn't bother me, knowing that I was going to go somehow or another. I ended up paying 200 dollars for a ticket over the internet, that lucky for me, turned out to not be counterfeit. Yesterday, after picking up Lateralus, I headed over to my friends house, and we headed over. We arrived in Atlanta about 3:00, and after some trouble finding the Tabernacle, got our place in line. Thus the wait begins. We probably got in about 8:00, and got to stand around in there for another two hours of course. People were complaining, but I just stood there with a smile. I would have waited all night if I had to. Eventually, when the lights dimmed, and the screen came on with an excellent visual of some Lateralus eye circle artwork, I knew what I was in for. I'll try and go over the setlist with what whatever vivid memories I may have. the grudge - i thought this was an excellent opener. danny, justin, and adam were out there, and the opening riff just pounded me. everyone was just taken, and knew it was time for the old rev himself to come out - and that he did. i didnt know whether to be scared or ecstacic with the pounding music and Maynard with his hypnotic entrance in his leather uniform. they nailed everything about this. stinkfist - certainly a crowd pleaser, everyone was ready to hear something they knew well. i could not hear Stinkfist very well because everyone was screaming so loud, but it was still excellent. 46 & 2 - i was of course expecting this, because i have heard and seen that they play 46 and 2 either second or third at every show. no complaints, its a great song. this is where i looked around, and knew i was among friends (even more than before). everyone knew all the lyrics, and every note, just like me and my friends. it was great. prison sex - another crowd pleaser indeed. they started off by saying it was schism, and then Maynard said something about how because he was an old man, and so instead they were going to play prison sex. i was hoping to hear it. they did not play the added verse (thought i could make an ending..), in case anyone cared to know. schism - at first, we were all pretty indifferent to hear it. we had heard so much of it lately, we would've rather heard something else, but always content with whatever Tool has to give us. it turns out this song is much better live. swamp song - i certainly did not expect to hear this, but was oh so pleased. a lot of people don't like this song for some reason, but i think it's a great song. live, it was just pefect. everyone was into it (not to say they werent into everything else). disposition - the big question was, 'what is this song?' it was sort of amusing when they played new stuff, we all looked around asking what it was. we all had ideas, but weren't positive. still, another great live one. reflection - possibly my favorite song on the new album, another one i was hoping to hear. it was once again perfect for the venue. i could feel it being played, and getting lost in the tribal drumming stuff danny does in the song. i'd post more details, but this is one of those songs i stared at the screen (or closed my eyes) and just got lost in. "schism" music video - it's about damn time? ;) although, despite many unfortunate hours of watching MTV to no avail, i feel very glad that i was priveledged enough to be one of a few people that got to be the first people in the world to see this video (i guess same for all the other live stuff off Lateralus). it reminds me much of their other videos - another masterpiece. Adam Jones is a genius. parabol - see next song parabola - i figured they might do parabol/parabola. its a killer combination, perfect for a live show. also like reflection, i sort of got lost in this too. but i really loved it. all this stuff off Lateralus was great live (as well as not live). sober - i also thought they might play this. i figured they might play Merkaba before, but they didnt. however, i was very pleased. there were other songs i wouldve rather heard, because i wore Sober out a while back after being my favorite song for a while. however, hearing it love gave me a newfound passion for it again. opiate - another we were all hoping to hear but not expecting. this was another one where i saw everyone in the place all become one with the music. Ænima - i figured they would play this last or near it, and turned out to be correct. i knew first thing when Maynard said this is a song about water sports, although no one else seemed to until the breathing. either way, this was perfect. possibly the peak of the show, if there was such a thing. i hate to say it, because it was all so great. lateralis - lastly, as i should have expected, the title (?) song off the new album (with the change of a letter). this is another great off the new album, and live was just perfect. i thought it was a good closer. i was really hoping to hear Pushit or Third Eye - especially Third Eye, which is my favorite song in all the world. however, i was very content with what i got. i think the new stuff live was as good as Pushit or Third Eye would have been. not to mention, if Tool wanted to play them, they would have. this was my first Tool show, and sure as hell not the last. i feel very priveledged to have been a part of such an event. good shows, music, and people are what life is all about, and the show last night had it all, despite the unfortunates who didn't get in due to counterfeit and vicious scalpers charging more than the true fans could afford. i was willing to work all summer to pay off my 300 dollar ticket, and would do it again if i had to. i thought Pink Floyd would remain far and away the best show i had ever seen, but Tool changed that. sorry about the length of the review. how many chances do i get to make one? :) no other band can compare to their music, and the live show is just beyond words. anyone who didnt get a chance to go, or has never seen them before, i hope to see you the next time around. i know i'll be there.

Review written by: Billy B. (billy_butcher2000@yahoo.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 14:38:26

REVIEW OF TOOL CONCERT TUESDAY MAY 15th, 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia. When we got to the Tabernacle there was a line wrapped around three fourths of the block that surrounded the venue. For some reason the line took about 2 ours to start moving. There were all kinds of people in line ranging from amazing looking women to some pretty sorry looking individuals. The Scalpers were out in full force trying to scrape up Tool tickets from fans. Also they were selling counterfeit tickets to uninformed ignorant people. During the three and a half hours in line my feet went through much pain. Most of that pain however, faded due to a sight of the end of the line. I was surprised to see a whole group of people standing in front of the tabernacle talking to cops. These I heard later were the group of people who had bought counterfeit tickets. Then the line moved more and we got to a woman with a black light who was verifying the authenticity of our tickets. Giving the go ahead she waved us on to a second check point where a man and woman were checking our tickets again. Both eyeing my multicolored slip of paper they waved me on . I then moved forward a bit until asked by a gentleman in all black if I would kindly turn around. I agreed and he proceeded to pat me down, finding nothing interesting he then let me go on my way. next thing I know I am at the ticket tearing woman i hand her my ticket and she tore it, and so I moved on. Looking back one last time at the hoard of fans still in line i breathed a sigh of relief, I was in. I walked through the doors and into the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is set up so people can go to any floor they want. There are three choices: Floor, 1st Balcony, and 2nd Balcony. I of course chose the floor. After standing in line that long, I wanted to go lay or sit down bit I did not entertain the urge. walking straight into the crowd i found little resistance until i had reached the distance of about twenty feet from the stage. Which I found rather disheartening. So i stopped there, being front and center I was pretty content. "Now where would TOOL be?", I said to myself. I had dreams of TOOL playing 4 or 5 hours of music just to make up for the lost time. For some reason it did not work out the way I wanted it to. There I was standing 20 feet away from the stage waiting and waiting. Whole waiting I looked over at the bands setup. There was a huge white screen that pretty much covered up the whole stage wall, and a much smaller version of the white screen was below and a little to the left of it's bigger partner. Danny's Drum set looked pretty intricate, he had a few drawings and designs of different things on it. Adams guitar was sitting alone and on the front left portion of th stage just waiting for it's master to come wield excalibur. Justins instrument of choice was sitting on the front right side of the stage. I could see no microphone or any indication where Maynard was going to be this night. I guessed that he would take up a similar position as he did when I saw history made at coachella. Then my moment of perception faded and i found myself standing in a crowd contemplating about nothing. I was rather worn out but I knew that the moment I saw the band I would have my antidote to the pain. After an hour of waiting and hearing the same awful "house" music on the speakers, the crowd was getting restless, and I knew that at any minute a fight would erupt. Anyway it did not go down like that, the horrible music stopped, the lights turned off and the crowd went silent, and then roared in approval of the sudden change that had just taken place. Then Adam walked on stage, gave the crowd one look and flashed an enormous smile. Then preceded to put his guitar on. I felt new energy in myself and the crowd it was as if someone had awakened the dead and mindless. Danny and Justin were next to come onto the stage. Danny gave the roaring crowd a wave before entering in his inner sanctum. "Where is he", I thought but right before I could finish my thought Maynard graced the stage with his overwhelming presence. The crowd at this time was in absolute pandemonium. Maynard's attire this evening consisted of a black leather jacket, black leather pants, and a black leather girdle which he wore when he took off the jacket. They all got ready and started the show off with The Grudge. After that dehydration took it's toll on my memory so i am going to list the songs i heard that memorable night. These are not in perfect order. THE GRUDGE INTOLERANCE STINKFIST UNDERTOW PRISON SEX SCHISM SWAMP SONG AENEMA SOBER Forty-Six & 2 Opiate Parabol Parabola Disposition or Reflection Lateralis " an intermission with the salival grey guy with the wolverine claws" "The showing of TOOL's video for schism on the big white screen while the band took a little rest." ALL and ALL TOOL played 2 hours with all kinds of new animation and movies showing during the songs. Once again TOOL has amazed me with not only an almost perfect live performance but also great movies during it. It was also a very personal show it was just TOOL and I. Oh and those other people. THANKS: I would like to thank first of all the members of TOOL for putting on a great show. Mr. Kabir himself for letting me post on his site. The man that made this all possible, My dad (who is a bigger TOOL fan than I am, well maybe it is a tie.). Without you dad this would all be impossible thanks for taking us to see TOOL at coachella in 1999 and now to Atalanta in 2001. Thanks dad you are the greatest! I hope to see a ton of TOOL shows in the future. If you have any questions or comments about the show, or any show I have been to please feel free to E-mail me at: billy_butcher2000@yahoo.com Thanks, BILLY B.

Review written by: Johan (johanfiveone@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 15:00:35

I wasn’t at the show last night, I tried my best to get tickets without the Internet, because low and behold I was afraid of getting ripped off. I’ve heard reports that over 1000 bad tickets were sold on the Internet. The band should consider this and maybe find better ways of getting tickets to fans. For all the cons that made so many fans hearts bleed last night you need to watch your fucking back cause you just don't fuck with tool fans, we are not total balanced, and when you deprive us of tool, and rip us off, people get hurt.

Review written by: RHIN0100 (RHIN0100@aol.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 15:06:12

There have been many times in my life in which I have cried. Many during infancy and childhood. But the last time I recall really truly crying was when I was 11 years old when my great-grandfather died. Then there's the Tool show in Atlanta on May 15th 2001. I'm nearly 20, and Tool managed to bring that out of me. It wasn't as heavy as when dealing with death. I don't cry much due to the fact that I rationalize too much, but what is there to rationalize about the sheer magnificence of this, in my opinion, legendary band. Of course this was my first Tool concert and I've been a fan for quite a while, though not an OGT. So that might explain things. But they didn't even play my favorite song, Pushit, and I still felt like this was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. And to make things better, I came to the show with my best friend from college. We first met because we loved Tool, and we, eventually became roommates, and we have a lot to say about Tool. I've even included Tool in essays that I've written. And we lucked out. We're from Northern Virginia, and I had to rely on my uncle through answering machine to get tickets on May 5th. But he incidentally went to Ticketmaster on May 2nd to ask some questions, the day they really went onsale, and stood in line with many people. They drew numbers to see who stood in line first and my uncle drew number 1. He bought two tickets, was offered lots of money for them, but saved them for me and my roommate, who didn't have a ride to Atlanta. So my aunt who works for Delta gave us passes to fly in first class, and my relatives pitched in some cash for this special occasion. The following day we go to Tower Records to buy the album, and low and behold who shows up? Danny and Maynard. I ran to shake Danny's hand and tried not to blow his cover, but he was polite about the whole deal. Maynard was harder to grasp, and seemed like an untouchable, but I "wouldn't want him any other way". Then we get to the concert, and have to wait FOREVVVVVERRR. No worries, met some great people, with one thing in common-Tool. I felt so bad for the folks who got gipped out of tickets. That's soul crushing. So I get in the Tabernacle, one of the best venues in America, and what goes on there until about 12:45 is virtually indescribable, unless you were there. I'll spare you the romantics. Look at other reviews. The Schism video was genius. After the show, we're stuck in Atlanta, no ride home to my grandparents who so kindly provided us shelter for the week. So we really had no choice but to hang out with the groupies. My contacts were drying and my eyes were on fire, I had only 4 hours of sleep the night before and it didn't look like I'd be getting much that night. After the roadies tried to trick us, saying the band had left, we ignored them and waited, hopefully to bum a ride. Then finally, out comes Justin followed by Adam and Danny. I was reluctant to get autographs because that tied into that "rock star" thing that Tool dislikes, but they were kindly offering, and it would be a good memento of a great night in my life. I briefly chatted with the guys and they were gracious, and went on their way to the bus. I'm thinking Maynard dressed up in a costume and snuck out like a roadie or something. He's like a sly fox or coyote or something. Then we ask one the roadies, STU-BABY!! for a ride home. He incidentally went to the same elementary school as I did, and he had the craziest stories of the roadies lifestyle. He even bought us food at Waffle House. I'll be infinitely thankful, for the good turns he did to us. Then we came home, awestruck and finally passed out. Not only did Tool perform a beautiful and colossal concert, but they provided one of the greatest little adventures of my life, and I will never forget it. Tool will never know how important they are to me, and all I can do is say thanks. Thanks for being courteous. Thanks for sticking to your guns. Thanks for saving rock.

Review written by: Pissed off fan (michael.smith@yale.edu) Review posted on: 05/16/01 17:39:03

It's funny when they ridicule their fans as art, but it's just fucking rude when they do it financially. I've gone to a lot of trouble to go to a lot of tool shows, and it blows my mind how little regard the band has for people who go out of their way to see them. It's actually sort of sad that they feel the need to play shoe boxes, in order to appear more in demand. So now that their lack of regard for fans has fucked people out of hundreds of dollars I'm sure gaynerd's happy. I wish I too was in possesion of such genius. I'll probably still go to the show in NYC, assuming I didn't blow my fucking money on useless paper. If only they had the balls to try a REAL tour.

Review written by: brian wilson (aminormal322@aol.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 18:22:25

man the show last night was awesome... people started lining up at the front door of the tabernacle at like 9 am i heard... i didnt get there till about 6:30 pm and the line was all the wrapped around the tabernacle... and it appeared that they werent gonna be able to fit all those people in there.. seemed like 5000 people was there and i heard the tabernacle only held like 3000 or so... what happend is everbody who bought tickets there on the street most likely bought fake tickets for like 300 bucks or so... and the security at the door was doing like 3 different test on tickets to make sure they were real ones....finally i got in there around 9:45 or 10 pm.. tool was supposed to play promptly at 8pm but they heard about the fake tickets and delayed it till 10:45 so everone was there for the show... those guys rock... i have never seen tool before last night.. and it is absolutely the best show i have ever seen... pretty awesome since it was there first show in 2 years....well just thought i would share with you what happend last night.. thanx brian

Review written by: Chase (dontlike@fuckingemails.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 20:06:27

.well what can i say except is was a long disappointing night. my story begins when i arrived at the tabernacle around 7 after just driving 4 or 5 hours from nashville. when i arrived, i met a friend who would give me the tickets i had dreamed of for oh so long. after recieving them i stood in the dreadful line, which at this point was in the parking lot. so im in line, doing nothing, when from behind a hand grabs my shoulder and shoves me back. 'hey cheif get at the end of the line'. i look at him with a 'what-the-fuck-are-you-talking- about' and my mother quickly jumps in. being the wonderful mother that she is, she proceeds to degrade this jim belushi look-alike-all the while i'm in disbelief. so this fat-idiotic-bastard grabs me again and pushes me. still i'm in shock because it caught me off gaurd. my mother again goes crazy...this is when he calls her some very harsh names [and me-'pimple faced kid'-but it doesn't affect me because i have enough respect and love for myself to know i am far better than this fucking loser]. at this point, i'm ready to kick the guy in the face, but i don't want to be hauled away in a police car for what violence i was about to commit. i geyss you could say i have a sort of serial killer attitude to which i would not stop until this imbecile could no longer move. after the whole argument, we resume to our places. and wouldn't you know it, the same fucking dumb group he was is somehow got in front of us and ALOT more people. hyprocrite-fucking dumbass comes to mind. so anyways, on with the tragedy...we continue to stand for what has elapsed into an hour. there was a bit of humor with the 'harry manback' gentlemen mentioned in a review on this page. another hour passes and we're nearly to the front of the building now. a lady comes to check our tickets. i'm thinking 'this doesn't concern me. i know my tickets are valid. soon i'll be in...' when my dreams were shattered. the lady paused for a moment. i begged what ever force controlling this not to say the words i hoped i wouldn't hear...'this tickets are counterfeit'. i felt like collapsing and weeping. this would have been my first tool concert ever. it depressed and disappointed me so much that i was just ready to get home and pretend it never happened. we went back to the hotel, called the guy and told him are tickets were fake, and being the nice man he is he gave us our money back. i cannot explain in words what this did to me. my heart is in a million peices. in the past two years, tool has come over me like some divine rhythm; giving me a spiritual guide through life and healing all the wounds i've ever had. to not see this concert has truelly dragged me down, paralyzed my emotions. i feel numb. please tool if you read this, return to me soon. tool has very much support in the nashville area. i hope you can take that into consideration when you embark on your tour in august. i hope one day our souls can meet in the same space, so that i can recieve/feel your creation flowing through me. .c||5|.

Review written by: Richard (r_shanlever@yahoo.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 21:56:08

I was very impressed with my first Tool concert experience. They played pretty much all the songs I wanted to hear (cept Eulogy). I was worried that they wouldn't be able to follow an album like Aenima, but Lateralus is awesome. I was glad to hear Reflection, by far my favorite song on the new album. (Damn song hypnotized me yesterday at work....) Of course there were the long lines, and the band's mostly unapolegetic attitude about the situation. I personally didn't get my ticket through the "proper channels", but for a show that sold out in a heartbeat is that really possible for everyone? My face had to have turned white when I got to the front of the line and they were checking for fake tickets. Musically, I know that Tool likes to mix the vocals low, but in a few songs the vocals were barely audible in places. (Could've been where I was standing.) Criticism aside, it was one of the best musical experiences I have ever had in my now 24 years of existince. It was awesome to see one of my favorite bands in the flesh, considering how many I've missed for one reason or another. Bring earplugs if you are going to see them.... I can hardly hear today. Richard www.mp3.com/someofnone

Review written by: KT (ketapsco@aol.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 22:40:38

ok...ok... so something had to prevent the finest day for Atlantans in Rock and Roll history from saying, "The day was Perfect!" I got there at 4:30 and was about 600th in line. The show was to start at 8 and they went on at 10:45. But... when they went on... The show was absolutely perfect. Perfect set. Perfect performance. (I think Justin was having a bit of technical difficulty). They were gracious friendly, ROCKIN performers doin' it the way they do. Unreal! They premiered the video for Schizm which ruled. They rocked us with old stuff... mesmerized us with new stuff... dominated our senses with the video accompanyment... 5 star...

Review written by: T (not telling.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 23:15:11

I was one of the lucky ones to get tickets...real tickets. My husband and I got to the Tabernacle at around 3:00pm and there were already about 75 people in line. We waited until about 7:45pm for the doors to open. I was doubley lucky to be a female (a serious minority at the show) because they divided the line into gender for frisking and I ended up second in line!!!! We got excellent seats and waited seemingly forever for Tool to start playing. My only complaint is that I go to sleep around 10:30pm every night, and I am pregnant so I was seriously exhausted before the band even hit the stage. BUT, Tool rocked as usual and exhaustion was overwhelmed as raw musical talent slammed into my brain. They were so good and Maynard didn't subtly diss the crowd like he has at every other Tool show I've seen. He seemed genuinely happy that everyone was there and to be performing in Atlanta again. The rest of the band members seemed to enjoy themselves as well. A friend on the floor said that Justin smiled continually for the first four songs. Adam checked the crowd out a lot, and Danny just blew us all away with his incredible metronome-like ability. I really liked how Maynard wasn't the center of attention. He was set back on a small platform in front of a small screen that showed the same visuals as the large screen above/behind the band. It really made the music feel like it took the whole band to accomplish the sound and not that the band was there to support Maynard. How very cool. They played the songs mentioned in other reviews, but I wish they would stop playing Sober and PrisonSex. They could have played things like H. or Undertow or Pushit, etc. Everyone has heard Sober and PrisonSex live and although they are excellent songs, Tool has much better ones. Tool...ahhh, I could die happy.

Review written by: Big Al (u2rushyes@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 23:22:09

Didn't read every single review but thought I'd share a couple of things I noticed that I don't think anyone's mentioned yet (sorry if they have). 1. Right after the explosive reaction of the crowd after "The Grudge", Adam went over and gave Maynard a hug. Thought that was cool. Maynard then made a joke about having just announced his engagement to Adam. 2. Before "Schism" was supposed to start (they played Prison Sex instead), Maynard said something to the effect of "This is a song that has very far-reaching implications for each of these band members" (not an exact quote). In any case, perhaps hinting at a song meaning and talking about the journey back to being Tool after all the problems they had and Maynard's absence during a lot of the writing. That's just an opinion by the way. I don't feel like I'm informed enough to say that, it just struck me that way. Thanks, Big AL

Review written by: Shannon (reach_sho@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/16/01 23:35:59

Wow. I just read all the reviews. I guess what they say is true: Opinions are like assholes...and I just saw a lot of them, assholes I mean. I have to briefly bitch about this, then I'll get on with it. First of all, who gives a shit about standing in line? I would've waited in line for days if it had the same result: To see TOOL live. Sure, I was tired and sore after 3 hours of waiting...but to me this was a once in a lifetime experience which I have been waiting on for a LONG time!! Second, who gives a shit what the people in the line looked like? And last (for the bitching part that is), I can't write without mentioning the tickets, or lack there of. What a suck-ass world we live in for people to sell fake tickets just to make a buck. Please, go back to selling drugs or something. At least that makes someone happy for five minutes. Not crushed, heart-broken, etc...But for those of you who read this that did get fucked with fake tickets, try to bare in mind that people do get things back for doing such wrong to others. Now for my own asshole-like opinion of the show: Two nights before the show, without tickets of my own...I was on the internet checking for the millionth time eBay and the crazy prices. I e-mailed someone selling Atlanta tickets, begging to sell them cheaper. No luck. I was still determined to go. I looked up Tabernacle's website. In the forum section, I saw that someone had just posted that they had two tickets to sell. I e-mailed, etc...he said he was having them shipped and I could get them the day of the show. I drove to Birmingham, AL from Chattanooga, TN first thing Tuesday morning, got the tickets for $200.00, then drove back to Chattanooga- grabbed my husband and a shower and we were off to Atlanta. I didn't give a shit about the wait...I knew what I was there for. I thought it was really cool of TOOL to wait for everyone to get in there before they started playing. Since we had to wait an hour, and the Tabernacle has an open bar ($5.00 a pop for Crown/Coke) (woah) a few drinks loosened me up. This was a good thing because I was beside myself with anticipation to see them. I guess I had a slight buzz because the next thing I know the lights went off and they all seemed to just appear on stage. I guess when you wait so long to see someone...someone that you hear everyday of your life, someone that HELPS YOU GET THROUGH everyday of your life, but you've never met...the excitement you feel seeing them for the first time is like nothing else...they seemed more like Biblical figures than real humans at that moment. After the first song I had to escape from my husband to fight my way to the stage. I had come this far, I was not leaving without getting close to Maynard. 15-20 feet away sufficed for me...I couldn't have asked for more. He has such a presence about him...he is, for lack of a better word...a great performer. I'll spare you the setlist since you've read it a few times already. I think that "Opiate" was my favorite. I knew I was a veteran fan when it seemed to me that a lot of the people around me stopped singing when this came on. They seemed unsure of what it was. I Loved A(e)nima...didn't we all? Throughout all of the music, I wanted to close my eyes and feel the music as I so often do in my car/house/whatever........but I couldn't take my eyes away from the stage. Justin, Adam, Maynard, and Danny were all a site to see. They fucking rocked. That, however, is not the end of my story. After it was all over, I stood with my husband, speechless, happy....too many emotions to list....I begged the sound check guy to give me a backstage pass and he said hell no. My only hope was to wait out the side for them to leave...they had to leave sometime! So we did. Another two hour wait which I am sooo not complaining about. I think there were only about 40 people (if that). The Tabernacle (asshole) employees told me that they had never seen fans sit and wait that long for a band. The roadies (assholes) told us that they left out the side. I guess they don't appreciate the band whose equipment they were putting up! They sure as hell don't appreciate the Love that us devoted fans have for them. We sat patiently. Finally, at about 3am Justin and Danny appeared for us. They were cool as hell. Glad to sign autographs. I got my purse, my husband's shirt, and our tickets signed. I think I was pretty much at a loss for words coming face to face with 2 of the 4 of my favorite band. I was pretty disappointed that Maynard and Adam dipped out on us, but according to the janitor I talked to...they sat up there and got drunk before leaving. Hopefully that explains it...at least, that's what I keep telling myself. Anyway, shaking hands with Justin and Danny was great. My ringing ears, pounding headache, and killer hangover were worth it...just so I get my hearing back within the week!!!! I think that's it. I need a cigarette, and you fans are probably sick of reading anyway. The show was incredible. I will anxiously await the release of the new tour dates, and pray that I can get that close again.

Review written by: Jeff (jdavis0571@earthlink.net) Review posted on: 05/17/01 00:26:46

Awesome!!! I give the show a 9 out of 10. Loved the band. Loved the music. Loved the visuals. Loved Maynard's glasses. Didn't like the sound. I just don't think the Tabernacle can sound good. I've seen Perfect Circle, Dream Theater, Tool and a number of other shows at the Tabernacle and each time I was disappointed by the sound. The sound lacks distinction. It lacks the edges of clarity. You couldn't really make out what Maynard was saying and you couldn't really make out the intricacies of Danny's playing. I think the Masquerade (Atlanta) and the Roxy (Atlanta) are much better sounding venues. Even the International Ballroom sounds better, the shithole that it is. I think the problem with the Tabernacle is they have these two big flat walls facing each other which acts as a big echo chamber and smears out the sound. They need to hang some kind of sound proofing up there, like drapes or foam padding (or large amounts of ladies underwear). The Tabernacle would be a GREAT place if they just fixed their acoustics . If anybody else agrees with me please join me in emailing The Tabernacle to tell them of their aural problems. Even still, like I said, the show was awesome. For me the high point of the show was when I went around the balcony, all the way to the side, almost behind the drums, and got to watch Danny Cary perform his magic. Simply incredible. I was drooling the whole time. When ever I listen to Tool I always envision what Danny is playing and then I got to watch it in REAL LIFE!!! And of course, being the master that he is, he made it look all so simple. Even when he was playing his most complex parts you could tell he was totally feeling the music; like man and music were one. He didn't control the music, the music controlled him. A couple of things I notice when I was watching Danny: The guy is so big, and his hands are so large, that it looks like he's playing drums with long toothpicks. And his biceps are huge; he could have been a professional wrestler if he wanted. I'm surprised his cymbals didn't shatter every time he hit them. Even though I'm bashing the Tabernacle, if Tool played there tomorrow I would no doubt go see them.

Review written by: Bryan Roberts (innocentbryan@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 02:27:40

I didn't buy my ticket through a channel, bought it from ticket master. You waited on the album, you waited for the tix, and you waited for the show, so assholes who get pissed coz it was a little delayed need to be thrown out next time. I was sincerely suprised that a majority of the attendies were A Perfect Circle fans who actually thought Maynard has long black hair! Damn, kids, leave mom's credit card on the counter, go buy all the albums, and then come to me talking shit about TOOL and Maynard when I am standing in line next to you. You people were rude, screaming Fuck You and Bullshit is NOT going to make the guys want to come out and play for you. By the way, for those juveniles that do not know, Maynard is NOT the leader of the band! And also, once again, STOP REQUESTING JUDITH AND MAYNARD'S DICK! The concert, ahh, it was fantastic. Tool did a wonderful job of proving that the band as an instrument is the main point of this album. Maynard took a backstage presence so that the band collectively would shine out. The visuals were astounding, several times I found myself drifting into the chaos of music that surrounded me and falling into the large screens that hung before me. Disposition/Reflection were phenomenal when shared along side of the screen. The song list was as so...I am sure coz I notated it: The Grudge Stinkfist Fortysix & 2 Prison Sex Schism Swampsong Disposition / Reflection / Triad(Though only the first thirty or fourty seconds of it) *Intermission Salival Artwork Clips Schism Video Sober Parabol / Parabola Aenema Lateralus Opiate The Schism video is wonderful, but I think everyone should draw there own conclusions. The bet part of the whole thing was Maynard's sincere apologies to the audience b/c of the long wait. I think it has been quite a while since Maynard was sincere with an audience, but when he comes out looking like what should have been another hero added to the movie "Mystery Men", then I guess he has no choice but to be humble. I bet sales of dorky assed goggles like Maynard had on at the begining shot through the roof today, he could very well save the Stock Market and the Economy! One complaint that may sound crazy, the sound was off a lil, the guitar and bass guitar had too much bass juiced into them and muffled the entire sound, I think this explains a lot of the lost vocals from Maynard. Another cool thing, myself and the rest of the people on the bar got to see what Danny's facial expressions are when he fucks up a polyrhythm in the middle of Lateralus, I guess that proves once and for all that his alien fascination is from a true human standpoint! Tool, collectively, made the event stand for what it is called, it really did feel like "An Evening with Tool", no rock star egos here, just a band who wants to make the best music they can, and wants to share that with everyone that can open their mind to it! Basically, They call this the Pre-Seminal Tour for a good reason, coz if you were at the show last night and didn't feel the ecstatic sense of those guys on stage, then you were dead!

Review written by: Hate Machine (no thanks) Review posted on: 05/17/01 03:05:34

I just want to say that this was an amazing show. I was out there at 9 am to wait in line. We had a small little group of people that were watching out for each other. The atlanta girl got there at 8 am. She was first in line. I met quite a few people, who's names i have no idea of, but we all had fun. The show was great. I wish they would have played longer, but hey, they did play about 2 hours i think (didn't have a watch). Maynard's outfit was amazing to say the least. Oh, and Adam's guitar, absolutely beautiful. As opposed to saying how great everything was, like in the previous reviews, let me just say that I had lots of fun. And being crushed into the barricade sucks, but it was worth the bruises. Oh, and bring ear plugs... definitely. After the show, we hung out until around 3 am when finally Justin, Danny, and Adam all came out and signed autographs for us. Danny has to be one of the nicest guys I ever met as far as celebrities go. Thanks for taking the time out for us 50 or so fans that waited around for you guys.

Review written by: Mona (a_m_yarbrough@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 03:37:54

I posted this following message on The Tabernacle's website also which you can also place reviews or comments to the venue, www.tabernaclemusic.com just click on Forum. This is not my official review of the show but I believe those that are going to other Tool concerts my go through the pain that a lot of the Atlanta fans had to endure. I attened the Tool concert on May 15th and was awfully disappointed by The Tabernacle. This was my third show to attend at this venue and my experiences at those shows top what I had to go through at the Tool show. I know they had to deal with a ton of counterfeit tickets but there was a much better way to handle this type of thing. First, I got there at 4:30, which I was thought was extremely early but not early enough actually. Thankfully though I was only around one block, not two or spiraling in a parking lot. But once the establishment saw what an amazing line was forming, they could have easily gotten out their little black lights and checked people's tickets. Especially when they saw how many scaplers were out there. Word to the wise also: do not switch tickets with anybody! Those are the unlucky folks that realize that they have gotten screwed over with fake tickets and they want your real ones. Do not do that!!! I was standing beside three guys from Florida who had all gotten off work and drove for about 6 hours just hoping they could get tickets. They thought they did, they waited in line with me for 3 1/2 hours to find out they had completely wasted their time and money. I know you cannot prevent scalpers but you can prevent being cruel and making people stand outside for that period of time with fake tickets. They could have headed home or went to another show or even tried to find someone with real tickets they could have bought, if they had money left over Then, I didn't even get in the door till a little after eight. The concert didn't start until 10:45. I know the delay was because of all the counterfiet tickets. I was getting greatly annoyed. I waited six hours to hear an 1 1/2 concert. I want to say it was completely worth the wait but I'm not sure if I can. I am a huge Tool fan but I am also a human being. The whole way this situation was handled was extremely disrespectful. Thankfully Tool was extremely apologetic about it and funny enough they opened with "The Grudge" and that made it all better. I was lucky enough to get my tickets through Ticketmaster and I paid a good price for those tickets. Which that money goes back into the venue. I should have been treated a little more kindly. I know that it is a pain to deal with that many people but I promise you may not have fun doing body checks and we don't have fun going through them, even if we are clean of everything. When I finally got through, the ones that did have fake tickets just got ushered to the side and told what kind of screw-ups they were. I give these people that bought the fake tickets credit. Many people drove for hours just on the single hope they might get lucky enough to score some tickets. I wish I had that much optimism. I cannot completely blaim The Tabernacle either. Ticketmaster has a lot to blaim for this situation. The Tabernacle, like it says on its site, can hold up to 5000 people. Then why did Ticketmaster not sell 5000 tickets? I know some goes to the radio stations and other people like that to give away but I've heard numbers of 3000 to only 800 tickets sold the day of May 2nd. What happened to those other 2000 or 4200 tickets? The day they went on sale is in question also. If you didn't live in the Atlanta area, or you didn't see the ads in Atlanta's local newspapers, radio station, or on The Tabernacle's web site, you had no idea when they went on sale. The Ticketmaster web site didn't sell tickets and on Tool's offical web site, they had May 5th. Many people were angry about this fact also. Ticketmaster pretty much holds a monopoly in this area for tickets sales and that is ridiculous and I believe many are angry about this fact and it is going to change soon. I have no other choice at this moment to buy my tickets from any other company but I am going to try my hardest to. I am still a huge Tool fan, I enjoy their new album Lateralus and they put on an amazing show, I do not hold them accountable for anything for they didn't do anything wrong. They are the best band out there at this moment and they deserve all the fans they have and those that have never heard of them do not know what they are missing. But unfortunately, I used to be a big Tabernacle fan. I loved that it was small venue, but held a great number of people in such a confined space-not one bad seat in the whole house. I was excited to hear that Tool was playing there, but sadly now, I cannot say that. I just thought the management and the staffing were just more professional then what I experienced Sincerely, Mona

Review written by: Chris Brightwell (cdb47@home.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 08:29:25

atlantaralus - may 15, 2001 ------------------------------ The Grudge / Stinkfist / 46 & 2 / Prison Sex / Schism / Swamp Song / Disposition / Reflection / --schism video-- / Sober / Parabol- Parabola / Ænema / Opiate / Lateralis ------------------------------ as i crawl out of bed after a night of fighting the infamous stomach virus bug (which later turned out to be a one-night thing. thank god), i think of what is happening in literally hours : tool will perform their first concert in years in the tabernacle. being such, this is the event that the entire world will envy 2500 hundered people for. i'm one of the lucky few. i got up and took a quick shower and downed a mt dew in hopes of fending off the stomach bug. then i threw my stuff in the car and headed to my friend's house to pick her up. we were headed to best buy to buy Lateralus then off to atlanta for the concert of the year. we got to best buy about 20 minutes early and met a few people who were there to get the album as well, including two of my friends that were unable to score some of the premium tickets for the show. we got the disc, wished them well, and headed south on HWY231. during the ride, we listened to lateralus. wow. incredible album. danny said that tool would be the band to produce this generation's "the wall". i expect no less, mr carey. i dare you all to top the five feats of musical masterpiece you've given us so far. once we hit I-20 to head east into atlanta, the excitement of the night began to set in. we were an hour from atlanta, and about six hours from the time the show was scheduled to start. expectations were high. deep down i think we knew that there would be no disappointment. we made it thru to the tabernacle around 3:00 EST. by 3:30 we'd scored a spot in line and sat down. i was looking for others from a.m.t, but was shocked to see how many people were actually already in line. one girl i talked to had been there since 6am and paid $300 on ebay for her ticket. wow. as we walked from the front of the line to the back, 10 people must've asked me if i'd trade my balcony ticket for a floor ticket. the crowd outside the venue was cool. there was this one crazy guy flew from california so he could goto the show and give away a ticket. it ended up being scored by a guy from north carolina that drove down to atlanta without a ticket. he paid $0. lucky bastard. i paid $100. then we saw a guy walk by with a printed sign saying "i need two tool tickets." he'd walked by about 3 times. poor guy. around this time me and allis (the friend i "drug" along) were realizing that the guy next to us on the sidewalk was irritating as piss. man, if i had my flamethrower, that would've been the end of him. he was wearing a foetus shirt talking about the wonders of a manson mosh pit and how every that wants to be in the balcony is a wimp. he seemed to be in awe of the fact that we knew the guy that runs t.d.n and talked regularly to people that had worked on the video and for the band. almost seemed like he wanted to be part of the club. the guy with the printed sign walked by again. after about ten more minutes of talkin' shit and people-watching with allis, i hear a hesitant "chris?" from my right. i look up and say "yeah?". ryan then smiles and says "hey man. i'm ryan." we shake hands and talk for a minute. he runs and grabs his friend michael (who was at the end of the line) and comes to park under our tree. alt.music.tool has officially arrived it atlanta, georgia. let the games begin. we see the guy with the printed "i need tickets" sign again. it's becoming somewhat of an "inside joke" to see this guy walk by. we talk for a while about how traffic sucks and how driving hours on end sucks and what-not. talked about what the show would be like and what we thought of the album (which we'd all held off until this magical day for). spirits were high, and it was definitely cool to finally meet one of the people i'd spent so many endless night (literally endless, sometimes) online talking to. the more we talked, the more i looked forward to meeting the others. after about an hour, this crazy black guy walks down the street talking about needing a ticket on your dashboard or your car would be towed. i used this little break from the line (michael held our spots in line) to grab my minidisc gear and a swig of gatorade. me and allis head back to line to see ryan and micheal there and ask if anyone wants anything to drink. we ran and got three bottles of water (michael declined) and sat under the tree to wait for a few more hours. i thought that meeting people from the newsgroup might be akward, but it wasn't. i was getting more and more excited about the show as it grew closer to 8:00. around 6:00 we heard a cop talking on a cell phone about the show as the guy with the "i need tickets" sign walks by again. he said something along the lines of "there's no opening act. just them. they probably won't even go onstage until 9:00." he then mumbled something about doors opening at 7:00, which we thought would be nice. we thought about bum-rushing the balcony, but decided to see what the others had in mind. if they showed up. it was 6:15 or so and still no jimmy. allis had already talked about taking my car if jimmy and aaron didn't show up and going shopping. she offered to take ryan, who admitted that he'd buy a gun and wait outside the show for jimmy. good thing you showed up, jimmy :) water's gone, sun's goin down. getting closer to 7:00, and the line moves forward a little. noone actually goes in, tho - people just crammed up against the door. then another forward movement. we'd moved about halfway up the line by this time (noone had gone in yet, mind you) and i heard ryan say something about "there's about to be a riot if jimmy doesn't show up." i laughed. we talk for a few more minutes, then someone chimes in "hey those guys have nametags on," which was how we were supposed to find jimmy and aaron. we all hold our hands up as a greeting and they run over with shit-faced grins on their faces, probably glad that we didn't kick their asses to the back of the line. jimmy handed out tickets and allis happily hugged him as the "i need tickets" guy walked around -- again. she later said something about never hugging a guy that she didn't know before. we introduced everyone : me, michael, jimmy, aaron, ryan, allis, two of jimmy's bandmates, and their girlfriends. we all then talked about the stories of how we got our tickets - aaron (jiveturky1) had the best. everyone ask him about his. we talked for a while about what might happen in the show, what they'd open with, what they'd close with, and just about anything else. everything we'd heard from the kabir/tyrone/shane trio and all we'd heard from the newsgroup. the foetus shirt guy was still hanging around, watching our party grow. we told jimmy & co. about the "i need tickets" guy just in time for him to walk by. again. by this time it's 7:30 and the doors still aren't open. someone mentions having not seen john (insaner) yet, and we kind of start looking for a clutch shirt - he told ryan he'd be wearing one. then we see a big tall bastard with a clutch shirt on and ryan says "hey dude. that looks like him." so i yell "john!" and he comes over with a friend. add two more to the party list :) we do the introductions again and john says to me, "dude i was starting to think you didn't fucking exist." this is the third or fourth time we'd tried to hook up at a show. the first time it'd actually happened. we talk for a while more about what to expect in the show and wondering what'll happen. john says something about opening with "the grudge", which is something we all kind of thought would happen, but we talked about other great openers. ticks & leeches seemed to be the most fitting. read the lyrics and you'll understand. :) the doors FINALLY open and people start to file into the tabernacle to share tonight's experience. ryan says "i wonder if that dude got tickets yet?" as he walks by again with his sign -- still no tickets. poor guy. maybe he'll find someone willing to hook him up. we agree to meet up outside the venue under the big parking sign across the street for group pictures after the show. as the line gets closer to the door, we realize how tight security actually is for this show. metal detectors, a thorough patdown, three ticket inspections, and finally the chick that pulls of the stub and lets you in. i passed thru the three ticket inspections saying "i paid $100. this had BETTER be legit." luckily it was. all of ours (a.m.t) were. then the big moment : the metal detector. i was a bit nervous, and i could see ryan and allis just ahead of me while they held their breath. nothing. amazing. the guy patted me down pretty thoroughly and made me empty out my pockets, but didn't catch anything. incredible. i'm in. we walk into the tabernacle and go straight into the cotton club. me and ryan look at each other and say "shit this isn't right." and turn around a walk upstairs to the booth selling shirts. we all buy the "pre seminal 2001" tour shirt because it says "atlanta 5-15" on it. we're here. that's us. i head down to the bathroom to get the minidisc gear setup for the show and ryan stops me and says "dude this place is fucking awesome." above the stage is a HUGE video screen, and behind that are the pipes from the huge organ in the tabernacle. under that, on the far left is adam's guitar stack, then a smaller screen (assumably the "maynard screen"), then it looked like danny and justin would be on our right. excellent. if any of you have seen coachella pictures, this was a very similar setup. i get wired up and head back up to meet the rest of the crew. we score some cokes and 12" promo flats from the new album (they were giving some out) and wait. and wait. and wait. for three hours. the crowd was almost restless, the air conditioning was non- existant. the house music was driving us insane. aaron and i were almost praying for an opening band as the people poured into the sactuary of the tabernacle. john talked to the guy running the lightboard to get an idea of what'll happen tonight. we can't get a setlist, but he tells us that the set will be roughly 2 hrs long and that they'll debut the schism video tonight. we all look at each other and say "holy shit. we are fucking HERE." aaron says something about wanting a laptop so he could send a message to the newsgroup and be like "haha i'm here. you're not." i had a laptop in the car, but no net connection. oh well. as the wait goes on, the crowd starts to boo the house music and chant "bull shit" and "TOOL! TOOL!" whatever. we were getting irritated with the wait, but had no problem waiting and talking with each other about how we would tell our grandkids about this night. after a while we realized that we were still waiting for the show to begin, but that it would be over if it had started on time. finally someone came on the PA and addressed us, saying that there were still several hundered people outside waiting to get in and that the band was, in fact, backstage. that was a breath of relief, but the crowd was growing more and more tired from standing in line all day only to stand in line for three hours. then it happens. the single house light goes down and the house music FINALLY dies. the place erupts with noise. i can't hear a thing, but i see the eyes from the CD paint on the screen, along with the flame-like vertical eye from the coverart. it's nice, to say the least. adam, danny, and justin all come in and take their places. they tear into the opening track - "the grudge" - and maynard is nowhere to be seen. suddenly there he is ... standing before the crowd, arms raised in the air, wearing a black celobite outfit from "hellraiser" and some awesome black goggles. the crowd erupted and it had officially begun. the grudge was incredible. "Saturn ascends, choose one or ten. Hang on or be humbled again." then maynard says "what ... in the wide wide world of sports is going on here? where the fuck have you people been? we've been waiting here for hours!" then he says "thank you, good night." the crowd obviously is warm to the humor. then they surprise us all - stinkfist. during stinkfist they showed a "video remix" of the stinkfist video we've all come to love. amazing. "it's not enough ... i need more." adam and mjk share a hug onstage, then another maynardism : "for those of you who aren't aware, adam and i have just recently announced our engagement". hilarious. they must've known that we were all a little tense. then another one we never thought about being played tonight : forty-six & 2. only the second time i've heard it live; a nice surprise nonetheless. during this one the video screens showed some kind of tortured human/worm thing .. trying to move, but never able to. it seemed to be tortured, but noone was sure. "See my shadow changing, Stretching up and over me." maynard thanks the crowd : "thank you very much for being a part of this very long and healing process. this next song has far far reacing implications for all these band members, to the point of embracing in tears. we'd like to share this with you now, this song is called schism." "wait no wait. just because i'm old, this song is called prison sex." wow. amazing. prison sex is probably one of my absolute favorite tool songs, and it's truly amazing to hear it live after three years of not hearing tool live at all. the crowd was pulsing, and the entire floor was flexing. at one point we thought that the floor might collapse and dump us all into the cotton club below us. thankfully, it never did. prison sex also featured a nice remix of the prison sex video. i was impressed with adam (i assume he did the work) and his ability to "remix" these videos to fit the performance tonight. "i have found some kind of temporary sanity in this." then - with no warning, we hear the opening chords for schism, which was the one song i knew off the new album (other than ticks and leeches), so i could kind of sing along. it was really nice to hear the new material live. this was, however, the only performance not to have a video displayed on the huge video screen. we were all thinking "where's the video?", but were not complaining. not one bit. it was absofuckinglutely amazing. "I've done the math enough to know the dangers of our second guessing." then maynard tells us all - "this song is, arguably, older than most of you." and i let out a laugh. they played swamp song. it was GREAT. you could almost take the lyrics from this song and apply it to the events of tonight. it was great. this song has had some pretty deep connections for me in the past, and was a pure delight to hear live. "i hope it sucks you down." then, after a long silence from the stage, they begin disposition/reflection. this is off the new album, which i've had for less than 12 hours, so i was definitely unfamiliar with it. i took this time to look around the crowd, in the balcony, across the floor. i realize that noone is jumping around. no moshng. no idiots (well - maybe a few). i'm truly among friends on this holy ground. tonight is truly spectacular, and anyone that was there witnessed a once-in-a-lifetime event. "And you will come to find we are all one mind" after finishing reflection, they all walk off the stage, and we are greeted by the salival guy from the beginning of the DVD and VHS - he spins for roughly a minute, with that droning static sound that we've all heard on the dvd/vhs. we all wonder - "what's going on? what's next?" then the screens go black. suddenly - a video. then the schism chords. it's the video for schism. wow. want a description? how's this : aliens walking on their hands. worms coming out of necks. blood. weird. definitely tool. the band then walks out. maynard says "well there you have it." the crowd cheers. "this isn't really an encore. we just had to go have our tea and geritol and viagra." the crowd cheers again. we love old men. it's true. then they come back from their viagra back in great style : sober. from the first few notes of the bassline, the crowd erupts. this was a great addition to the already spectacular setlist. the video for this feature two naked women being tortured my a robot of some kind that was similar in appearance to maynard's spinal tatoo. interesting, to say the very least. "I will work to elevate; you just enough to bring you down." maynard tells us all : "thank you, very much, for your patience and your support." then danny and adam begin with parbol and parabola. again, since this is part of the new album, i wasn't very familiar with it. it took the time to watch the crowd and listen to the music and take a look around to fully appreciate the people i was with. i was reminded, once again, how magical a night this really was. tool may never play a concert like this again in my entire life. "We are choosing to be here right now. Hold on, stay inside..." maynard walks toward center stage and says "it's been a while since i used this joke, so i guess it's okay if i do it. this song is about water sports. is that still funny?" then the breathing -- Ænema. no new special "fuck you atlanta" lyrics. very enjoyable. the crowd was acvtive during this song more than any other, but were seemingly respectful of everyone at the same time. i really thought the floor was gonna give and dump us into the cotton club this time. amazingly - again - it didn't. this song drew the first tears out of me tonight -- "cuz i'm praying for raaaaain" .. for those of you familiar with the term "toolgasm", that was it. then at the end of the song, all four members were huddling around danny's drums (assumably to stay in time with each other), which looked like they were having a private jam session on stage. it as very cool to watch. "I wanna see the ground give way. I wanna watch it all go down." "thank you very much for your patience, for standing in that ridiculous line. we apologize for that. we'll see you again real soon. next time, tell your friends to be patient, buy your tickets through the proper channels. otherwise you'll be standing outside like people are right now. we love you; thank you very much." the crowd was very responsive to mjk's open heart-felt thanks. it was really nice to see that. ryan and i say to each other : "this has got to be opiate. i has to be." then we hear it. "choices always were a problem for you ... " wow. the 2nd of two toolgasms tonight, and the 2nd collection of a handful of tears from me for the night. it was .. wow. this is probably the one song i would've been disappointed to NOT hear tonight. i know they get tired of playing it, but it's probably my FAVORITE live song ... ever. wow. "jesus christ why don't you come save my life now? open my eyes, blind me with your light." maynard : "thank you very much. this song is called lateralis." great song, and a great surprise for the closing song. the band seemed to pour all of their heart and energy into this last song; such a fitting close to a seemingly perfect night. "We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been." the song ends, the crowd cheers. the chandelier lights up, and we all file out of the tabernacle. my ears are ringing and i can't hear a thing. incredible show, incredible people, incredible venue. wow. i run to the car with allis to score the camera and a pair of headphones to listen ot the minidisc and meet up with the rest of a.m.t under the "parking" sign for post-show picturs to send to the pics page. they'll be up as soon as they're developed. i might even be able to score copies for everyone that was there. this was truly a magical night for anyoen that was there. anyone that wasn't, i wish you could've been there. the feeling of meeting the newsgroup people, watching a truly magical show in a wonderful setting. seeing maynard in his tool element. hearing the new material live, and having the new album in hand after years of waiting. wow. it was now 1:00 and we had a four hour drive home, so i bid my friend farewell and began the long four hour drive home. allis, ryan, michael, aaron, jimmy, john, and everyone else. thanks for sharing this awesome experience with me - i could only think of a few people that i would've wanted there, and you guys were really great to bake in the sun with outside :) hope to see you all at a show this fall. -chris

Review written by: MINK (mink_art@mindspring.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 08:32:07

Stunning.

Review written by: Aaron O'Neil (oneila@tvratings.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 08:53:31

Well, what can I say... the show was fucking phenomenal! I saw TOOL in 1996 at the Masquerade in Tampa, and this show was equally mindblowing. The new material sounded great live, possibly better than on the CD. The opener, The Grudge, was just insane! Other reviewers covered most of the details - the 14-song set list, the 3 hour wait in line, fake tickets - I was at the end of the line where it curled (it went around the whole fucking city block!). The Tabernacle is a beautiful venue, set up similar to the House Of Blues in Orlando, for anyone that has been there. I snuck in a minidisc player, but I just bought it and this is the first time I have used it - so the recording came out like shit due to the record level being too high - way too distorted to listen to. The only song that translated somewhat well to disc was "Disposition" since the bass was not too loud for that song... The audio clips of Maynard talking between songs sound good though. If I can ever get my computer-illiterate ass to figure out how, I will convert some mp3s and give them to whoever wants them (email me - but don't expect anything for a week or two). A big "What's Up" goes out to Tony and Travis, the two luckiest cats at the show - they won tickets, airfare, and a hotel stay from a radio station in Sacramento. All things considered, this was one of the best shows I have seen in a long time. I only hope that I have figured out this damn minidisc player by the time they come to Florida (if they come here at all). Peace out...

Review written by: Steven (slee16@helios.acomp.usf.edu) Review posted on: 05/17/01 09:35:00

Congratulations to T-O-O-L for surviving the painful obstacles and reaching deeper within yourselves more than ever before to create and inspire millions of people. The amazing performance at the Tabernacle had an intimate setting which was well deserved for the fans. T-O-O-L has pushed art so far beyond anyones imaginations. No other band has evolved to where T-O-O-L is now and will never be where they're going. THANK YOU Adam, Danny, Justin, & Maynard for shattering the barriers of art/music. See you again soon!

Review written by: toolslayer (rapp00@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 10:30:35

I was not fortunate enough to see TOOL in Atlanta for I live in Pittsburgh and am in art school now. I have been a DIE HARD FAN of TOOL since '92 and have seen them perform 5 times and I have been fortunate to see and feel the emotional experience a TOOL Show brings. I feel absolutely sick to my stomach at the thought of people getting burned so badly on their ticket purchases and being turned away. I come to you TOOL FANS who were turned away with a little hope for you. I used to work with a government funded agency and the FBI in a unit that tracked and investigates white collar crimes via the internet. PLEASE go to NW3C.ORG and there you can access the internet fraud complaint center. The more responses they get the more chance there will be an instant investigation by the FBI into EBAY and Ticketmaster and thus the ASSHOLES who are responsible for selling bogus tickets may actually be punished. I am livid over this. I used to be a complaint coordinator with this organization and YOUR COMPLAINTS ARE VALID!!!! LOOK INTO IT! AND NEVER PAY MORE THAN $35 BUCKS FOR A SHOW AGAIN!

Review written by: Epicycloid (graph1@darla.badm.sc.edu) Review posted on: 05/17/01 11:46:53

The show was AMAZING! Yeah, I had to wait 3 hours to get in, but who cares?! It was worth it. I want to thank the band for waiting to start the show. I'm aware that there aren't many bands who would've done so. I thought it was extremely cool of them. This was the fourth Tool show I've been to, and I have to say that every time I see them I walk away thinking "This was the experience of a lifetime." The visuals were incredible, the music even better. I was very impressed with the new stuff, but also very grateful to hear the older songs (soooo happy they played Opiate!!). I'm not going to any other concerts this summer... I'm saving my money and (hopefully) going to see Tool again when they come back from Europe. This is where a concert stops being "just music" and starts becoming some sort of orgasmic religious experience.

Review written by: Paul Eubanks (shredhead666@yahoo.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 12:30:55

So everyone has pretty much covered what the show was like. The only thing I might add is how many other neat video ideas Tool worked into their live show. On a few songs, they synched up medley's from their old videos (prison sex, stinkfist, etc...), and on some of the newer songs they incorporated some REALLY neat visuals (the bathroom scene anyone???). GREAT STUFF! So here's what I wanna add that may be unique to the review section: I met the guys (adam, danny, and justin) backstage after a 2 hour wait. They came out around 3 a.m. to a small crowd of dedicated fans, and signed autographs, and even took 3-4 pictures with select people. I got my ticket stub autographed by adam, justin, and danny. They couldn't have been greater guys about it. They smiled a lot, and talked with the fans for about 15 minutes. Adam walked up to this random kid, and gave him a copy of the setlist, and personalized an autograph on there! The kid's name was incidentally Adam as well. "To Adam, from Adam". How cool is that?!?! People weren't even asking Adam to personalize anything, he just took whatever they wanted him to sign, and asked them "what's your name?", and would give them a personalized autograph. What a great guy he was. Really down to earth too. I shook his hand, and asked Adam a few questions here and there, and he was more than polite enough to answer... I asked about the newer video clips they incorporated into the show, if they were going to be an inkling as to what the next Tool video will be like. He replied that they were all done by that "Screaming Lobster" company (there's a link on toolband.com for them, and possibly one on toolshed?), and he might possibly use them in a video, but they were mainly just for the tour. Some of the pictures I took of the show that I'm trying to send to Kabir will show you the video images I'm talking about. I also complimented Adam on the Schism vid, and asked him how long a typical Tool video takes to make. He said "Schism took a total of 3 months". While I was standing there hanging out with Adam (God it feels cool to say that!), some guy asked him why they didn't play Pushit that night. He said "I think we're going to play it at the New York show? During rehearsal I forgot how the solo went, and we didn't wanna do it if we weren't 110% comfortable with it." We all had a good laugh about that. Not something you expect to hear from him! I thought it was about time contraints, but turns out they left it off because they felt rusty playing it. LOL! I talked to Justin and Danny for maybe 5 minutes also, just stuff you've already heard them talk about in interviews, so it's not really worth mentioning. Maynard didn't show while I was standing outside. The band said he'd left early, but I don't think I buy that. I was just glad to meet the others, and didn't feel like waiting in this shitty ghetto part of downtown Atlanta any longer. After all, it WAS 3:30 a.m. by that time! I left, so if Maynard actually ended up showing, I missed it. Oh well. Funniest moments of the night that weren't DIRECTLY concert related? The Harry Manback episode that other guy talked about. I was right there and saw the WHOLE thing. Absolutely HYSTERICAL! Also, while we were waiting behind the venue for the band to come out, the roadies were loading up the 18 wheelers with band gear and PA shit. The "backstage room" was in plain sight, and there was a few windows. You could catch a glimpse of the band every now and then. After a few minutes, we didn't see any of the guys in the windows anymore. A security guy from the tabernacle says "Go on home! The band's already left! They went out another door." Uh huh, right. That's why their tour bus is sitting right there and not going anywhere. I think they were just trying to clear out most of the crowd. I didn't go anywhere. Then about 15 minutes later, that same guy comes out (this time looking more pissed off), and says "I told you all to clear out! The band's gone already! Go home!" And RIGHT as he said that, Danny comes to the window and waves at all of us! We damn near laughed our ass off! "Uhhhh, hey Mr. Security guy? If they've already left, why is Danny right there in the window waving at us? Oh, wait, I get it, that's a DECOY DANNY! Tool must be the MASTERS of the patented 'stealth band evacuation technique'. They're even better than I thought"! At that point, the security guy's face turns beet red, and looked about as pissed off as he could be. Danny effectively made him look like a blithering idiot by just looking through the window and waving. Oh yeah, and the show was great too. But you can read all about THAT at the other reviews...

Review written by: Jimmy (Realizedyou@aol.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 15:36:26

Ok...I sent this into the newsgroup alt.music.tool (AMT as it's referred to in my review). So, these people I'm talking about in the review are tool buddies from the newsgroup that I met up with there. Enjoy... Where to start... I got to Starkville, MS a little late on Monday night where I was supposed to meet 2 of my band mates, their girlfriends, and Aaron (Jiveturky) so we could all depart early the next day for the show. We hung out and played some music for a while, chatted about Tool, and just got to know each other a bit. Midnight or so, we hit the sheets for the big day tomorrow. We end up waking up around 8:45am on the morning of the 15th. Everyone gets their shower, and we go to McDonald's for some good breakfast. About 9:45 or so, we throw our trash away, and we decided to run across the street (we were gonna just stop in some bigger town on the way) to the record shop to see if they'd let us in early for the CD. It turns out that the guy there was a Tool fan (in Starkville...how amazing) and was playing the album when I walked in the door. I run over, buy it, and almost pass out from the overwhelming excitement of having it in my hands. 10:00am we depart. For the next 8 hours, we drove to Atlanta and spent some of that time (2 hours or so) in traffic trying to find the place we were staying that night. We find it, all's well, we've got about 2 hours until the show supposedly is starting, and we take off to the Tabernacle. About 6:30 or so, we get parked, lock our stuff in the car, and make our way (with nametags!) to the line to see if we can find Chris and Novus. (I had their way in :) We walk for a bit...walk some more...look carefully around for them, thinking they'd be up front. Finally, I get to looking around and Aaron has found Novus. SCORE!!! So, I look over, nod my head, and then I get bombarded with a big hug by some girl in the line! I was like, "Yes! My day just keeps getting better and better! Free hugs from girls in line that I don't know...wooo hooo!!" LOL. At first I think to myself, "Damn, I must really be pretty good lookin'!" Hehehaha. Alright, not really. But, soon after that, I realize that it's Allis, Chris' friend. Great! So, I meet Chris, shake his hand, talk to him and Novus and Allis for a bit, and shared some laughs for a while during the wait. Soon enough, the conversation of insaner came up, and he was nowhere to be found around the line. So, we chat for a few more minutes when speak of the devil, Insaner walks up with a Clutch shirt on. He looks around for a minute at all of us, then just makes a nice familial gesture to us all. It was amazing to actually meet some of the people from the group. All of you guys are great. It was an experience that I'll never forget. And yes, Insaner is a drunken know-it-all, but we still love him! ;-) So, about 7:30pm or so, they begin letting people into the Tabernacle. I'm excited as hell by this time and ready to get the fuck in the place. We get in, look around a bit, and walk over into the main stage area. WOW is the next thing that comes to mind. Never have I seen a better place to have a concert like this other than this place. It was amazing. Danny's drums were less than 100 feet from me. Adam's guitar setup was awesome with his three amps. Justin's bass cabinets are huge. There is a big screen hanging over the center of the stage (a BIG screen) and a smaller one just behind a small stage where Maynard stood for a majority of the show. This is how the setup went. Maynard Danny Adam Justin Well, along with everyone we knew there, we all basically bombarded the front barricade of the soundboard and proceeded to lean against it for the entire show. What a fucking killer spot. While waiting (forever) for the show to start, I decided I'd have me a few shots of Jaegermeister and a couple of beers, so I made my way to the bar for a little bit. I walked up to the T-shirt booth, and I proceeded to purchase my first non-CD merchandise of Tool's. I had to get one of those shirts that had the mini-tour dates on it. I was there. We soon found out that they'd be debuting the Schism video. After a long long wait (which I can barely even remember anymore because the show was so good), Tool finally came on. The night has begun. The lights dimmed. Danny, Adam, and Justin hit the stage, look around for a minute, and they delve into the opening notes of The Grudge. At this point in time, I knew that this concert was going to "sound" great if anything. You could hear every tom Danny hit. Adam's guitar tone was beautiful, and Justin's bass sounded rich as hell. Then...Maynard comes out. He waves a bit at us with both arms, and he soon takes his spot on the little stage. The Grudge - This song was outstanding. It really made me like listening to it on the album more now since I've heard it live. Maynard cut the scream down to about 3/4 the length, probably to save voice and lungs for the rest of the show. The ending was fucking AMAZING watching Danny beat the living hell out of his drums. There were points in this concert when I thought the drums were going to fall over because of how hard Danny was hitting them. Maynard says something like, "Where in the wide world of sports have you people been?" Then, that familiar sounding guitar swell... Stinkfist - This song just fucking jammed. They rushed a tiny tiny tiny bit, but I think that was more due to the show starting late, them being nervous, and having such a hefty set ahead of them. Regardless, I'm being nitpicky because this was an awesome performance of this song. 46&2 - Wow. I remember when they played this the last time I saw them, and this time it was just as intense. I always become fooled after listening to the album for so long that Adam's guitar presence is MUCH MUCH more live than on any of the recordings. When he hits the rift coming into "My shadow," it drives into your chest. Again, I reiterate, Adam's setup (including that bass amp) is just outstanding. Maynard gives a speech about Schism but they go into Prison Sex instead because "I'm an old man". Prison Sex - This has been a favorite song of mine since day 1. I can't tell you the emotion and power that I (and it seemed everyone else in the place) was feeling. I almost collapsed at: "I have found some kind of temporary sanity in this shit, blood, and cum on my hands." Schism - Unbelievable. The "between supposed lovers..." part made me feel like my lungs and stomach and heart were going to come up my throat. I can't even explain this really. Just unbelievable. Maynard now says something about the next song being older than most of the people there. I was happy at this time because I was ready to hear another Undertow or Opiate song. Swamp Song - All I can really say is that I never have felt this song this way. There is just something (there should be, I know) that these songs I've listened to over and over in my life bring to me live. It's not even the same song. I swear. I love this track on Undertow, but I've never felt the power it had the other night. Wow. For a minute or so, things quiet down. Disposition - I will say that ever since listen #1, Disposition/Reflection/Triad have been my favorite right off. When they started into Disposition, I almost lost myself. "Mention this to me...mention something, mention anything." All the way down to the 4 drops of the drumstick before Reflection. Reflection - This song was the climax of the entire show for me. This was the best song I've ever heard any band perform anywhere at anytime. During the first "...Pine away..." part, I shed tears. The entire place was fenced in with this wall of beautiful sound. I looked around and was in awe at the crowd. Everyone was standing still or swaying slowly with their eyes closed, saturated by the power of Maynard's voice climaxing this part. Then again, at the end, more tears come. Again, I've never felt this kind of feeling before. Never. This was amazing, and it was definitely a perfect time to go to intermission and allow the Schism video to roll. Schism Video - The video was the best to date by Tool, in my opinion. I don't even know how to explain it, and I'm sure all of you will see it soon enough. Great video though. Great great video. Almost another tear. The band comes back out, and Maynard has some witty comments about Tea, Geritol, and Viagara. LOL. I love this guy's wit. The break into the opening chords of Sober. Sober - This was the darkest, fiercest version of Sober I've ever heard. The screams were perfect and terrifying. I always forget that no matter how simple this song is, Tool can fucking jam it so hard. I've seen numerous bands cover this song, all talking about how easy it is with just a straightforward rhythym, very few guitar chords, and an easy but catchy bass line. The singing is of course the hardest part because the tone of voice is different for everyone. My point being that this was great...even for such an old, played out song. It may as well have been a new one at this show. Parabol/Parabola - This was definitely one of the crowd's favorites. Everyone was moving with the music, singing what words they knew, and just enjoying the hell out of this cock-rock, 4/4 song. Beautiful. One of the most memorable for me too. Ænema - This song just plain ole rocked the house. I remember stopping my movement with the music for a minute and feeling the entire place move in resonance with the beat of the song. BEAUTIFUL. This was probably the roughest part of the concert as far as the floor went, and I still say there was very very very very very little violence during this part. EVERYONE on the floor was just moving in time with the band. BEAUTIFUL. Opiate - This song was one of the most powerful songs of the night. I kept waiting on something really strange to happen during this song...since we were in an old church. ;-) Nonetheless, the from the choruses to the scream at the end, it was all perfect. I've never heard Maynard's voice so clear and textured in all of these songs. It was stunning. This song is called Lateralis. Lateralis - What a show closer. I swear the band put everything they had left in them into this song. It was even extended at the musical parts in the beginning (the intro) and in the middle breakdown. But, the ending of the song was unununbelievable. It was so powerful and dark but in SUCH an inspirational way. Another unfuckingbelievable song. Unfuckingbelievable. I want to insert other comments here. First of all, the visuals of this show were awesome. There were many times during some of the songs where I would think to myself, "I fucking hope this is part of the video for the song if they ever make a video for this one." Favorite song of the show: Disposition/Reflection although every single fucking one of them were outstanding and a half. Another BIG BIG point that I wanted to make was about the band's stage presence. Never before have I heard of or seen them be so nice. Maynard thanked the crowd SEVERAL times, and he even told us that he loved us at one point in the show towards the end. I was so astounded when he hugged Adam. That was so breath-taking. I was so happy just because I was hoping the idiots at the show that all think Tool's music is about anger and depression and hate and negativity were paying attention. I think it was awesome that they hugged. It was a great, familial feeling with everyone there and the band. The last point that I want to make right here is about the people I met from AMT. Aaron is an awesome guy, and I got to know him the best after being in the truck for endless hours together. Chris, Insaner, and Novus were all pretty much like I'd pictured them (personality wise)...although Insaner was a little more talkative and Novus a little less talkative than I thought would be, but either way, I am privledged to have gotten to meet them and rock the house at Tool with them. Thanks y'all for a good time! The band leaves the stage. After the show, we all head back outside to meet up at the sign where we decided on pre-show to take the pictures. So, I go back out there and meet up with Chris, Insaner, Allis, Aaron, and Novus, and we all proceed to get all sorts of pictures. We all talk for a bit more, and then Chris, Insaner, Allis, and Novus left. I go back over by my bandmates and their girlfriends with Aaron, and I told them that I thought we should wait for the band to come out. So, we walk over by the tourbusses with, and we hung out for about 2 hours with 20 or so other people there. Then Justin comes out followed by Danny and then, within minutes, Adam. I walked over to Danny first, and he just looked scary. So, I smiled and kindly asked him if he'd sign my ticket. I shook his hand, told him they all did outstanding, and he was so cool and nice about everything. He just smiled, and told me they needed to work a few things out (being rusty), but that he was glad I enjoyed the show. SCORE! Next, I walked over to Adam. I shook his hand, and told him that I'd been listening to them play since the day Undertow came out. His handshake became firmer, and he smiled at me saying that he was very glad I enjoyed their music. Finally, I made my way over to Justin. He reached out for my ticket, I handed it to him, and I proceeded to shake his hand. At first, he never cracked a smile or said anything at all. I was sort of confused, but didn't worry about it. Then, after he finished signing I told him that I loved the bassline to Schism and that I thought they did an outstanding job on the album and the show. He then slowly drew a big smile to his face and told me something that I can't remember. The reason I can't remember is because of how shocked I was at his strong accent. It was really neat! So, we stood out there for a little while longer just to be in the presence of the band and the fans. Absorbing the atmosphere I guess. Either way, I could not believe how nice the band was being. They were so levelheaded and down to earth. It almost seemed at times that they were the excited ones because WE were out there. Overall, I will never forget this experience. It was totally a surreal 2 days, and now I'm back at work. Heh. Thanks for reading if you made it this far... Love and Kisses, Jimmy

Review written by: Novus_ / Ryan S. (Novus_0@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 15:59:31

Written between 1 am and 5 am EST on May 17th: Posted to alt.music.tool at 5:24 am EST on May 17th. All names mentioned are people from the newsgroup. And my description of the Schism video came before Brightwell's. Bastard. ;) ---------------------------------------------------- Was I dreaming? The time was 12:45 AM as I took my decent down the steps of the old church onto the streets of Atlanta. My ears filled with a dull ringing as my head tried to piece together the day's events. I walked to the sign labeled "Parking" across the street and waited on the others. We were getting our picture taken together. I turned back around and watched the other teenagers and adults a-like pile out of this former house of worship. What had we all just witnessed? What just happened to me? Did I just see Tool at the Tabernacle? And did they just release a new album on the same day?!? Aaron - jiveturky1 - walked over to me with a beaming smile across his face. Following him closely was Jimmy - realizedyou -- with a smile just as big. John - the insaner - was the next to join our group as he stumbled (he had had a 'lil to drink) over to meet us. Next I saw Chris Brightwell with headphones on casually strolling over to our crowd. He had somehow managed to sneak his equipment in and record the show and was listening to the quality. We were now all here. *Snap* The pictures are taken. Reality seeps in. Was I dreaming? :::::: May 15th - 2:30 PM ::::::: Michael (a friend of mine) and I start our journey to Atlanta from Athens, GA where we were staying with my sister. This new album called Lateralus - which was purchased the night before - blasted in my car stereo. Anticipation, excitement, nervousness, and lots of adrenaline poured from us as we speed our way through traffic. :::::::: May 15th - 3:30 PM ::::::: Atlanta is upon us. ::::::: May 15th - 4:15 PM ::::::: The Tabernacle proves tougher to find than originally planned; a slight delay. We drive around and needing a little luck on our sides ironically found the venue on a street called "Luckie." The $10 parking is paid and it's to the end of the line for us. :::::::: May 15th - At the Tabernacle (part 1) :::::::::: After about a half an hour or so of waiting I decide it's time to make a phone call. You see I don't have my ticket to the show yet. Jimmy and Aaron have them and they are supposed to be on their way to the show. Just to calm my nerves a bit I give Aaron's cell phone a call and see what time I should look out for them. This is the first time I have talked to him besides over AIM and I'm a little unsure of what I should say. The call goes through. "Hello." "Is this Aaron?" "Yes" "Hi..um..this is Ryan from the newsgroup..." I'm told they're on the way and to look for the guys with nametags on. My blood pressure steadies. Meanwhile, Chris Brightwell and I had planned to meet up while standing in line but I was having a tough time spotting him. On my way back from talking to Aaron I see a guy sitting down in the shade who resembles Brightwell. 'I might as well just see if it's Chris' I say to myself. "Chris?" He looks up, "Yeah?" "Hi, I'm Ryan." We shake hands. I bring my friend over. AMTconvention # 1 has started. The next couple hours were interesting. Basically it involved sitting around in the sun, talking to other Tool fans, and seeing one guy with a "I need 1 Tool ticket" sign walk around the block constantly. Wonder if he ever got one? At one point a crazy man went around to everyone telling them to buy a parking ticket or prepared to be towed, even though most people had already paid to park in the designated spots. Chris and his friend went to check on their spot while I went to check on mine. Michael stayed back to save our spots in line. As I walked around the Tabernacle to my car I heard noises coming from inside. Sound check! I heard parts of Sober, Schism, and what I thought at the time was the slow version to Pushit, which I now think was Reflection. 'This was actually happening' I thought to myself. I was at a Tool show. Back in 1998 was the first time I had seen Tool. That was Ozzfest though. It had definitely been my favorite show thus far but I knew this was going to be completely different. Shows like this don't come around everyday. My parents, friends, even my girlfriend think I'm insane for wanting to spend 5 times the original price of a ticket. It will be well worth it.. :::::::::: May 15th - At the Tabernacle (part 2) ::::::::: Around 6:00 PM the line moves a bit as the crowd is beginning to pack the front of that ex-church. I still haven't gotten my ticket. Chris' friend Allis is waiting on one from Jimmy as well. We now begin to jokingly decide how we'd spend our night if our tickets never arrive. Chris' friend said she'd go shopping. I said I'd buy a gun. Finally at around 6:30 PM Allis goes, "Hey, those guys have nametags on." It's Jimmy, Aaron, and Jimmy's band. I GOT MY TICKET! For another half hour or so we all stand around talking about the show, the newsgroup, our ticket stories (everyone ask Aaron about his experience!), et cetera. The only person we were missing was John the insaner. He had told me he would be wearing a Clutch shirt, which I told Brightwell to look for. We wouldn't have to look long. A guy in a Clutch shirt walked by and I tapped Chris on the shoulder and said, "That guy has a Clutch shirt on." Chris yelled out John's name and he joined our group along with a couple of his friends. Our AMTconvention was now at full force. ::::::::::: May 15th - Inside the Tabernacle ::::::::: 7 o'clock rolls around and it's time to get inside the Tabernacle. Security was very tight. Tickets were checked 3 times for authenticity. It was very nerve racking. Next came the metal detector followed by a very friendly pat down. Brightwell was behind me with his recorder stuck in his pants near where a belt buckle would be. That was actually a spot I was rubbed over during my pat down so I became very nervous for him knowing he would be asked to leave if anything was found. Luckily the guard missed the spot on him and Chris was in the clear. We were all set to go. When you go through the doors of the Tabernacle there are steps to the right leading downstairs to the bathrooms and stairs in front of you leading to some kind of small bar area or dance floor (I didn't really look around that much). After taking the first set of stairs there are another set of stairs to the right that lead up to the place where the concert was to be held. Shirts were on sale for $30 apiece so of course I had to get one. "Preseminal Tour" they said. There were also a couple necklaces and a keychain I believe. I had no more money though and that stuff didn't really interest me. Going through the doors I became very excited. This place was *tiny*. A big screen was set behind the stage with a smaller screen to the left of the stage where Maynard's perch was. Danny's massive drum set was to the right of the stage. Adam's guitar was to the left of the stage in front of Maynard's perch with Justin's bass set to the right in front of the drums. The AMT crew set up right in front of the soundboard. One really cool thing about the floor of the Tabernacle is that it is slanted so that smaller people - like myself - have an easier time seeing the show. The time was about 8 PM when we began our wait. 9 PM rolls around and John finds out they are premiering the Schism video during the show. We all are very excited about seeing that. The crowd is starting to get bigger and more compact at this point and we all figure the show is only minutes away. It's almost 10 PM now and still no Tool. Eventually a promoter gets on the loudspeaker and explains that there are still people waiting to get in the show and that they will start as soon as possible. Afterwards we all find out hundreds of people were turned away because of counterfeit tickets. The background music in the Tabernacle becomes almost unbearable as we have heard the same songs and pulsating beats dozens of times by now. I am already feeling pretty weak because of my lack of food during the day. The heat in the venue is becoming very uncomfortable. I hear a couple boos and chants of "bullshit." Whatever. 10:43 I look up to the balcony and see a security guard saying "2 minutes." 10:45 PM EST the lights go off. The show has begun.. :::::::: May 15th - The show ::::::::: A giant colorful eye, similar to the ones found on the cover of our new favorite album, is shown on the big screen and on the smaller screen. The crowd is becoming deafening. My adrenaline is rising. Danny, Justin, and Adam walk out and take their respective positions. No Maynard yet. Then the crowd lets up another giant scream and Maynard strolls out to the center of the stage and spreads his arms out while arching his back a little. His outfit is all black, all leather, along with some kind of weird mask, which I could not see very clearly. His look was definitely alien-esque or as jiveturky pointed out in his review a kind of Star Trek Borg look. He then walks back to his little spot and takes the mask off. ---"The Grudge"--- was the first song. This is one of my favorite songs off Lateralus so I loved hearing this live. Definitely a highlight for me. "Defining, confining, and we're sinking deeper!" Maynard after the first song: "Where the fuck have you people been? We've been waiting here for hours!" Next few songs: ---"Stinkfist"--- with NO extended bridge in the middle "Relax, turn around and take my hand." ---"46 & 2"--- There was a very disturbing video on the screen during this song. It was a worm with a very distressed, uncomfortable human face on it and the worm looked like it was trying to move around but couldn't. It just kept struggling back and forth. "Forty six and two are just ahead of me." ---"Prison Sex"--- with NO extra verse "My lamb and martyr, this will be over soon." ---"Schism"--- "I know the pieces fit cuz I watched them fall away" ---"Swamp Song"--- I didn't expect this one. "Noone told you to come!!" ---"Disposition/Reflection"--- Another great highlight of the show. I definitely found myself becoming lost in the music and it became kind of hypnotic as Maynard's voice just flowed perfectly with the instruments. Great, great song. "And you will come to find we are all one mind" ------ Intermission ------- The band walked off the stage after Reflection. Next, for those of you with the Salival DVD, that opening sequence with the spinning creature was played on the big screen with a dull, throbbing rhythm being repeated many times. Then it stopped...and the "Schism" video came on. Very weird, but totally Tool. Lets just say the video involved aliens walking on their hands, worms coming out of necks, and blood. That's a good description. The band finally walked out again and ripped into: ---"Sober"--- "Why can't we not be sober?" ---"Parabol/Parabola"--- Third major highlight! "all this pain is an illusion." ---"Opiate"--- First time I've actually heard (bootleg or live) them play this without going into "Flood." Interesting. "Deaf and blind and dumb and born to follow" ---"Ænema"--- Maynard introduced it by saying "this song is about water sports." He also said it was an old joke but he was going to say it anyway. Go read old Ænima tour reviews and you'll see plenty of references to "water sports." The pit seemed kind of violent during this song. Everyone seemed to be having a good time though. Another really cool moment was during the final big percussion filled outtro Maynard stood on Danny's drum set and breathed heavily in his mic while Adam walked over to the drum set and stood in front of it and Justin turned around to face the drum set as well. They all just basically "rocked out" together for a few seconds or so. It kind of looked as if they were in rehearsal or something jamming together. It was a little touching actually. Tool is back. "Mom please flush it all away." ---"Lateralus"--- This was the closer. Maynard pronounced the song Ladder-AL-us. "We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been." After this song the band put down their instruments and walked off throwing out a couple water bottles. Danny waved at everyone. I couldn't hear anything. :::::::: May 16th -- 12:45 AM ::::::::::: So here I am outside the Tabernacle. Remembering what I had just been through. I'm hanging out with guys I've spent probably 2 years of my life talking to on the Internet and my best friend. Sharing with them one of the greatest moments of my life thus far. All because of a rock band. One rock band. That we all love. Creed. .... I mean Tool. See you at a show! -- * Novus_ ~ Novus_0@hotmail.com ~

Review written by: Zach McEvoy (Z.Mcevoy@worldnet.att.net) Review posted on: 05/17/01 17:13:16

Just an FYI for anyone curious. The Strange goggles that Maynard was wearing when he came out were those odd looking Oakley "Over the Top" glasses featured on the back cover of the A.P. magazine TOOL was on the cover of several months ago. They would not look as cool on anyone else on earth.

Review written by: amir (toolmatism@aol.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 17:24:14

the show was the greatest show i've ever seen little tip, on the 4th page of the lateralus booklet there's a pentagram in the figures jaw muscle area, if you look on the 5th page, his brain is weaved in the middle to say "god" Haywood Jablomee saying, goodbye

Review written by: Bradley Sidlo (bsidlo@peoplepc.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 17:27:25

Once again, TOOL reinforced why they are absolutley the best ticket in the music industry. I have a select group of friends that were all fortunate to get tickets, and witness this technological masterpiece with me...(thank GOD we were able to witness this with our third eye!) WOW! I can definitely say Justin is much improved, and OFFICIALLY one of the boys now! QUESTION: Who threw the furniture out of the window right beside the Tabernacle entrance? Whoever it was.....thank you! The distraction allowed us to walk right up, get searched, and go in....SPIRITUAL baby! Maynard has changed....very personal now, as if he could get better? Adam took charge out there! QUESTION #2: What was Danny on?!!!!! I believe Felix "Quantum Magma Triplets" Burns said it best;"He was definitely born to play drums,(ha)" Great show,........again.

Review written by: Master Reviewer (master@reviewer.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 20:16:41

The show was great. I see all sorts of things about god in the brain but what happened to the oil on the back cover? I thought this was the most awesome thing about the cd case. Next time my neck feels like taking acid im going to be playing with it for hours. Take yer finger and press it against the oil. Easily Amused.

Review written by: Reverend Neil Wang (to0lman@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/17/01 20:18:48

What can I say? I skipped school on may 2nd and stood in line starting at about 1:30 Central to get my tickets. The clock struck 3:00 (again, central) and the lady printed out 6 tickets, and my friend Tim and I were fortunate enough to get two of them. Im sorry to Adam, who ended up buying from a scalper, and all the other people we didn't come through for. Circumstances, you know? And so started the journey. May 15 - Got up at 9:00 central to get copies of Lateralus for myself and my friends. I ended up getting extra sleep and letting Tim get them and we actually came through for everyone. We popped it in and listened to it to get acquainted, adam arrived and we were off. Got to the Tabernacle after some confusion and McDonalds at around 3:00 Eastern, and waited in line for the doors to open. After extensive ticket checking and frisking, and becoming acquainted with a multitude of interesting people, I made it in for TOOL. I dont remember what time it started, and frankly I dont give a shit. I would have waited for a week or two before it got to me. TOOL is my passion :). I also dont remember a set list or anything like that, the show became one orgasmic blur (please keep in mind that I was sober), but I do remember certain individual songs. The Grudge - What an opener! The new material was, in general, very good both recorded and live, and well polished and performed as well. The crunching chords in unison got the floor crowd going, and that was where it all began. Stinkfist - after a quick greeting "where the hell have you been?" they began the first highly familiar song, and the crowd ate it up. I didnt see a single person who was not moving during that song. I realized at this point that I was no longer in Birmingham with the typical Godsmack loving idiot kids; I was in a large venue full of people who enjoyed real music, and we all ate it up as one entity. 46&2 - Another track that I love and was well performed. It was one of the ones I cant explain with mere words, you just really had to be there for this one. By the way, the cinematics during the Grudge were excellent. Prison Sex - A nice surprise, and a pleasant change from all the moshpit crap that was going on in the floor ( I would never mosh at a TOOL show) Opiate/Swamp Song - Dont remember exactly where these two fit in, but hearing older stuff was wonderful. I also remember that they played Ænema, which is one of my alltime favorites. When the lights went blue and Maynard cried "I'm praying for rain/ I'm praying for tidal waves" the hands went in the air and the eyes closed and I was overcome. It was actually kind of scary, but wonderful nonetheless. The newer song that impressed me most was reflection, which is one HELL of a song. I went during the intro to down some $2.50 water to keep from dying of thirst and exhaustion due to the heat. Anything for TOOL. Parabol/Parabola, Lateralis, and Schism were all three great songs done live. The kind of blurred in with the rest of the songs in the show, though, churning out what I described as "a billion orgasms stacked on top of eachother compressed into a two hour period." Of course, this was my first TOOL show. Had I been a hardened veteran, I may not have been so overcome and would more than likely have had something more to report to you people. Im sorry for the long review, but I feel it my duty to tell everyone how wonderful TOOL was. In conclusion, I may not remember my first day of school, nor will I remember my first time to get high or my first time to ride a bike, (add to the stereotypical memorable moments if you so wish), but I will be damned if I forget my first TOOL show. They'd better come back soon. ~Neil

Review written by: faun (eddyegg@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/18/01 02:30:00

i.v = (reflection)squared

Review written by: MOR (mreinin@emory.edu) Review posted on: 05/18/01 14:28:21

SO..tool...what could we learn....alot....we learn that art mimics life...and art makes life worth living...this band is art...the entity it represents comes from a level of consciousness we could previously only reach through deidcated concentration...now it is here.... Tool put on a show that I will never forget and they are one of the few musicians left on this planet that are MUSICIANS as an entire band. I was most impressed with the stability of the hands of Mr Jones, the grooves of Mr Chancellor, the hypno-tonic drink of Mr. Keenan's voice, and the mathmatical time defying arms of Mr. Carey. If one can find solidarity it is them. If one can find spiritual processes it is on this group which name themselves out of irony and pure lust for creative spirit. P.S. To All the UGA buddies, Texas Rangers, and Alabama Junkies that were at the front of the line with me...I promise MTV will not be Evil for long!!!!! Take Care.................>>>>>>>>>>>......

Review written by: Jade (sphizz@ravermail.net) Review posted on: 05/18/01 14:57:34

The TOOL show at the Tabernacle was amazing!!!! The only downside was the 3 hour delay to play b/c of counterfeit tickets!! C'Mon people, don't buy tickets off the street!! Maynard has a presence onstage unmatched by anyone. They also previewed the new video for "Schism" was was in classic Tool artform, Adam Jones is a true genius!! All in all, I can honestly say it was the best night of my life!!

Review written by: Master Reviewer (eyesofstranger2001@yahoo.com.) Review posted on: 05/19/01 03:30:54

TOOL is undoubtably the best musical talent in the world thus far.... I unfortunately did not have the opportunity to see them in Atlanta like I had hoped to(could not seem to get tickets,I live in Colorado). I have Seen them 6 times,and seen APC 4 times. A musican myself I am drawn to this band like no other. I have seen about 200- 250 shows already in my life(I'm only 25)........and the last time I saw tool was at Red Rocks here in Co. and of course was the best show I have ever seen. I run my own photography business besides my day job........and my dream in life is to have the opportunity to take live pictures of Tool.........If anyone could give me any Contacts to make that a reality I would have to make it "worth your while" in one way or another. I never thought I would ever be so strongly moved by anything like this in my life. But I can feel the Push. Thank you for letting me voice my desires. Sean Kuncis EYES OF A STRANGER PHOTOGRAPHY

Review written by: John Milano (jlm003@mindspring.com) Review posted on: 05/19/01 22:42:20

Well first off, I am probally going to be at the bottom of the review section for the Atlanta show but it has taken me five days to fully ingest what I experienced. Yes the line did really suck, but I actually didn't stand in it for very long, compared to the people who were in it when I got to Atlanta at 3:30. Instead I went down the street to a cool bar and drank many pints of cold beer, and talked with two bar tender chicks who were down to earth, and I also got to know the guy that I took with me. See I won my tickets off a radio station and have recently moved to nashville, so I don't know anyone who lives here that likes Tool yet. So when I won the cd that qualified me to win the tickets I told the guy next to me that if I won I would take him with me. He was very grateful that I kept my word and had a great time too. Well I am not going to give set list because there are probally a million above already. But I will say that I was disappointed that they didn't play Eulogy. That song is such an amazing piece of art and it frequently takes me all over the emotional and mental spectrum while I listen to it at ear drum bleeding levels. But when they rocked stinkfist right after grudge I was in such a different place then where I was standing. It is so hard to captify all the feelings both the physical and mental that I felt during this whole show. I was tired from all the waiting and had a head ache from all the drinking, and I was starting to get hang over like symptoms right when the show was about to start. But as soon as the band came out my vocal chords were vibrating like a satnd up bass and the adrenaline that was flowing through me took my head ache away....it was amazing. As for another person's review, I was on the left side of the stage about fifteen feet from the stage and I didn't see any moshing. I did see people jammin out and there was this fifteen year old kid right behind me head banging like a mad man. But for the most part everyone in the crowd were really cool. Yes this was my first Tool show and I can guarentee that it will not be my last. It really did change me, and they sound so much better live. The bass was making mt hair vibrate, and I also thought that the balcony was going to collapse. But it was so good to see people really feeling it, and i am so happy that I was a part of it. On the way home to nashville I didn't listen to anything, the dude that went with me put something in but I was still listening to the show over and over again in my mind. I can't wait till they come back to the states and I am thinking about quitting my job and touring. Oh yeah, one thing that the long line showed is that Tool is finally starting to get some recognition for all the musical talent they posses. There is no one even close to them.

Review written by: I will choke until I swallow (jek06675@prodigy.net) Review posted on: 05/20/01 00:32:17

First of all I would like to say that I paid 30 bucks for my tickets, yes that's right 30 bucks. Eventhough people have said they couldn't get tickets after 4:01, I called up Ticketmaster from Florida and got them at 4:07. Two of my friends backed out on going and I decided to see if Kharma was a real thing or not. I sold the extra tickets for face value (I think the guys almost creamed themselves when I told them 80 bucks for both), anxiously awaiting the positive energy pointed in my direction. We got there at about 4:30 and were at the front of what turned out to be a very very long line. Waiting for 3 and a half hours to get in wasn't that big of a deal to us, the gestapo searching of our tickets, my belongings, and my genitals was kind of annoying (yet somehow exciting). What really sucked was the 3 hour wait for the band. I must say the Tabernacle really fucked shit up. After reading reviews of other shows where the venue was prepared that is becoming more and more apparent to me. When the band came out at least the band had a sense of humor: "where have you guys been, we've been waiting for you", and of course after the first song "thank you very much...goodnight." The only bad thing I can say about the show is that Pushit is my favorite Tool song, and they didn't play it (of course they played it at the other two shows). Needless to say anxiously awaiting the next time around (hopefully at a place where I don't have to drive 10 hours.)

Review written by: jen (jwils28@lsu.edu) Review posted on: 05/20/01 01:02:03

It's been a good five days and I still don't feel quite ready to post this review but I'm at the strategic point between beginning to forget and starting to reflect.. so now is the time... I figured my review might stretch a little long but after reading the a.m.t. reviews I don't feel bad... Besides the counterfeit tickets of which everyone has spoken, I have an interesting ticket story of my own... I've been a pretty big TOOL fan for a pretty long time, of all my friends I must say I am by far the biggest fan, I suspect they might all agree, so upon hearing of the 4 tour dates in the U.S. I was absolutely determined to see one of them. Atlanta seemed most logical, so it was my first choice. We were lucky enough to find out about the May 2 ticket sale after ravenous searching on the Tabernacle's website.. my friend Lora and I skipped out on drawing class early to try and call Ticketmaster, starting 30 minutes prior and never got in... about 45 minutes of clear, recall, send later, Jeremy calls to say that it is sold out. Heartbreak, pain.. but then I tell myself.. I am going to the show. That night, the APC fan club (of which I am a member) had a webchat with Billy Howerdel.. It was neat to talk with him and afterwards I asked if anyone was lucky enough to get tickets.. a girl I had never spoken to before with the handle 'Maynards_Magdalena' pipes up and says "yes yes! I got mine" - great I think. rub it in, bring it on. But then she says "and I got 3 extras!". And so I pounce. We planned to meet in Atlanta the day prior to the show so as to bypass any angry mailmen.. a few weeks pass, I finish finals.. I decided one ticket was for me, one for my friend Lora and another for an equally avid fan, Angela, whom I only know through the APC fanclub. Sunday finally arrives and Lora and I (along with 4 other friends) begin the drive to Atlanta (from Baton Rouge, LA). A small stop in MS at my grandparent's and we are nearly there. Our hotel is great, close to the venue. Fabulous. Only thing is, I haven't heard from my ticket lady, whose name I found out was Amy. I begin to get a little paranoid, but she promised and.. well.. from one Tool fan to another, Tool fans are the best, as we all know.. so I put it out of my head and get some sleep. 11 Am, we are up and out on our way to Whorehouse Music for Lateralus then to Waffle House, yum yum.. a TOOL line at Whorehouse, a waffle and a crazy man later and we are sitting in the already large line in front of the historic Tabernacle. And still, no Amy. A slight hope arises.. A girl in our group didn't receive her tickets in the mail before we left so they were supposed to be at Will Call but the other half of our group which came later was.. well.. bringing the tickets, they had come.. It's about 1:30 and the Georgia sun is not messing around. We make small and then larger talk with our neighbors in line, to the left are natives of Atlanta, a paranoid buff guy who keeps his tickets locked in his car and to the right are two diehard fans from Missouri (a 17 hour drive) who came ticketless and got lucky early this morning.. $150 a piece.. floor.. not bad.. so, the people from Missouri have a ticket and I dont. right. what am I doing sitting in line with no ticket? The other half of our group shows up.. with 4 tickets, for 8 people we now have 6 tickets. Will Call opens. The two tickets print perfectly. Lora and I hold on to them for dear life. All this talk of counterfeit tickets is buzzing.. and I finally see Angela, I am forced to tell her I have no ticket for her. She drove from South Carolina.. and must listen from outside. The line begins to move. I am getting nervous.. we compare our Will Call tickets to the ones that finally came in the mail. They match.. exactly. Uh oh. So Lora and I simply separate.. we jump up a few yards and hang with her two friends.. suddenly they begin to let us in.. "guys on the left, girls on the right".. 300 guys and about 20 girls sent Lora and I up front.. The girls at the door tore our tickets.. Lora looks at me "we are so in." A wave of utter relief flushes over my body as I walk into the Tabernacle and see for the first time, the stage that will hold the 4 guys that I have longed to see since '98. and it is so close. We run up to the crowd, we are about third row, front and center. Unbelieveable. and to think. no amy.. what a friend, what a fan. it makes me question what I am a part of, makes me wonder who one can trust and what one can believe in. but I just have to tell myself. I am in. it is done. So begins the wait. Shifting, shuffling as the place gets more and more crowded. Time passes, the Fugazi cd hits repeat about twice.. until it happens. The house light goes down and it happens. The screen before us comes alive and I feel the weight of a thousand people on my back, but I am not phased for it is time. The Grudge begins the night as the boys sound superb.. Maynard appears and takes his place among equals.. Together they are one, together they are TOOL. The pinnacle of what music is and should be. Nothing compares in my mind and in the mind of those other thousands of people there that night. It is exactly as I imagined, exactly as I dreamed. No bullshit, no ignorance. Simply TOOL. Regardless of the obstacles it took to be where I stood to hear them play an amazing set of flawless songs, everything was worth it. the stress, draining my bank account, the drive, the wait, the sunburn.. everything was worth it.. To look around and see my fellow fans, breathing the same air as the four guys that make all our lives worthwhile, was a sight that will be forever branded in my mind. To take in the art for face value without packaging and in its rawest most beautiful form was simply indescribable. I can recall the setlist and I can spit out the "MJK-isms" and describe the "TOOL-gasms" but.. to me.. this is more about some kind of release.. to let the world (I like to think the world reads this.. based on those site records.. it's damn close!) know what 2 hours with TOOL means to me.. I'd like to say I am satisfied.. but there is so much more I still want.. I cannot wait until after they return from Europe, I cannot wait to do it all over again.. I wish they would avoid arenas and continue to play "shoeboxes" for it is truely then that the beauty and excellence of TOOL shines through. I could ramble forever, and fear I may have already wore out my welcome but these words are wasted, nothing can describe the feelings I felt between 11:00 pm and 1:00 am on May 15, 2001.. TOOL is it, there is nothing better in the world. Thanks to the band and their crew for an amazing show and for showing such amazing thanks and support to us. . . . pain is an illusion . . .

Review written by: ToolPidgeon (freekky1@telocity.com) Review posted on: 05/20/01 06:34:25

This was, without a doubt, the greatest show I have ever witnessed. Even the three hour wait in the parking lot was awesome. It only added to the anticipation. I am just now writing this review because I just returned from a trip to Florida, where I recovered from the show and finally have all of my hearing back. I will not go to any detail here, since many have already done that. I will simply say this. When Tool returns to the states in August, I WILL BE THERE!!!!!!

Review written by: Mike (Nmsisw@aol.com) Review posted on: 05/20/01 09:51:47

Well, I have to start off by saying I live in Little Rock Arkansas. I couldnt get tickets over the phone, i tried for 20 min and found out they sold out. Well i was going to do what ever it took to get tickets. I sent emails called the Tabernacle and Ticketmaster just to see if anymore tickets will be sold. No luck. Well I left from Little Rock and headed for Charleston SC to pick up a friend of mine, 900 miles and 13 hours it took me. Well the next morning which was the day of the concert. We left for Atlanta GA. We got there got a room and headed for the show with no tickets in hand. When we got there, I couldnt believe the line, I didnt think there was as many people out there as ate up about tool as i am. It was awsome to be there with people like my self. We looked and looked for tickets. Finally we got tickets from some guy. Checked them out against tickets from the ones someone bought from Ticketmaster. Perfect match. Well we got in the back of the line and stood around for more than 3 hours. Finally got up to the front, my body was shaking I was so excited to finally see the most inspiring band out there. Well we failed the Black Light test. They put our tickets under the black light, and it failed. We didnt get in. That was the worst feeling I have ever had. I walked around looking for the punk ass that sold me the ticket, I probably would of killed him. The money didnt matter. What mattered, I was right there. That close to my dream and got fucked out of a ticket. Well we went to a bar to get some drinks. The bartender was kind enough to hook us up. Come to find out the band was there about 5 hours before and had dinner there. That would of made my day to see them there. Well we decided to head back to the Tabernacle to see if we can here them from out side. Well we were two blocks away and heard them. Well we got there, and there was about 100 other people that got fucked just like we did. So we sat out side and listened to them. They sounded great from out side. I was very supprized on how they sounded. I was afraid that the music was going to be louder than Maynards voice, that usually happenes. It wasnt, it couldnt have sounded more perfect. Well the next day I drove her back to Charleston, stayed the night and than left for Arkansas the next day. So all and all, I traveled 2500 miles, 36 hours and more than $500 was spent all in 5 days just to sit out side and listen to TOOL live. Would I do it again...YES...Was it worth every penny....YES. It was a great experance, I am probably the one to travle the farthest to see them, And if they came to Atlanta again, I will see them again. Ill just make sure i have a ticket in hand before leaving, If not, ill just sit out side and listen to them again.

Review written by: Jeff Campbell (rustycage@juno.com) Review posted on: 05/20/01 13:12:51

I arrived at the Tabernacle at around 2:00 in the afternoon, ticketless, hoping to buy tickets from a scalper that wasn't too ridiculous. I didn't see any tickets being sold for less than $100. But then, I got lucky. Someone I knew from the front of the line came and sold me a ticket for $60. woohoo. The show was uncanny. One of the most memorable moments to me was seeing the entire crowd thrust back and forth during 'Stinkfist'. Who knew so many people knew the words... I wish the sound could have been better, but that's the Tabernacle's fault. At least they didn't play at the Philips Arena. Anyway, the band was amazing. The concert went by so fast, and I think some people were confused with the lack of an encore. Apparently, that is Tool's policy. 'Lateralis' was a really kick-ass song to close with. Probably the best $60 I've ever spent.

Review written by: BRIAN (blue__shaman@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/20/01 22:22:31

I just want to make a point. the show was good, however we miscalculated the line a bit and peaked in it. that sucked. however watching tools screen and hearing great music is a good way to come down anyday in my book. its all been covered. i just wanna say that, after reading these reviews i have to say there must be alot of loser tool fans. i say this because i keep hearing "it was the best night of my life" over and fucking over. let me just say, tool is undoubtedly a awsome band. their hardness is totally their own, preserveing some originallity that is very important in a time when so much music sucks( well popular music anyway, in fact all popular music pretty much) they're sound is very powerful, sort of epic, i dunno. great lyrics too, spectacular drumming, adam is a badass, a very creative badass. anyway back to the point. tool is great yes. the show was good. tool isnt the greatest live band in the world though, and if you think they are you might wanna try branching out a little. i cant wait until the tool/king crimson tour, a perfect mix. but anway it was worth the extra cash, tool in a club for christs sake! i enjoyed lateralus the most, the syncranized swimming thing was pretty cool too. thanks tool, dont forget NC next time, also play a arena, that would be just the right balance.

Review written by: Master Reviewer (baxter00@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/21/01 03:29:26

Anyone that has a recording (video or audio) please let me know. Will pay $$$. Email me if interested

Review written by: Rip Van Winkle (fofclub@aol.com) Review posted on: 05/21/01 09:36:52

Incredible show...Worth waiting 3 hours in a long line of idiots for. Too many bums in Atlanta, too.Best songs: Aenema and Opiate. Can't wait to see tool next time around...

Review written by: Jennifer Foote (jeffsjen@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 05/21/01 14:20:42

Where to begin... I was so disappointed when I heard that the show was sold out (especially after my fiance' and I had been checking the websites daily for news and axiously awaiting ticket sales we thought would be on the 5th). We decided to go to Atlanta anyway to test our luck. So, we woke up at the butt crack of dawn and rushed to the store to buy the new CD to listen to all the way to Atlanta. We arrived there at about 6:00 P.M. and tried to find tickets (but luckily we were not duped into buying fakes from scalpers or anyone else). We ended up not buying tickets at all, and thanks to a sympathetic security guard at the side door to the Tabernacle, though we missed the first three songs,the nice man at the door let us in. I never lost hope while we were waiting because I knew that after I had waited all these years to see my favorite band play, I had to get in. I knew that half of the people in there couldn't possibly love Tool's music as much as me (I'm sure that faithful fans know what I mean when I say that), and I believe that good things happen to good people (not to say that other people aren't good people too, so please don't misunderstand). Anyway, enough about all that. The Atlanta Tool show was my first and only concert I have ever been to, yes, I know I am a deprived person. I am 21 years old and heard Undertow when I was 15 - ever since then, the music just speaks to me and I can't get enough. I never did have a chance to see them until now, and I will never forget the experience I had on Tuesday. I knew it would be awesome, whether I could get in or not. I was happy to be in the back of the crowd, standing on a ramp, watching; there is no bad spot in the Tabernacle. It was awesome to experience my favorite band at my first concert at such an intimate venue. I mean, Tool was right there in front of us. I have heard that at some concerts you are so far away you can't even tell who is standing on stage playing. MJK's voice was even better in person, and the base and drums just shook the building at some points, not to forget the bad ass guitar, too. The CD's will never compare to live performance - that is a promise! Now, when I do listen to the CD's, I will have the most awesome visual. During the show, I kept catching myself closing my eyes and feeling the music and just jamming, but then I would remember where I was and I would hurry and open my eyes to watch the band play, and of course, the bad ass cinematography! I can honestly say that the show was even better than I had dreamed, and I am so thankful that I got to see them. I will definitely do whatever I can to see them again in August (or whenever they decide to come back). It was way worth all the hours of waiting and worrying that I wouldn't get in. I would do it over a million times to see them. Tool gives us much to be thankful for in a world full of mand made boy bands, sappy love songs, and rock bands that all sound the same. Tool is definitely unique, and I know that everyone who is a fan already knows that. Hey, also to all of you fans that came to the show, I met a ton of really nice people who helped make the wait more interesting, thanks, and we will see you soon at the next show.