Spring 1997 Tour Reviews

Date: April 9


From: Scott Caundle (scaundl@tpgi.com.au) This has to rate as one of the best concerts i have been to and hardly seen.Sounds strange but is true. The same support band as in Newcastle "Yung".This was a all ages gig so alot of the youger ones were really gettting into the support band.Good to see but they werent very good. The lights go out and that all familar rumbling begins.I was Hanging off the speakers and couldnt really see much.I stayed there for the whole of "THIRD EYE"."STINKFIST" started and the people who were been pulled over the stage were being able to stand inside the barrier on the other side.So i jumped off the speaker box and surfed over the front and got put over there.The crowd was pushing and trying to get inside the barrier there and on the other side.So there wasnt much security to help with the people who were coming over the front.I was standing there with this other guy and the security guy let us go and told us just to sit there as he held everyone back.We were like 3 feet from the band with everyone else behind the barricade and behind us.Then one of the guys from TOOL's crew who was helping down the front came and grabs me and this other guy and went jump in and help would ya.So off we went.Well what a awesome night.Doing Security for TOOL.I looked around during JIMMY and Maynard was like about 1 foot from me looked down and was like what the hell are you doing i just smiled at him and off he went.The show was awesome.So i cant say much about what else happened as i dont really know.I was facing the other way but it didnt matter.This is the 3rd time i have seen em on this tour and this rates as the best.I got a free t-shirt out off it and got to be real close to one of the greatest bands in the world.Like i said the best show i hardly got to see. Set List: TURD EYE STINKFIST 46 & 2 PRISON SEX EULOGY JIMMY SOBER OPIATE ÆNEMA

From: Paul (piji@actonline.com.au) It went off. thats about it :) but seriously, thank -insert deity here-, i was right, and this was the best #$%@* concert i've been to yet. The setlist the other guys have posted already, so theres not a lot to say but i'm sure i will anyway... doors were supposed to enter 7:30 but I guess they weren't as prepared for the crowd as they should have been cause they herded everyone into a single line and it was getting after nine o'clock when the line outside was finally negligible. the first band, whoever they were, came on at about 9:20 and played for no more than 30/40 minutes which if i remember correctly was only about 6/7 songs. They were amazingly tool-ish though for the amount that they weren't... doesn't make sense? well basically, the way the guitars and bass were tuned... I can't even be sure they weren't using the same bass as justin and not adjusting any of the amp or pedal sounds for this band and sticking with tool's sound. the drummer... i think suffices. looked like a white hendrix in jock's clothing and sounded as horrible as he looked :< poor dude :) the singer... well he *writhed* like maynard, but he didn't have half the voice. it was clean ish through most of the set, kinda like the guy from mark of cain when he doesn't scream, but with a southern accent :) adam's gibson les paul is brilliant btw. just in case there was any doubt. it was gorgeous. and sounded it too : ) thought i'm sure he didn't use it at equinox... but that was another story. it bit :) well they finally went off and left people slowly gathering toward the front pack for about 25 minutes, while the lights in the place were turned on above us... weird. I have a theory that they wanted it bright in there before tool came on, so that they could just cut the lights, cue -ionsish thing, and come out while everyone was still adjusting to the dark... kinda kewl atmosphere wise :) so anyways, they finally did cut the lights and that rumbling rumbled like not much i've ever heard before, through the entire place. this went on for about 10 minutes though (sounded like they even started the loop again...) and tool finally took the stage at about 10:20 i think. it sounded like there was an unusual amount of time between tracks thought this time, and despite the number of tracks they played, it was a good long set. Hmm... the changes to the songs were basically the smae as the last list i sent in the equinox review, just a few different songs... I was with 2 friends up pretty close the front when the moshing started and they all got into pretty well.. maynard was fairly normal looking for maynard on stage :) after stinkfist though, i decided that it still wasn't loud enough (whihc was what I was pissed about at the other concert), and then some idiot with a shaved head went mad and started running in circles kicking and punching people in front of me until myself and some others were primed to drop him there and let him get trod on... he must of saw the fist raised though cause he soon stopped ;> anyways this was my final straw with moshpits i think. i've been to a fuckload of concerts these last two years and all that changes (when not a relatively queit band) are the tshirts the violent idiots in the moshpit wear. so, since I had already seen them on stage before for an entire set, and they sounded liek they were playing a hell of a lot better this time, I went to find somewhere better to hear the concert. maynards vocals were amazing this time, howls that lasted forever, and its just a hell of a lot easier to enojy the music when you're not defending yourself or getting crushed to death :) the stage was set up so that the two areas of the gig had like a 90 degree angle between then, kinda like a L shap with the band on the corner part. This meant that the main area (all ages had the front of the stage and all the moshing there, while the bar area opened to the side of the band with its own speaker stacks and everything where people were just standing a lot more still and enojying the thing. I managed to grab a loose seat though and got set up directly in front of one of the big stacks, with my back to the speakers. i recommend this to anyone who doesn't like there hearing btw :) it was just... it was a religious experience and im not religious :) everytime danny kicked the bass drum or adam or justin hit a low note, my hair flew forward. maynards voice just chilled my spine constantly for an hour or so, everything was so complete :> i could feel every thing danny hit, i knew eveyr chord adam played, everything justin played and every word maynard said. it just shook my entire body relentlessly and I knew what every single fucking note was. amazing, but eventually extremely painful. my ears still ring to this day i tell you, and after an hour of having every nerve and bone just ... vibrated i guess ... i found it hard to say anything or stand properly. amazing. i found my friends again eventually and i had to lie down outside the baar and recover for half an hour, where we saw the guys up in the rooms above and across the bar (appropriately called "the bridge"). maynard had his beanie on and they looked ready to go. adam came out first, and down the stairs beside our table, looked around a little on the way down and i think i for the first time i've ever seen before, was grinning a little :) he didn't say anything though, and we were too just speak up and meet him or anything. about 10 mins later, the other three with assistants in tow came down, past our table again and towards the van where adam was sitting. Again, said nothing *doh* not even hello, great concert or anything :/ hmm... very odd that bit, all in all. maynard looked short, danny looked my height and normalish like justin, and adam was the only one who was really how i'd expected to him to be... oh well, maynard got in the car last then, and as they were pulling out of the park, he waved behind to a group of about 4 of us behind the van, then they took off. :) wonder how long it'll be till we see them again? 10 stars... :) l8r Paul

From: matt coffey (little.raven@effect.net.au) tool, canberra, anu bar, 9th april 1997. well, finally tool hit town on their "et in arcadia ego" australian tour. i can tell you all, it was worth the wait. "-(ions)" started the learning experience for everyone. the band were greeted like the new messiahs by the crowd. third eye caressed our senses, (but it seemed like half the crowd didn't realise what it was!). the build up was a slow tease for what was to come. the opening feedback of "stinkfist" wafted through the air. with the opening riff cutting down everything in it's path. (funny how everyone seems to know this song really well and hardly any of the others). "forty six and two". well what can you say about this song. everything about it was played perfectly, justin's bass work shone through so well. it shows that his place in the band is so justly deserved. an old favorite "prison sex" was next and the feeling of pain mixed with beauty hit me so hard, with maynard's passionate delivery. eulogy slowly built into one of the most intense songs of the night. the effects from maynard's "gadget" really is the songs underlying riff, and again the delivery was so strong it was truly unbelievable. "jimmy" (or "prison sex pt 2", or so i've been told) was simply emotionally draining. on "Ænima", i believe this is their most different song. there is something so beautifully twisted about it. the minimal lighting enhanced the song so well, highlighting the moods of the music instead of "lighting the band". "sober" and "opiate" followed. for some reason these songs gave some members of the crowd artistic license to crowd surf as they like. well if you want to do that cool, but watch others while doing it, tool's music is an experience, but i think you'll understand it more if you take it down inside you, and let your emotions be just as much a mental experience as physical. maynard talked a little about religion before "opiate". basically saying that all the great figureheads of religion had really good ideas and were sincere about them, but when these ideas were handed to the "agents" of these figureheads, they were abused and the original passion and thought behind them became someting that they wern't supposed to be. (just a little like the music industry !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha.) "opiate" was announced as the last song, but when the band didn't leave the stage, everyone knew there had to be at least one more. "Ænema" was presented to us so perfectly. maynard spitting out the words with much venom, (he can't miss l.a. already can he ? haha). but the song seemed to fly by.(and this would have to be my only complaint. i feel that the set was a couple of songs too short, and with all honesty many people felt the same.) anyway, canberra felt the power of tool (at last) and i think many people came away from the show thinking more clearly, and positivley about life and themselves. p.s: lets have a local band as support next time! i would also like to thank the kindness of the following: jusin chancellor, danny carey, ted gardner, phil (guitar tech)& joe (drum tech) for all taking the time out to speak to someone who loves tool so passionately. thank you.

From: Peter Mccourt (mccourt@synflux.com.au) (won't write much as other reviews have been submitted) Set list 1. Third Eye 2. Stinkfist 3. 46 & 2 4. Prison sex 5. Eulogy 6. jimmy 7. sober 8. opiate 9. Aenema Great show, best concert i've ever been to. Justin looked cool with these spiral spot things which looked good whith the different coloured lights. Maynard was very talkative and said stuff like "you guys seem to be into the music", "don't you have class or something" and plenty of other things that other people have written about. Yung opened again and were very good again. Only complaint was that the set was basically the same as Newcastle with jimmy instead of hooker with a penis and the addition of Aenema.

From: cactoid (cactoid@kwest.com.au) Subject: Review - ANU Bar, Wednesday April 9 Canberra The doors opened at 7:30pm.. by about 9:00pm (I think) most people were inside. The opening band (which I still don't know the name for) were 4 songs through around 6 total. I pretty much lost track of time here, so I don't know when Tool started. There was some freaky twanging sounds going on, but still no tool on stage. I was in a not-so-good position, and through the whole night I never saw much of Justin or Danny. They songs they played were; 1. Crawl Away 2. Stinkfist (Everyone went ballistic when stinkfist cranked, no shock there) 3. Forty-Six & 2 (Again, this is the 2nd song the radios here have been flogging, everyone knew this one) 4. Eulogy 5. Jimmy 6. Prison Sex 7. Sober 8. Opiate They said Opiate was the last song.. Aenima was the encore. 9. Aenima (MJK said this was about [danny?] having an out of body experience while having [insert medical procedure similar to enema here] and seeing apocalyptic visions etc.. ) I think that's it, not sure about where Jimmy was played in relation to the rest. Lots of crowd surfing and all the usual stuff. Someone else should be able to confirm all the songs/order. MJK was painted all blue, which showed up in some light, and he had little orange and yellow fluorescent dots on him which showed up in other light. MJK said something along the lines of; "a lot of people think we're anti-religion.. but we're not" etc etc then said how all these religions start off with one person reaching a state of total unity (or something) and what "fucks it all up" is the agents (?). "all religions start off with the right idea, but the agents fuck it all up" - not exact quotes. All in all, the concert was the best damn thing I've ever seen. MJK is great on stage, that guy can stand more still than anyone I've seen :).. I also never knew a lot of the twangy cosmic freaky spooky sounds here and there are done by him.. The thing finished at about 11 something pm (again.. not real sure).

From: "Blakeus Six" (blakeus@hotmail.com) To: kabir@down.net Subject: Canberra Tool Concert Review The support band was YOUNG i think. They didn't mention there name but that is what people told me. The singer's voice sounded very much like Scott Weiland's (From stone temple pilots). They were very good! Then about 45 mins after they went off the lights were dimmed and we heard the rumbling of IONS. After that had been played the band came out on to the stage. Maynard was painted all blue and orange dots on him. He was only wearing his boxer shorts. The others had their shirts off and the bassist had fluro orange,red and yellow swirls. He also had two bit of hair sticking up to resemble horns. They started off with THIRD EYE. The mosh was very violent and I got pushed from close to the front to not close. Nearly the whole time there were at least two crowd-surfers. They then played STINKFIST. This wasn't as violent, but an alright mosh. There was stuff added to it tricking the crowd into moshing in a slow bit. I yelled out chicken-weasle and met up with an internet 'tool' surfer. The moshers praised the hose that was spraying water onto them (Care of the guards). They then played FORTY SIX & 2. The clearness of the sound was very impressive and looked as though Maynard had two mics with sound effects buttons. I retired my moshing as they came to play PRISON SEX. They played JIMMY next. I watched from the stairs at the back and was still enjoying it even if I wasn't getting doc Martin's in the head. Now MAYNARD announced: "SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT WE ARE ANTI-RELIGIOUS. WELL THAT'S KIND OF TRUE!" As I heard the intro to SOBER I re-entered the mosh pit and was stronger then ever. My friend threw me up I crowd surfed for about 10 secs then landed straight on my back. The mosh now was good, but heaps of crowd surfers. MAYNARD ANNOUNCED NOW: "THIS IS THE LAST SONG". They then hit off OPIATE. This is my favourite song besides AENIMA, so I enjoyed it alot. When the song finished they all went into a group and it looked like they were discussing something. They then went back to their instruments and MAYNARD SAID: "WE GOT THIS SONG FROM WHEN WAS GETTING HIS ASS CLEANED OUT AND DURING THIS HE WENT INTO A DREAM WHERE THE HE WENT TO A TOP OF A PYRAMID AND WAS GETTING MESSAGES ABOUT THE APOCOLYPSE. THEN HE REALISED HE WAS JUST GETTING HIS TREATMENT AND HE REALISED HE HAD PASSED OUT." This last song was AENIMA and it was great. I crowd surfed and flipped over the barrier. I was just watching them half a metre from them then I was pushed away by the guards! My friend got a copy of the set list and this was as follows: TURD EYE (THIRD EYE) STINKFIST FORTY SIX & 2 PRISON SEX JIMMY SOBER OPIATE AENIMA I went to equonox too, but I can't compare. They were both great concerts.