Review written by: Nathan Fehrman (nathan86@hotmail.com)
Review posted on: 08/17/97 23:45:00

Lollapalooza '97 - Nashville, TN -- From the Fifth Row

Tool came onto the stage just after sundown, following Snoop Dogg. 
After a semi-lengthy sound check, Adam walked to his guitar from the 
far side of the stage. The crowd thought it was just another tech 
until the lights dimmed rapidly. The other members came out from 
backstage amid cheers. We couldn't really see anything but 
silouettes, but it was clear that something was up with Maynard. The 
spotlight came on and we see Maynard at center stage, Adam to his 
right, Justin to his left, and Danny directly behind him with a huge 
gong type thing set up next to his drums. Maynard had painted his 
entire body, except what was covered by a loincloth, half red and 
half silver, separated down the center. Just was waering jeans and 
his upper body was green and had band-aids all over him. Adam just 
looked like a farm boy. Danny was effectively hidden by his massive 
set, which was one of the biggest I've ever seen. They started 
"Stinkfist" and kept up the intensity all the way through. I've heard 
stories about Maynard being a real jerk on stage, but this time he 
seemed almost docile between songs, ansking about if anyone in the 
audience had children before playing "H.". They played their video 
for AEnima while playing the song. This was the first Tool concert 
I've been to, and I was completely blown away.






Review written by: JOHN GUTHRIE (JGUTH@GREENE.XTN.COM)
Review posted on: 08/09/97 00:09:40

ON THE ROAD 250 MILES TO GO , NO KORN SHIT!!100 MILES TO GO 
BUZZ KICKIN . HIT NASHVILLE WIDE OPEN . ROLED IN LIKE OATMEAL.
 TOOL  FUCKED IT UP. HALF RED HALF BLACK WITH TITS. MAYNARD WAS 
CREEPEN CRAWLEN SHITEN @SHAKEN. CAMEL FUCKING ON THE BIG SCREEN
THE LIGHT SHOW WAS KILLER . THE SOUND WAS SO REAL  IT HIT YOUR CHEST 
LIKE A ROCK . HOOKER WITH A PENIS . FORTY SIX @2. third eye.
sober.PUSHIT
  SWEAT  .OPIATE.    AND MOORE ENDING WITH AENIMA
  ILL NEVER BE THE SAME    
                     
                      SATAN SATAN SATAN                 






Review written by: armsbendback (mr.bungle@mindless.com)
Review posted on: 08/06/97 21:19:37

8:15
Disdain begins to slink away. My "people who hate people" club card 
is always in my wallet. The sun sets in deep streaking stalker blue. 
Drums roll on. I think I know what is to come. They know too. 
The cattle do.
A fools fire erupts in the lawn. In the seats all the people raise 
and rubberneck, the spanning motion creates a mooing wave. Remixed 
songs with salt and pepper sparks by Bill and Maynard? (my ignorant 
mind guesses) underscores the swelling anticipation. They're not even 
on yet, and they're on. 

Nervous inside, anxious to see some get backsides open wide. No 
squinting 1 + 1 = 11th row seat. 
Lights drop out.
Stomachs sink down.
Settled crowd shoots back up.

....it's time. 

I met a boy buying a tool t-shirt because Maynard told him to... i 
sold out long before i ever bought the ticket. Obvious fertility 
symbols hang from a muscular bicentric atlas who contorts and 
distorts like some dark imp from the closet where i used to live. The 
twisted beauty of the moment is stolen from me as i watch a bloated 
Ron Jeremy lookalike yawn and check his watch. desensitized to 
everything what became of subltey? Some souls you just have to cut 
bait on and let drift off to rot with your hook in thier mouth. 
perhaps one day they will realize that its there. 

46 & 2 is in front of me now... its about change... its about 
progress... its about evolution... Our master of ceremonies bounces 
and twitches like a puppet under amateur operation. I crawl away from 
my body the performance has become my own private ketamine dose. Time 
folds back upon itself... this review, my love for you.

I have a lot to say. i have a lot of nothing to say... you'll miss 
me. you're going to miss me.

The tri-ocular lense gets hit with the ultimate squigy. A wavy 
line of little men in a mirror playing the piano make me think of a 
zipper and a blow-job go before the constant and repititious drip 
into a collection of drips. Too high. They make me come down. why 
can't i not stay sober? why must you keep me questioning like a 
social scientist? its my lot in life. I don't mind. I don't mind. So 
many times i have died and tomorrow i will die. I don't mind.

TBN comes to mind as the opiate of the day. They say the FCC wants to 
shut them down. they need money. They Need Money. THEY NEED MONEY FOR 
THE LORD. And they will get it. They all want to rape you. and they 
just might.

[Note from Kabir -- "TBN" is the Trinity Broadcast Network.]

UNLESS...

The seed.
The seed.
The very last truffla seed.
An anima enema from the Onceler is all that we need.

Hold it close, 
but don't smother it, please.
its the very last sign
of a truffla tree.

Give it some love,
and treat it with care.
question all you see
with your third eye stare.

Keep it open wide.
don't go blind there.
To close it tight
only leads to dispare.

So go friends, run and see.
Who is the tool,
and who is really free. 

Thanks Kabir for your work.
Sometimes My Arms Bend Back.  

  






Review written by: Lews Therin Telemon (none.none)
Review posted on: 08/06/97 17:09:14

First surprise once getting to Nashville--NO KORN!!! Oh well I came for
TOOL anyway.  Tool opened with Hooker w/a penis!  Maynard was in his
red/blue outfit w/tits.  Songlist, as near as I can remember was:Hooker
w?a penis, 46&2, Sober, Stinkfist, Eulogy, Opiate and others. Well gotta
Go.Tool blew me away(first time). Till next time TOOL IS GOD. (if there
was one.) 







Review written by: shadow walker (shadow_walker_@hotmail.com)
Review posted on: 08/03/97 05:39:54

Sorry for this extra!
some of you might remember me from there- i was 1 of the only 
"GUYS" there that had a skirt on with 2 green pony tails,
black paint on my eyes - and combat boots 

i looked around and didnt see any other guys with skirts or 
dresses on - oh yea - the 3 forms of suicide MARILYN MANSON
shirt on as well - i was sitting next to a guy rite outside 
of the theater when he got the shit busted out of him buy
some of the lame ass security guards - that must have sucked!

PRODIGY was kool as fuking hell also - another bad ass light show!
but if someone remembers me - e-mail me i just want to see if
i made it into someones memory!?





Review written by: SLEEPstalker (shadow_walker_@hotmail.com)
Review posted on: 08/03/97 05:13:19

HELL YEA!  Tool had to be the best show i have ever seen! Maynard was half
blue and half red with a bra and a jock strap on, the light show was the
SHIT!  He was moving like some one was shooting him with a machine gun
when the strobe lights went off - it was the best show i have seen yet! I
hope they come back soon and hopefully I can get a back stage pass - HE IS
THE SHIT! 






Review written by: H3rdEYE242 (my screen name) (H3tdEYE242@aol.com)
Review posted on: 08/02/97 22:09:48

Well, I had waited for the longest time to see Tool, and I must sat it was
well worth the wait.  They opened up with Hooker With A Penis, not my
favorite Tool song, but it was good.  It was funny in the middle of it
Maynard said, "Buy boxer shorts or t-shirts, if you're a fan.."  Then they
did Stinkfist, and extended it in the middle.  next was Forty 6 And 2,
follwed by Crawl Away, I THINK.  Iwas shocked that they did that song, and
I almost passed out just from being so excited. They did Sober, of course
, and they id my favorite song from Opiate, that being Opiate.  The video
for it was very interesting.  It showed nude men and women jumping up and
down, and elephants and camels having sex.  They shortened Third Eye a
bit, but not that much.  Eulogy was awesome, as was H, which was about his
son.  They closed their set with Aenema, and showed the video too. That
song was probably my favorite performance by them.  I loved every minute
of the show, and Ispent it with my girlfriend Thashana, which made it
better.  As far as the other bands and their performances, all the bands
did well. The Marly band did good, Ididn't like James that much, Tricky
was awesome, Snoop actually did a good show, and the Prodigy were great. 







Review written by: Layla (pdlbrown@bellsouth.net)
Review posted on: 08/02/97 20:15:47

Tool was so absolutely amazing that I find it hard to even express 
the experience with words.  First of all I went to Lollapalooza to 
see all the bands, a cultural experience if you will.  I was 
rather unfamiliar with most of Tool's music but I was still blowan 
away.  And even though I had the backass row in Starwood's pavilion I 
would still pay that much money for a shitty lawn seat if it meant 
that I could see Tool again.  So Tool comes onstage and the croud 
goes totally wild..my first thought:  damn Keenan looks good, hell 
I'd pay again just to see this guy in his thong again>;}...So i'm 
standing there grooving away when I realize this guy is wearing a 
fucking bra too...My Gods!!:How cool!  So I get more and more into 
it when suddenly the lights flair up and this Man is half Blue and 
half Red..Hell, fuckit just seeing how cool and free the lead singer 
was I was totally enthralled....And as I adjusted to the coolness of 
it all the music starts hitting me and I'm just on a sensual 
rollercoaster of visual and audio effects....In my opinion Tool had 
made this Lollapalooza a worthwhile experience even in the limited 
time that they played in...The sound was awesome, the backdrop scenes 
kicked so much ass, and it was one of the best concert experiences 
I've ever had.  Tool has earned another loyal and avid fan, and iI 
can only hope I'll be able to see them in concert again.
Layla>;}






Review written by: Jonathan Frisch (TooLArt@Juno.com)
Review posted on: 08/02/97 01:51:37

Wow! What a mind orgasm... TOOL just cannot be put into words
very easily, but their show is about everything and more that one 
would expect from them. While Snoop was playing, I hung around
awhile near where the backstage was to see who might pop out.
James came out (big deal) and a few of the members of the other
bands did too. I met the bassist in Angus Gooch...He is a really
cool guy. I also got to meet this one girl who grew up with Maynord 
back in Ohio before Tool. She was very nice. Lastly, I talked with
the girl who did the visuals on the screen for Tool. It was quite
interesting to have the oppurtunity to talk with people who knew
Maynord and the band personally. Anyhow, Tool came on and
Maynord was wearing panties, the fake boobs, and half of his body
was painted blue. I was in the 8th row and everything was just
like a dream (as is life). Before Forty-Six & 2 Maynord said " This
song is about changes" And before Aenima, he introduced the
song somewhat along these lines... This next song that we have a
video out now for, is has more than one meaning. Of course there's
the obvious, about L.A. falling into the ocean...(crowd cheers) but
it goes deeper than that. It's really about going back to what really
matters...It's like slipping your hand into your head and bringing
it back out ( I think that's what he said). I kinda wonder what Snoop
was thinking if and when he heard the line "Fuck all you gun-toting hip
gangster wannabes...I found it very ironic of how almost every
one there was a walking billboard for the song "Hooker with a penis"
And that basically they paid to see Maynord go off on them... They
should've played "Useful Idiot" :) Oh yeah, one other thing, Bob 
Marley's sons were really good, they were probably one of the most
musically talented bands there. And I see many Tool fans say "Fuck
that stupid shit" and then when Snoop comes on, they became his
little puppets, mimmicking his every rhyme, with Snoop being the
cheerleader telling them to yell "Biotch!" and "Hell Yeah!" I swear
Snoop had all these strings tied to these idiots, and he would get
them to do almost anything he wanted, which was basically
glorifying the All Mighty Snoop Dumb Dip-Shit. Oh well... I guess some
people are just bound and determined to be useful idiots...







Review written by: burnt (burnt@sunflower.com)
Review posted on: 08/02/97 00:43:23

well you know the song list, you know about the fake boobs
you know about snoop doggy dog.  first of all...
drove 10 hours from kansas for this show, nice to know being a
redneck is universal. not being from the area, i had no idea what to 
expect, but it was pretty much 14,000 cheering drunking fools. 
first of all, being in the 6th row, it was loud.  second of all
failure kicked so much ass it hurt, and they played twice thanks
to korn(yea ha!) James was great, Tricky was awesome, Snoop was
moronic rap, beeoch, tool played a very good show and i was hanging
with them for entire prodigy crap(no offense).  Maynard has informed
me that (suckers) no quarter will be played at the next show(austin?)
so i thanked him for paying my 10 hour drive(fucker) anyone who
has never been to nashville, skip it, anyone who has never seen a 
tool show, this one had all the makings of a slugfest, failure played 
twice and tool kicked some major butt.  a word of note, local boys 
molly mcguire are on the second stage first, and they're nice guys
so go see them, they play some of kansas city's best rock-n-roll.

maynard didn't talk much between the songs, and he didn't say much
after the show, but before he went off stage he did the live long
and proper sign which i thought was great.

after the show he didn't say much either and then i drove back to 
kansas and wrote this review, whatcha think?
and to anyone who lives in nashville who is not a drunken redneck
you have my most sincerist apology.

nard also said that tool may play some shows up north this fall

i guess the no quarter thing is like every other show or every third show
or some crap like that...  the video of aenima they play live is for the
long uncut version it's got extra stuff in it...  Danny had the big rune
board from his house hung up on stage which was very weird too. 

oh sorry for rambling.
buy maynard's car!

burnt






Review written by: Holly (holmys@aol.com)
Review posted on: 08/01/97 14:38:09

WOW. Tool were so amazing. Even the newspaper the next day agreed that
they were the best, calling their performance "definitely awesome." I saw
all the other bands, and Tool slaughtered every one of them. The audience
was great...they were really into it, and singing along to every word. I
think the set went like this (I could very well be wrong): 

Hooker with a Penis
Stinkfist (with extended bridge)
46 & 2
Crawl Away (yipee!)
Eulogy
Third Eye
Sober
H.
Opiate
Aenima (I'm too lazy to do the little a-e thing, sorry)

Everything was even better that I had expected. I was really pleased they
played Crawl Away, that being one of my favorites. And they pulled off
Third Eye surprisingly well, considering it's such a long song, although
they did shorten it a bit. All in all , I don't think I've ever seen a
band that could captivate and involve the audience as well as Tool did.
The Marleys were okay, James was okay, Tricky was weird, Snoop was just
stupid, and Prodigy was pretty damn cool, but Tool was by far the
highlight. I encourage everyone to see them whenever you can... 







Review written by: Stephen Ragsdale (Cobain1994) (massac_sux@hotmail.com)
Review posted on: 08/01/97 14:36:13

This was only my second concert, first one being the Smashing Pumpkins and
I would have to say that this one kicked the Pumpkins ass.  First of all
we saw many freaks and a bunch of down hearted Korn fans who didn't know
Munky was ill, (we did so we weren't that dissapointed).  My friend Lucas
managed to sneak a camera past all the macho, tough guy, beat your ass
motherfucking security guards, and we got a few pics.  First band on the
main stage was Failure and the name pretty much described them, so we
checked out the second stage, some unknown band was playing and they were
ok.  Then we stuck around the second stage and heard Skeleton Key, they
were pretty good.  We went back to the first stage to see The Marley
Brothers, but we left because we aren't into that kind of music, so back
to the second stage to see Agnes Gooch, they were good and we met them and
got autographs.  Back on the first stage, James finished up, we only heard
their last song, then Tricky came out, we stayed for half of his show.  He
got annoying after a while.  Then Snoop Doggy Dogg came out and me and my
friends got some laughs out of 1000's of stupid people yelling hell ya
motherfucker and BIOTCH over and over again.  Then came darkness, the sky
turned into night and T00L came out with fury and kicked ass.  The
tracklist was:  1.  Hooker with a Penis 2.  Stinkfist 3.  Forty Six and 2
4.  Crawl Away 5.  Eulogy 6.  H.  7.  Sober 8.  Opiate 9.  �nema and as
the band departed from the stage, the Itchy and Scratchy Show theme song
played, and we all got a good laugh out of that.  My neck is sore from all
the headbanging but it was worth it.  Then Prodigy played and we only
stayed for 5 or 6 songs, but we heard "Breathe" so we were happy. 







Review written by: MG (cyrinx@hotmail.com)
Review posted on: 08/01/97 09:34:54

Ummm....Unreal is probably the best word to describe it.  What a 
great concert.  Third Eye rocked.

I have never seen so many freaks in my life...  I guess I am just 
getting old, but DAMN there are some sick mother fuckers out there!  

On a sad note...  A friend of mine drove 3 hours from Memphis to see 
tool.  He was thrown out 5 minutes before tool came on.  Bummer.  I 
hope he is alive, I haven't seen him since.  Security at Starwood is 
like marshall law or something.  Fucking 
Nazi-Rambo-Terminator-Fuck-Heads is a good term for them.

[Random thought]  I wonder what those freaks do during the day...  
There is NO way these people could have jobs.






Review written by: Mike (mrob@shoalsnet.com)
Review posted on: 08/01/97 05:13:28


There is not much to say....you should have been there.  My first time to
see Tool live....there is not a better live band.  If that asshole on the
hill had not kicked my ass the entire show....it would have been a totally
good time.  I did not see shit except on the big screen....but damn they
sounded good!  Eulogy Ruled.... 






Review written by: TOOLHEAD (TOOLogy911@aol.com)
Review posted on: 08/01/97 02:35:32

The only reason I went to Lolla was to see Tool so i got there just 
as Snoop was finishing up around 8:00. And as Kabir said all I heard 
from Snoop was BIOTCH this and BIOTCH that. Tool came out at 8:45 and 
opened with Hooker with a penis. Maynard was half blue and half red 
with fake boobs-no dress. They played many songs, old and new, from 
Opiate to Sober to �nima (no prison sex!-damn!) Adam wasn't really 
into it as much as Justin and Maynard (jumping around and all). They 
played �nima with the video playing on the big screen behind them. A 
funny part during Opiate was 2 elephants going at it doggy style on 
the big sceen behind them. They closed with �nima. Eulogy rocked, 
Stinkfist had a new twist, third eye was awesome.  I give the show a 
9 on a scale of 1-10 only because THEY DIDN'T PLAY PRISON SEX! DAMN! 
But it was a good show overall. (There were a few lucky people in the 
front - Maynard threw water bottles out and Danny threw some drum 
sticks out)
Then The Prodigy came out and did a good job playing many new songs 
including Breathe and Firestarter.
Then I went to the T-Shirt Man and got myself a $23 tool shirt with 
the contortionist on the back and the classic retangular tool logo on 
the front.
Then I went to The Waffle House and ate some grub. - the end :-)






Review written by: Kevin Craig (kcrai71@concentric.net)
Review posted on: 08/01/97 02:20:08

Christ.  What a show.  The spiritual synergy among the music, the 
band, and the crowd was almost religious.  I wish Joseph Campbell 
could've seen 'em.

Sorry to see so many trendy hip-hop/alternative/"look how freaky and 
cool I am; please tell me I'm cool, please?" uniforms.  Baa.

Most horribly amusing scene: A 10-12 year old kid and his mother 
shouting "Beeotch" and "Hell muthafuckin' yeeeah" at each other and 
making that annoying "woop-woop" noise all the crazy teeners are 
going for these days, just because Snoop told them to.

Most lachrymologically evocative song: Forty-six & 2

Best sticker:  Fuck you, you fuckin' fuck.

Thank you to Maynard, Adam, Danny, and Justin for not cheerleading.