Review written by: Aaron Brown (N/A) Review posted on: 08/22/98 16:20:46 I went to the Tool show in Knoxville Tennesse that i would like to say that it was one of the best, if not the best shows i have ever seen. The starting act the Melvins were no joke they played hard- hitting acid rock that kicked some serious ass. They were a really good opener for Tool. Then Tool came out with Maynard dressed as a Baptist preacher and Tool then preceded to start the show off with their title track song from Aniemia. After that they played Sweat and brought King Buzzo from the Melvins to help them play an extended version of SinkFist. This song i might add really kicked ass. After that tool played ThirdEye for about 30min or so... during this time Maynard felt the need to play Inteligent Cube on the Playstation where the whole audiance could watch his progress on the large movie screen where he was prjected. Tool then went on to play Sober, Flood, Opiate, and more... though I can't readily remember. All-in-all the show was very good, if if the only thing Maynard was wearing by the end of the show was a bra and speedos.
Review written by: Adam (lfspche@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 08/20/98 22:15:22 I have read most of the reviews for this show on T.D.N. However, none of those reviews, nor this one, could come close to expressing how much this concert impacted all in attendance. It was unbelievable. The openning band, The Melvins, got the crowd pumped. When they went off, and the crew were setting up for Tool, I was anticipating their walk to the stage and I got up to go get a drink and I didnt get 20 feet from my seat and the colisium went dark. Forgeting my thirst, i ran back to my seat and stood watching for them. Then they came out. The roof went up as they took their respective positions. The opened with "Aenima" and I've never seen a crowd more in tune with the band, the lyrics, and the music as I did that night. 3,000 people singing in unison word for word with Tool. They went on to display the best show I have ever seen and been lucky enough to be a part of. The lights pumping with the music, and MJK's dancing, each pound of Danny's drums, each bass riff, each guitar solo, everything came together to compile this great show. This being my first Tool concert, and definatly not my last, I give this show a 11 out of 10 rating.
Review written by: Adrian~~ (Flameworks@angelfire.com) Review posted on: 08/18/98 04:44:34 This had to be the most exciting Tool concert ever! I was so touched to see the live performance! The new song the Played was kick'n!(If ya get any info on when they finally write new songs drop me a lin ~K~?) =)
Review written by: Stacy Bowers (sabowers@deq.state.va.us) Review posted on: 08/11/98 11:40:37 This was undoubtably the best live concert I have ever seen. I remained standing throughout the entire concert. The attendance was not as large as I anticipated, so I hope that did not discourage the members of TOOL from returning to the area in the fut ure. Maynard was full of energy and put on a great show. I look foward to seeing the band in concert many more times.....
Review written by: Tre (Berneyd@PlanetC.com) Review posted on: 08/09/98 02:24:55 I was in good spirit for the first of August, mainly because I was getting to see Tool on Ozzfest on the first in Raleigh NC and following that, on the third in Knoxville TN. I have been hearing them for several years now since Opiate. Ididn't realize I w as that old!! Well 21 isn't bad. Amidst the bullshit on the Ozzfest that I had to endure to get to Tool, the Melvins, and System of a Down, Tool was nothing short of their usual serious, yet, humorous, breathtaking selves. The set-up threw me, with Danny on the left. It suprised me to see it in Knoxville also. I had the privelige of meeting Danny at the Modern Drummer festival and these were the first two shows I've seen after that Encounter. Enema was incredible. Sweat was the same. The new version of P ushit was Spectacular. I have not a clue what was going on inside Maynard but it made my spine curl. After the line "There's no love in fear" he threw the mirophone at the Newly decorated board behind him. He seemed to sing facing the "Disc of the Devil" a lot that night. Third Eye Was As Third Eye Should Be. The New Song? was fucking bad ass. No lie. Keep it coming fellas. The new screen behind them was a visual delight, as is all of Adam's work. What's with the video game? Nice touch. This makes five ti mes I've seen them and I will continue to see them as long as these eyes are functioning, as well as the other intangibles they help me with. Tre
Review written by: Master Reviewer Wanna Be (ereman@catt.com) Review posted on: 08/08/98 20:51:45 This was my 1st Tool show and I was blown away. Killer show,I thought the sound was awesome, I stood in the balcony facing the stage head on so that helped. It did echo a lot from the sides. I was very impressed w/ Maynards vocals but i knew i would be,he is a very strong singer. Danny rocked the drums as well. The show just plain kicked ass. i really can't say enough good things,so i'll leave it at that well worth the drive,from Chattanooga. If you are interested enough to visit this page then you need to see Tool in concert for yourself.
Review written by: Brady Cupp (brady.cupp@mailexcite.com) Review posted on: 08/05/98 19:21:35 My first Toolshow!!!! awesome! simply awesome! maynard started the show in a 3 piece suit and tie with a grey wig on his head. He soon shed the suit revealing a black lace bra!! Cool! The music was nothing but magical.!!
Review written by: Master Reviewer (prodigy.com) Review posted on: 08/05/98 16:42:35 Having already seen Tool in raleigh, N.C. at Ozzfest, I have to say this show was not as good as I would have liked. Don't get me wrong it was still a great show, but the band played much of the same songs as the raleigh set. This would have been fine had I not seen both. But the set was still good it just could have been more varied. The coliseum really doesn't do the music justice. Others have mentioned the energy of the audience, but, per other reviews, it is easy to see most were there for the first time so they probably didn't know what to expect. Having seen the band several times, I knew what was coming and probably am somewhat more critical of the sound and set list than I was the first time. Still the band sounded great with the material they played and the visuals were great as usual.
Review written by: jared ratliff (imnotme000@aol.com) Review posted on: 08/05/98 02:48:39 the absolute most beautiful sight...........they even played either a new song or a melvins cover in the middle w/king buzzo.there was a strange new version of pushit that had the stpuid redneck scum community of the show tring to pit and us actual semi-i ntellectual human beings in tears.also before the melvins,maynard went out front and asked how many open minded loving compassoniant humans were in teh crowd.then asked how many narrowminded tightass rednecks there was in the crowd.then he asked them appl aud as they left for the melvins.it was so amazing because these 10 or 15 rednecks who thought it was a megadeath show got pissed off and left.tool has so many fans in this area they need to play again.SOON.HERE.it was the best night of my life and the on ly question i want answered is who played intelligent cube (i cant spell it) for 10 min. of the show???? they got like everything perfect so im betting it was maynard. the melvins put on a good show but there was too many rednecks in there to enjoy them.. ............
Review written by: Jehosaphat (phat88@iname.com) Review posted on: 08/04/98 23:51:40 The concert itself was absolutely incredible. I was amazed at everything TOOL did. The Melvins were OK for about 5-10 minutes, but then they started to sound a little repetitive (those who were there know what I mean). TOOL had an huge emblem up on sta ge, surrounded by a circle, that was made up of colors that reacted with black light. It looked unusual, but cool. When MJK was on MTV awhile back talking about their new album, Maynard made mention of studying some kind of geometry while in France work ing on nima. The emblem had some sort of triangle shape on it, I assume that played some kind of part in it. Anyway, as far as the music goes, Maynard seemed to be very into the music, as did Justin. Danny's playing was unreal. He has the best setup I've seen. During Sober, this one girl in the audience sat on top of some guy's shoulders, and had a her shirt off, and was holding her arms out to Maynard. Apparently Maynard noticed this event, and stared at her while he sang the last half of Sober! nema was an awesome opener, no one was expecting it. I was up front on the floor most of the time, so the acoustics weren't bad at all for me, but I feel for the people that knew nothing about the venue and sat in the back. The echo I'm sure was terrib le. Lastly, TOOL kicked immortal ass (this was my first time seeing them) and if you are debating to go see them live DO IT! You will not regret it. A few (almost exact) quotes from Maynard--: "How many open-minded humans do we have with us tonight? Now, how many redneck killing machines do we have here tonight?" *pause* "OK, now, as the rednecks are filing out of the building, please enjoy the Melvins." "CAN YA FEEL IT??" -- MJK's first words as they came out on stage. TOOL rules-- Jehosaphat P.S. A big ol' fuck-u goes out to the Jack Rabbit on AOL, who took it upon himself to decide whether people in Tennessee should be able to see TOOL or not... geez, get real! P.P.S. Did anybody else notice that Maynard's score on Intelligent Cube was 46,200 when he finally died? Coincidence??
Review written by: Derek Whitlock (LordOfRott@aol.com) Review posted on: 08/04/98 21:10:42 breathtaking... what can i say.. it was tool!, i was in the floor, up front, and in the middle of all the chaos, it was great, the play list was great as usual, and also as usual, maynard was full of surprises, in his reverends clothes, and later in his b ra playing a video game, the concert was great
Review written by: Douglas Thompson (jwtjta@aol.com) Review posted on: 08/04/98 15:30:28 August 3, 1998 Civic Coliseum, Knoxville, TN OK, first the setlist (this is correct).... nema Sweat - Buzz from the Melvins comes out Stinkfist (with bridge) You Lied - Buzz leaves Eulogy Third Eye (with "Be Yourself" speech intro by Timothy Leary)) (-) ions (Maynard played "Intelligentcube" on a Playstation hooked up to the big screen) Sober Pushit (new/ slow) Opiate-> Flood The show was incredible... I didn't overly enjoy the Melvins though but maybe that's just because I wanted to see Tool. It was held in a venue in which the entire floor was general admission and around that was raised reserved seating. Our seats were fr ont row on the left side... perfect view. Maynard came out as "Reverend Maynard" in a full white/beige suit and a blonde wig. During the bridge of Stinkfist he lost the wig and by Eulogy he was down to the bicycle shorts/boxers and the bra. The video ga me was really cool because it looked like some of the graphics that they used throughout the show but he was actually playing it. He was sitting down with his back turned to the audience... Adam and Justin were also kneeling; creating feedback and sounds and watching Maynard play the game. Then he lost and they went into Sober. The police at the venue were very strict. As soon as the show ended they rushed everybody out and then they cleared everyone out of the area around the coliseum. This was around 10:45 and we decided to go around back and see if we could catch them as they went to the bus. So there were only a few people out there (maybe 10, excluding the 3 of us). The police were also parked there and told us that we all needed to go if we weren't waiting on a ride but we stayed anyway. We ended up waiting around and talking to people for more than an hour and a half and they didn't show (but the Melvins did drive by and stop for a short bit to talk out of their car windows), so we went up and got the car and drove back and parked down there. Apparently during the show some promoters handed out several backstage passes to girls in the front of the pit and a large group of people came looking for one of their friends who had received a pass. These people were (no offense to anyone who reads this) really seemed to only be there for the chance to be in a pit. And so now there were about 20 people there . One of the guys waiting with us had talked to Ashley Kapps (the head of AC Entertainment down here) and was i probably wouldn't come out at all because they had to drive to Texas tomorrow. He also said something about how the band likes that they can still walk down the street and not be recognized. So we were sorta pessimistic about it... until the bus doors opened an d out stepped Maynard and Danny. The stupid people who were looking for their friend all crowded around them and so did we. Maynard shook all of our hands. He looked sort of belligerent but was very nice and said hello. One guy had a camera and asked if he could get a picture but Maynard said "No, no pict ures please". So I asked if he'd do any signing and he said "Yeah, sure. And look! We just happen to have pens!" So we got to meet Maynard and Danny, and I got my ticket stub signed by both of them. Maynard wrote a big cursive 'M' and Danny signed hi s full name and drew a little pagan star with the circle around it. They were both incredibly nice and they were funny. Tonight has been the best Tool concert I have been to and it really made me very happy. That's my story. Thanks for reading! Douglas
Review written by: John Carter (zjrc1@juno.com) Review posted on: 08/04/98 15:14:26 The concert was pretty cool if somewhat lacking. The Melvins failed to impress me in the slightest. They sounded like a cheap non-talented wanna be version of TOOL. TOOL put on a good show. Maynard was at his freaky best and the rest of the guys in the band were very tight. Every song was cordinated very well. The only complaints I have are: they didn't play long enough and it was a little to mellow. I was a lit tle disappointed in the "abstract" version of Push It that they did. I also would have liked to have heard 46 and 2. I've always wanted to see how Justin plays it live. On the upside they did play Opiate wich was a real surprise and I was also very imp ressed with Third Eye. They pulled it off flawlessly. Overall I was glad to see them even if I was a little disappointed. I would have liked to have heard some of their harder stuff. John Carter
Review written by: Master Reviewer (bb28414@appstate.edu) Review posted on: 08/04/98 15:02:19 Just let me start by saying that Tool was completely amazing. From the very first note until the climactic ending, I have never seen a show well thought out. They opened with Aenema, which I didn't expect and Maynard got out of time with the band with his heavy breathing thing during the intro, but he covered for it well. The crowd wasn't very good, everybody just sat on their ass most of the time, but Tool thanked everyone for their support. Maynard, doing his televangelist thing, urged everyone to "rip off those earthly possessions known as clothes and start fucking," so I knew it was going to be an interesting show. Next was a good version of Sweat, after which Reverend Maynard welcomed a "fellow man of the cloth" Buzz Osborne from the Melvins(who always put on a good show). They played a kickass version of Stinkfist that was way different from the album and then they played a cover song that is called "You Lied," I think. All of the songs were flowing together so perfectly, as one song died down they would fade into the next one. Eulogy followed, one of my favorites by them, and it was amazing. Some very trippy footage of Mr. Timothy Leary speaking made a nice intro to "Third Eye" and they played the song in its entirety! The rest of the show was great, they closed with Opiate and then Flood which really got the crowd going for once, and then it was over, no encore, but hey I would be really tired after such a kick-ass show. Thanks tool! Benjamin
Review written by: Jason (Jak Rabbit@aol.com) Review posted on: 08/04/98 13:42:33 Well if you have read my last review--the Memphis show--you will read on how awful the crowd was. Very, very, very, very little energy in the audience. I can't help but notice that the Knoxville crowd was also very pathetic, but they were a little more energetic than the fuckers in Memphis. To a virgin of Tool shows the show in K-town might have seemed very intense, but to me--my 8th show--the crowd was a major disappointment. The vast majority of those in the seats did just that, they sat. Show some fucking respect to one of the best bands out there, GET OFF YOUR ASSES!! Overall they played well as usual, but the acoustics in the high school-like gymnasium were terrible. I can now say that east and west Tennessee do not contain a majority of true Tool fans and Knoxville as well as Memphis do not deserve to see Tool live there again. Jason
Review written by: Paladin (bbart@preferred.com) Review posted on: 08/04/98 11:12:20 What can be said? The first Tool concert I've ever been to, and I can't say that I was disappointed. From Adam's first explosive chord until Justin's final thrumming bass note, the show kicked major ass. Maynard's vocals were as intense and electrifying as I had expected, and Daney's drumming was mind-blowing. Pounding. Truly superb. Maynard surprised me a little when he came out as an evangelical preacher, complete with three-piece suit and cheesy dyed-blonde wig. He continued to surprise me when he shed the suit and preformed the remainder of the show in his underwear and a padded bra. Undoubtably my favorite part of the show was when they played a new version of "Stinkfist". I loved how they showed clips from the video, and I love the Dust People!!! on the giant screen. Tool truly answered my prayers when they played a slower, more pained version of "Pushit", my favorite song. It started out slow and moving, then picked up speed and thrashed at the end with its sense of love and angry resentment. About the only thing I can really say is that Tool is a phenomenon that must be experienced to be appreciated.
Review written by: Chip (chip@multipro.com) Review posted on: 08/04/98 10:35:43 Mixed feelings about this one. The sound was awful, but Tool can hardly be blamed for that. The Civic Coliseum is acoustically pathetic. It's like somebody's high school gym, never missing a chance to echo. Being perched in the nosebleed section high on the right, no doubt I missed a few details. A monstrous speaker unit blocked Danny entirely as well as Maynard half the time. That's what I get for only buying tickets a month ahead of time. Despite all these annoyances, you could still hear the energy put into the performance. It was good to see the MicroMiniMaynard jerking and twitching on stage. I do wish I had brought binoculars, though. Except for the two songs I couldn't recognize, the order of this set list is correct (I wrote it as they played). --AEnema --Sweat --Stinkfist (joined on stage by the lead Melvin) --? -- maybe a new one, maybe a cover --Eulogy --footage of Timothy Leary speaking during a long intro into... --Third Eye --? --sounded like (-) ions. A woman repeated the phrase "some kind of psychedelic experience". Maynard had a seat on stage and played a video game on the giant screen for a while. When he lost the level..... --Sober --Pushit (very slow and soft in the beginning, harder at the end) --Opiate --Flood No encores. But, it's always good to see Tool.
Review written by: Eric (hullandr@icx.net) Review posted on: 08/04/98 08:25:06 Tool finally came to Knoxville, and they played to an enthusiastic crowd. Knoxville has not been spoiled by being a part of the touring circuit of some of the bigger rock acts, so the people here, including myself, are receptive and eager to watch a good show. And it was a great show. Tool is a very tight, very loud, and a very unusual live band. I was pleased that they played most all of their "hit songs", but what excited me the most was hearing their new material. Tool played one entirely new song, a new more "vulnerable" version of "Pushit", and added new parts to "Stinkfist". They segued most all of their songs together with ethereal tribal jams. Maynard's vocals were perfect, and Danny Carey's drumming put many jaws on the floor. The band played for an hour and a half rarely stopping. The concert was a single piece. Maynard addressed the crowd in a mock evangelical fashion asking for "Amens" and telling of the most "positive force in the universe". F#!@ing. He "ranted and pointed his finger", he played some intelligent cube, he danced like only he can, and he wore a padded bra. This is entertainment. Setlist: Aenima Sweat? Stinkfist (new part and buzzo) Eulogy New Song (very cool) Pushit (new version) Third Eye Sobre (intelligent cube) Opiate Flood
Review written by: Kai (polywogk@aol.com) Review posted on: 08/04/98 05:40:23 Finally, Tool has an opening band worth the effort(and how so). It seems they may even keep them. We were unfortunate enough to be too late to see The Melvins perform at Knoxville, but having watched them open for Tool on several other occasions, and havi ng watched King Buzzo on his recent collaborations with the band, I have to say this is the best thing they've had since the long-gone Failure/Flaming Lips combo. Even if you don't like The Melvins(fool), they certainly beat the hell out of Blue Tip or (( shudder)) Psychotica. For a while there I thought that Tool was picking their opening bands for the sake of complimentary contrast - Blue Tip could make anyone look good. Glad to see it isn't so. If I had to sit through Psychotica one more time I was goin g to hop up on stage and rip a few of those glued-on jewels right off bimbo's face. But I digress. The energy at this show was fairly intense, atleast on the floor. The seats might as well have been empty for all of the energy they showed, but that's hardly new. It's been a while since I've seen a mosh pit such as the one that emerged several times dur ing the set; this one seethed, rather than simply jiggled. Nice. Speaking of jiggling, Maynard did have his breasts(again), and he really seems to know how to use them. He's got a job as a first-rate hermaphroditic stripper if he ever gets bored with music. The sound and lighting obviously have a few bugs to be ironed out, but I'm sure some innocent little roadie will be whipped, and it'll all be better by San Antonio(3 days is a long time). Even with those problems, it was, as Tool shows go, a good one. As concerts go, it was worth sacrificing your firstborn to attend. But that's not saying much, is it?
Review written by: Tool 1248 (EADGBE_21@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 08/04/98 04:43:12 What can I say? Tool kicked ass as always. The TV evangelist version of MJK was great. The slow version of "Pushit" was totally awesome. They totally outdid the Lolla. performance in Nashville. Buzz Melvin even came out and played with them. Midway throug h Maynard stripped to reveal the bra that we've come to know and love. Also, they were showing clips of someone playing the game "Intelligence Cube" in between songs. Needless to say, I left Knoxville with a headache from hell, sore shoulders and feet... and it was all FUCKING WORTH IT!!!!!!!