page: 
 title: Tool Nails First Show Of Aenima Tour
author: J.R. Griffin

"Not Bad For A Bunch Of Old Men"

"This is the first show for this album, so in ten years you can tell
someone you came and they can call you a liar," said Tool's bald and 
shirtless frontman Maynard James Keenan right before he underestimated 
his band's prowess and talents. "This stuff isn't polished yet, so you 
get the worst shit on this tour."

With a history of live perfection, Tool's first night on tour under 
it's latest album Aenima, a sold-out show Wednesday, October 16 at The 
Glass House in Pomona, California, went just the way Tool likes it: 
direct, powerful and intense.

Wasting no time, Keenan, hunched, lurking and with a mike in each 
fist, carried the band through such news songs as "Aenima," 
"Stinkfist" (the band's current single), "Forty Six & 2," "Eulogy," 
and "Jimmy," along with the anticipated older songs "Sober" and 
"Prison Sex" without hesitation or comment. "Say hello to Justin," was 
enough to introduce the band's new bassist, Justin Chancellor.

Not moving much, save for a steady rocking or contorting arm or 
shoulder during intense moments, Keenan retained crowd control with 
his fixed glaze and ability to hit everything--from the rushed rap 
opening of "Aenima" to holding long belting screams without so much as 
a crack or hint of uncertainty--on the mark. With drill-team timing, 
the band mastered the heavy complex song structures of Aenima with a 
keen sense of accuracy that never crossed over into boredom--as shown 
by the crowd's constant mosh pit and sweating walls.

Though they're apt to play mind tricks on the public in the big 
picture ("Die Eier Von Satan" from Aenima isn't a German Nazi wartime 
rally, it's a recipe for a baked dish), Keenan and crew essentially 
let the music do the talking. So when the audience gave a collective 
moan when Keenan announced the night's the final song, he came back in 
true Tool fashion.

"Listen, we're not Green Day. It's not three minutes long," he etorted
before jumping into a 20-minute sing-a-long version of "Opiate" and 
assorted jams and riffs to close the show. One of Keenan's comments 
from mid-set seemed apt: "Not bad for a bunch of old men, huh?"
Posted to t.d.n: 09/18/97 21:50:50