A Review of the Fall 1996 Tour

Date:October 16


From: "Rob Bo" I saw the band on their opening night in support of the new album, Aenima, and they rocked!!!!!! (Glass House, Pomona, California) Failure opened: I'd say they kinda sounded like a stoner/Weezer/Live band. They were cool, really groovin'. Then, Tool comes on. I'm not fully down with all the new songs, so I can't say exactly which ones they played, although I'd have to say they probably played all of the ones that could be. Justin looked fuckin badass with his little horns, Adam comes on, straps his guitar, and gives a short wave to the crowd. Danny, tall fucker, walks on, then Maynard, shirtless, and bald. They play stinkfist. And as soon as they start, (I'm up in the front, by the way), I'm crushed and incessantly kicked in the head by all the floaters. Those fuckers!!! Anyway, I stayed up for like the first 3 songs, and during this time, Maynard is like staring at me right in my eyes while he's screaming at the top of his lungs. (he has a tendency to look at everyone in the audience - it just felt like he knew exactly who I was, it was cool.) Then when they played Eulogy, you know that part in the beginning where there is this kind of horn being played. Well, Maynard was blowing someting into the mike (a second mike) - maybe some sort of kazoo - but it sounded exactly like it did on the album. It was fucken cool. Of course, then they started to play undertow shit, such as prison sex, sober, . . . Then, when they played Aenema, Maynard starts to breathe hard into the mike, then of course the drums and bass come in , stacatto style. Oh, it was rad. Then, after about a little over an hour of play, Maynard says, last song. Which, of course caused the whole crowd to kind of be bummed. But, then, Maynard retorted, "Hey, we're not fucken Green Day. So we don't play 3 minute songs, so just because it's one more song it doesn't mean it's almost over, right???" Of course, the crowd cheered. Guess what they played, yup -OPIATE. Then they segued into third eye. That song must have lasted for 20 minutes, it was superb!!!! That's pretty much my shitty, ill-qualified, but nevertheless, genuine and heartfelt review of them. The Glass House was an awesome club, as well. Because, if you're up at the front, which you can accomplish by constant pushing and shoving, you're basically right there with the band. I couldn't have been more than 5 feet from Maynard. And they had one side of the stage which was completely open, and accessible to the public. Which kind of made it like you were watching the band from backstage, if you wanted. Anyway, tool rocked. Let me try and recall the banter Maynard made with the crowd between songs. He introduced the new bassist, Justin Chancellor, - FUCK YES!!!. wHAT else???, hmmmm, oh, and he introduced this guitar tech - I think he was new, who came on a couple of times to give Adam different guitars. That guy looked just like Maynard, man. Shaved head and all. Some time in the middle of the show, Maynard says, " Not bad for a bunch of old guys, huh?". All in all, awesome show, awesome opening band, awesome venue. Hope you have a blast when you see em. Can't wait for them to come back. An avid Tool fan, (excellent web site, btw), Rob RobaRobbie@msn.com