From: Chris Robson (crobson@dmicro.com)
Subject: Tool @ SOMA in San Diego

As much for your own personal interest as for posting on your page I 
thought I'd mail you re: the second show of the tour.  First off I would 
like to say that yours is by far the best band related page I've been to. 
As Tool is a band that provokes a lot of thought and attempts at 
deciphering their motivation, it is great to have a resource like yours.
Next comment:  If Tool comes to your town (where are you? Florida or 
something?) I hope that Inch is not opening for them.  Not so good.  The 
second band, Failure, was pretty good but by that time I'm ready for the 
headliners.
Finally and most importantly, this was a great show.  At a club that 
usually sounds OK at best, Tool managed to sound clear and tight.  Not to 
mention that they turned a curious all-ages show into a raving mob of 
hard-core Tool fans.  It seemed that even the drunk high schoolers who 
were there to compare masculinity notes with their friends forgot about 
seeming cool and actually paid attention to the music and what was going 
on up on stage.  What was going on was pure Tool.  Musicianship combined 
with their rare perspective and performance.  Maynard is truly strange, 
as he has been whenever I've seen them in the past, but he definitely 
feels every note and lyric that is being played.  The audience can't help 
but feel this passion.  Not to mention his voice maintains it's power 
live.
The rest of the band was far less animated but equally terrific.  They 
held down their part of this macabre powerhouse show with a silent 
confidence, never so much as gesturing to the crowd.  Justin was solid 
and played the old stuff well.  Adam barely moved and his sound was 
incredible.. They seem to have captured exactly the feel they had on the 
recorded versions of the songs.  Danny is amazing.  His torso never moves 
 yet his arms travel a thousand mph in 10 directions at once!
Any way, the moral here is that the hour and a half they're playing is 
worth every penny and ounce of effort you put into getting there.  With 
the high expectations I had going in, Tool was sure to falter at least a 
little.  This was simply not the case.
Thanks again for the website, nice stuff.

Chris Robson
Diversified Micro
chris@dmicro.com