From: Arsenio Santos (arsenio@wco.com)


And now, as promised, my review of the first San Francisco show.

First, a few words on Failure.  I don't recall who it was, but someone
on this list said that Failure was a "must-have" for all Tool fans.
(Please feel free to stand up so we can all get a good look at you.)
Turns out, my girlfriend and I both found them to be the most
depressing part of the evening.  It's kinda hard to watch a band be
completely derivative (Renee put it best when she said they sounded
like "Weezer off of Prozac"), play unenthusiastically, and generally
act as disposable first-act chum for the hungry Toolfans.  Failure
earned a modest Arsenio Rating of 4 (to compute a band's Arsenio
Rating, count the number of songs the band plays live before you look
at your watch), and yet I have the sad feeling that they'll be broken
up by mid-spring.

Here was Tool's setlist on Monday:
                    Stinkfist
                    46 & Two
                    Intolerance
                    Eulogy
                    Hooker With A Penis
                    Prison Sex
                    Jimmy
                    Undertow
                    Pushit
                    Sober
                    Opiate
                    Aenema
They didn't play a 20 minute version of Opiate, and they didn't make
me sit through ten minutes of Frippertronics.  They did have some
technical difficulties throughout the evening; Adam had all kinds of
problems around the second verse of Undertow and didn't get them
sorted out until the end of Pushit, and the two large-screen
projectors seemed to have a few video problems throughout the show.
Still, the band has gotten even tighter since I last saw them.  Justin
was the surprise hero in my opinion, playing flawlessly all evening.
Danny was the no-surprise hero, playing his monster drumlines as
easily as some people pick their noses.  I have to say I was a bit
worried, being in the balcony, but as soon as Maynard came onstage,
he spotted me right away and once again sang with his beady eyes
pointed right at me all night.  There was your de rigeur pithy banter
("This song is about our new t-shirts" preceding Hooker, "This is an
oldie" preceding Intolerance, and a not-so-veiled threat for us NoCal
folk before "Aenema").  They showed the Prison Sex video during that
song, leading into the sequel Jimmy, and seeing the band play PS live
with the video playing above them made it even more harrowing than
before.  There are a few other surprises which I'll keep to myself,
but all in all Tool is even better live now than they were when they
last played at the Warfield almost two years ago.

P.S.: I stayed out of the pit, didn't harm anyone, and didn't miss a
note of the show.  Maybe I'm getting older.  Maybe tickets are getting
more expensive.  The world may never know.

Arsenio