A Review of the Fall 1996 Tour

Date: November 7


From: Jeff.Sobotka@amd.com (Jeff Sobotka) I saw the Dallas show last Thursday and I thought it was incredible. I read a previous review of this show which said that Tool didn't really have any intensity and the crowd wasn't really getting into it. I don't think that's true at all...Tool sounded great and Maynard himself provided an enormous amount of intensity. As far as the crowd, everyone seemed to be having a great time, and I was surprised by the number of people that seemed to know every lyric on the new album. There may not have been much moshing going on, but I've always found it hard to believe that people will spend $20 for a concert ticket and then spend the entire time smashing into other people rather than watching the band on stage. Just my opinion... The setlist was already posted, so I won't repeat it. It was cool that they decided to play Cold&Ugly. From watching the evolution of the setlist, it seems like they are reverting more and more back to the old stuff. The intro to Cold&Ugly was the beginning of Rush's "Passage to Bangkok", which was very cool. I was unaware that Tool had Rush influences... At the end of the night, Maynard said: "This is our last song", along with mention of Green Day, and they played Opiate. This was cool, but I was getting worried because they hadn't played Aenima or Undertow, and I wanted to hear at least one of them. I managed to get everyone around me to start yelling "Aenima!" (yeah...like they could really hear us!) and then they came back out and played it. I just wanted to see everyone shaking their fists and chanting "learn to swim"...and I got to see this :-) A word about the Cows: I saw how everyone had ripped them apart in previous reviews, and I thought it was a little harsh, so I kept an open mind when I was watching them. However, my friend and I decided that they are the WORST band that we have ever heard. Now I know why everyone was so harsh toward them. Our band in college had a lot more talent then they did, and we broke up. It's amazing to me how much having good contacts means to becoming successful. You can have absolutely no talent...but if you know the right people you can still make money. On the flip side, you can have all the talent in the world, but if no one significant knows who you are (or cares who you are), you won't get anywhere. Well, to sum up: Tool was awesome as I had expected. I was disappointed that they didn't play Hooker or Undertow, but Tool has so many good songs that you can't fit them all into one show anyway. Can't wait to see them in the Spring... -jEFF-