A Review of the Fall 1996 Tour

Date: November 8


From: Josh Blakey (jblakey@ocean.tamu.edu) Subject: Review of Nov. 8 Tool in Houston A review of the November 8 Tool show in Houston The show was amazing. This show reestablished in my mind why Tool is one of the best bands out there. They played Stinkfist, 46 & 2, Swamp Song, Eulogy, H, Jimmy, Prison Sex, Sober, Opiate, Cold and Ugly, and Aenima. I was surprised by Cold and Ugly, which is one of my most favorite Tool songs. It was nice to hear an oldie. The intro to Sober, which everyone else has commented on as well, was great. Tool is the most intense bands I have ever seen live. Maynard is a scary man to watch, especially when he does the wierd stirring, stabbing dance type thing during Opiate. Another thing is he doesn't blink when he performs. He seemed to stare through the crowd. I liked that between songs Maynard would talk to the crowd and talk about the meaning of his songs. He even made a reference to the mighty Spinal Tap, which was cool since Spinal Tap rocks. He was talking about Justin Chancellor when he said," This is Justin, our new bass player, a.k.a King Diamond (in reference to his face paint). He has played in several bands in England ... including Spinal tap, until he blew up". The only negative aspect of the concert was the crowd. I understand that a sign of the times is crowd surfing, but why in the hell do they have to wear their Doc Martins and then kick people in the face and head. It got to the point that I started to spend more time ducking and defending myself than watching the show. One asshole put his finger in my eye to climb onto the crowd, so I hit him which makes me mad that I have to resort to violence myself just to have a good time. The worst part about crowd surfing is when a girl, who is on the crowd, is practically raped by evrey guy in the audience. There were three guys near me who would say, "bring her over here, i've got something for her". That's what girlfriends or your hand are for. The other thing that pissed me off was the crowd cheering for Sober after each song. Sober is a great song, but why not cheer for a new song or an old favorite like 4 degrees. Overall, the concert was amazing. This was the 4th time I have seen Tool, and this was the best I have seen them play. Hopefully they will come around again in the supposed spring tour. Josh