| concert reviews firsthand, immediate, from the heart |
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06/02/2001
[all times Central Time; t.d.n is hosted in the midwest] |
Review written by: lucky guy (dzor@mail.ru) Review posted on: 06/02/01 18:37:43some impressions about 2 first days of rock im park in general. main tool enemies in 'the war between good and bad music': limp bizkit, linking park, etc. were rather cute on friday. limp bizkit singer took some real young teenager from the crowd hugged him and with a serious face said: 'this is our next generation. i want you to take care of these kids, we are big f... family, etc.' looked really sweet, i think he tried to repeat michael jackson trick with children. linking park had to perform twice in the evening, because in the last minute slipknot refused to perform, and someone had to replace them. they were met by the crowd with heavy swearing and the rain of the empty plastic bottles. however, guys appeared to be dodgy enough not to get injured. after a couple of the songs they dared to ask: 'do we suck?' evil crowd answered... guess what? my younger brother came from russia just for this show. today we didn't drink too much to be sober and sensitive when the time comes. after yesterday's slipknot refusal i was a little bit nervous that something could go wrong, that's why i really got mad when i saw danny's drumset moving into the stage. no way back. and now... drumroll... the show starts... the setlist: - grundge - stinkfist - 46&2 - schism - sober - parabola - opiate - lateralis i can't really add much to the show description. i think it was pretty much the same. similar set, the same visuals, the same 'did you miss us?', 'we're just earning the money', 'try to use the energy you got to create something positive..' so, i'll mainly describe my personal experience. i've been waiting for it for quite a long time. read reviews, news, tried to remember lyrics. also i thought what would i do, what impressions would i get, what the band would look like. and when it started i got distracted: didn't know what to do, where to watch, couldn't focus on anything. tool just slowly got inside me and made me move, sing, dance in a really slow way. crowd around also stopped moshing. what else... opiate was really good. didn't like this song before that much... lateralis finally killed me i could move or sing any longer, just was trembilng. when they finished danny threw a couple of drum sticks into the crowd and i got one, although nearly had to break another guy's arm... anyway who cares. after the concert i could not speak for a while and of course couldn't stay for papa roach :) thanks tool, special thanks to danny (were you aiming at me?), thanks to a cool german guy heiko, who introduced me to tool in 1997, see you in dusseldorf.
Review written by: Mike (harveyredengine@aol.com) Review posted on: 06/04/01 05:38:34
After coming all the way from NYC to see Tool in Germany I found myself waiting outside the arena for an hour and a half because it was full of Papa Roach fans. Regardless of how many people left they did not let anybody in to see Tool. Radiohead played in the stadium yet the arena was still full enough that starting at 8pm(Tool came on at roughly 9:40) They stopped letting people in for the rest of the night. I missed living out a dream of mine, because of a poorly operated festival that was way over booked
Review written by: Ingo Neumann (loztsoul@hotmail.com) Review posted on: 06/04/01 18:59:15
as soon as i read tool was going on tour i knew i had to see them... this desire grew and grew everyday, and when i heard the lateralus album the first time i was blasted... well, i have been planning my vacation to ecuador for a few months now... i already got the plane ticket vy the time i read the tour dates... and well all the tour dates for germany where just the time im on vacation... so i tried to get tickets for zurich or tilburg but i had no luck... sold out... i thought about blowing off the vacation, but it wasnīt worth it... so the only chance i had left was going to rock im park... i didnt like the idea of seeing only 1 hour of tool, when they have 4 amazing albums where i donīt find 1 single song i dislike... but i said to myself: "hey! its tool!" i had to work on fryday and on sunday... so i got up early on saturday and took the train to the festival... got there 02:30 PM and i paid the 140 marks for the whole festival just to see tool hehehe... tool was scheduled for 09:40 PM, so i had plenty of time... i walked around a while to check out the place... it was huge... and it was wet (we had rain the whole day), so that it took only 5 mins to provide me with wet shoes and socks... i hate that feeling... after checking out the site i walked to the center stage and outkast was playing... it was fun, but it was way too cold, so i decided to go to the arena (where tool was playing later that night) and warm myself up... hedpe was playing and it sounded really good, so i got right into the moshpit to let it all out... after that came godsmack and they rocked, too... meanwhile i met a few really cool people and we talked about tool, and the show, and the art, and the beliefs and everything... by the way greetz to sean and shawna (hope i spelled that right) from canada (i want those pics soon =o)... after godsmack i wanted to go out and check alanis morrisette, but i thought to myself "if you go out, youll get all soaked again... and you might not be able to get in again" so i decided to stay in the arena and wait for tool... it took so long, so freaking long... and when dannys drumset was dragged onto the stage i almost shed a tear... one thing was bugging me: all those crossover nu metal limp para bizkit roach fans in the arena... all those people who sadly didnīt have a clue about art and music... those people who are in this world to consume... to be a slave of the system and not think for themselves... but i had the choice... either i spend the time thinking about this people and how meaningless their life is or seems to be, or i choose to focus on the stage and enjoy the show... the choice was clear... i moved right in front of the stage and waited for everything to start... and then tool came out and i was amaze by the energy that flows from these guys... the sound was tight and clear, although maynards voice could have been a bit louder... the setlist is already posted (we traded Aenema and Prison Sex for Opiate... it was worth it)... now to my personal experience during the show... after the grudge, as the band cranked up stinkfist and maynard started to stomp on the floor along with the beat i fell in some kind of trance... the visuals on the video screen were amazing... adrenaline kept flowing through my veins... i had constant chills... every sound, every note, was a new experience that lifted me a little higher... the peak of this climax came with parabola... the different forms of The Flower of Life appeared on the video screen (for those who havenīt read that book by Drunvalo Melchizedek, i highliy recommend it... after studying it i understood so much more about this world) and i could feel myself moving between the sounds... it was awesome... during that song i could for a short period of time see the aura of every member of the band... and i felt every one of my chakras open itself (the lotusī started to spin)... when the song ended i felt really really grateful... and lateralis/us gave me a second blast... and there i was.. standing saying "thank you so much for that" as tool left the stage... i was drooling for more... i was shaking and trembling... i couldnīt even write down my e- mail adress for sean to get the pics... i was blasted... then i left the arena... it was still raining, and i had no sleeping bag, no tent, no one to give me shelter... and it was cold... fucking cold... my shoes were soaked with water... i went to get the train back home... i finally got to bed at 11:30 AM the next day... but it was worth it... now i will get to my drumset and my didgeridoo and create something positive from the energy i got... thank you tool for such a spiritual experience... only deep meditation is better than what i experienced during that show... keep up the good work... and i know this sounds kinda like cliché, but keep reaching people with your art, in order to open their eyes... te let them see that we are all one mind, capable of all thatīs imagined and all conceivable... be blessed
Review written by: Asiu (ixi0n47@home.com) Review posted on: 06/05/01 18:48:47
I love Tool more than any other band in the world, so I thought I deserved to see them. I flew from New Jersey to Germany just to see the Tool show. On the second day, I got to the Alternatent (place where they played) and I waited for about 4 hours. People were leaving the place, and security was still refusing to let people in. They were setting up barricades and everything, and it totally sucked. Half the people inside the place didn't appreciate the music. They just hung around there to keep out from the rain. I waited there for a very long time, and I finally got in for the last few songs of papa roach. Which was around 11 pm. This festival was the crappiest thing ever. They sold way too many tickets, they placed the best bands in the smallest venue, instead of the main stadium. And even if you didn't have a ticket for the festival, you could just walk around the place, and crowd it up. That's what all these stupid 150-200,000 drunk germans were doing. Walking around, drinking, dancing, laughing. Having a good time, but destroying the environment for everyone else who paid a great deal of money to see the bands they love, and couldn't because no one really managed/organized this concert well. I really hope after missing the NYC Hammerstein Ballroom and Rock-im-park concert, I'll be able to get tickets. If I do, watch out for the really, really angry kid in the pit!