Review written by: Black Blood (pedersod@oit.edu)
Review posted on: 08/26/98 15:15:06

I went to the Medford armory (which isn't very big) along with about 
3,000 others.  After watching the Melvins and waiting for a while, 
the band came out.  I remeber that Adam Jones was wearing a shirt 
with 666 on it, and Maynard came out painted blue (also 
had some flourescent paint on him) wearing a bra and panties.  It was 
an incredible concert and Maynard's main quotes consisted of him 
telling people to question authority and learn to think for 
themselves.  The band opened with Third Eye, but I don't remember the 
order of the songs, but they also played Stinkfist, Eulogy, Undertow, 
Flood, Aenima, Opiate (after telling the audience they should learn 
to think for themselves), and a slow version of Pushit.  The concert 
got a bit rowdy and I tore a ligament in my knee...I also lost my 
watch but I shouldn't have gone in with it.  Maynard made a funny 
quote when the audience was asking him to play a song (Prison Sex I 
think).  He said, "Why yes, we did write that thank you for noticing, 
however we aren't a juke box".  He also talked about how he liked to 
play for small town audiences and that our conservative life styles 
were created by our parents in order to protect us (think for 
yourselves...question authority).  At the end of the concert he 
played the "other" version of Hooker with a penis through a singing 
vagina...with singing penises as a backup.  All in all the concert 
was awesome I just wish they had turned Maynards vocals up more!






Review written by: Brad (porch@gte.net)
Review posted on: 08/26/98 02:08:01

first of all, to Das and Matt...the song you forgot about was 
Undertow I beleive, and other than that I think your setlist is 
correct. By the way, I was standing right next to you guys for at 
least a little while, cause I remember when you did the 
1...2...3...NO QUARTER! And Maynard said something like "if we didn't 
write it we're not gonna play it...then he said we're gonna play 
something new and different, something you havn't heard...and we all 
knew it'd be Pushit, which we have heard, but it's still new to most. 
 Now my thoughts on the show...we missed almost all of the Melvins in 
Portland cause we showed up late, but we caught their whole set in 
Medford...we didn't miss much...BY FAR their best song was the last 
one they played, which is also the only song we heard in Portland. 
The Melvins would have been cool but it just seemed like they 
had no rhythm...like every song was in slow motion. Then when Tool 
came out and busted in to 3rd Eye, I was pumped because that's 
probably the one song I most wanted to hear that they didn't play in 
Portland. However, they then proceeded to play almost every song they 
played in Portland, which was disappointing. I figured they'd realize 
that a lot of the same people would be at both shows, so I was 
expecting them to mix up a lot of stuff. From my memory, they dropped 
You Lied and Part of Me from the Portland set, and replaced them with 
3rd eye and Undertow. I really wanted to hear You Lied again because 
it is probably the heaviest song I've ever heard live. And I figured 
that if they didn't play You Lied they'd play No Quarter, cause they 
usually play 1 cover...but they didn't play that either, despite 
several requests from the crowd. The slow version of pushit seemed to 
have some sound problems, it did not sound nearly as good as it did 
for the Portland show. Now that I got all my bitching out of the way, 
the show really did rock, I just had very high expectations. I was 
right down in front of the band, into the music the whole time, and 
overall it was a very good setlist. One thing I always like about 
concerts is the comradery in the moshpit. I'm not a die hard mosher, 
I'm not a guy who is there to hurt people (and hardly built for it) 
but I usually jump in there for a few of the heavier songs. There was 
a guy who was crowd surfing and started to fall, and I hooked my arms 
under his arms so he didn't crack his head on the ground, and we both 
kinda gave each other a pat on the back when he got back up...that 
sorta thing always makes moshing more enjoyable, cause most of the 
people in there are there for good clean fun. You stick up for each 
other and protect each other and everyone has a good time. There are 
always a few there just to hurt people but I didn't see too many of 
them this time out. I can't wait for Tool to come back so I can see 
them again! After 3 tool concerts I still haven't seen them perform 
what is perhaps my favorite song of all, Prison Sex. 






Review written by: Rachel Conrad (Pondscum66@hotmail.com)
Review posted on: 08/26/98 01:21:17

To see TOOL live has to be about the greatest thing in the world..After a
eight hour drive and sitting in anticipation for almost twenty- four hours
after reaching medford i was more that ready to see Maynard live once
more.. I also saw them in portland. they were way better in medford. 
Maynard is simply amazing with his body and mind his voice shot through me
like a new kind of drug almost. mesmorizing me into the greatest
experience of my life. He was painted from head to toe in infa blue paint
and yo u could spot orange paint that made him glow in the black light as
well as tight shorts and a set of fake breasts that did look amazingly
natural on him.. they played a great set . it wasn't the average one the
played either they did a good job not doing the too.. over played ones..
To say the least if you get a chance go see them live.. you will leave the
concert a new person.. oh and the melvins rocked hard.. i was stoaked when
buzz got up and played with maynard. the worst part about the show was the
a ss hole people who were there just to hurt people.. other wise there
were just a lot of bodies violently dancing and clinging to every word
that maynard had to say. the vibe was good and there were a lot of people
willing to help if you needed it.. so ove r all i'm happy that i drove
eight hours to see the greatest band of all time... 






Review written by: Justin Wilson (justin@nwpaclink.com)
Review posted on: 08/25/98 20:58:54

Me and a friend got to the show at about 5:30 and stood in line 
until 6:45 when the doors opened... As I stood in line I overheard 
some dipshit kid in a slayer shirt bragging about how he got all his 
ribs broke at their concert and how to break someones arm in 13 
places and shit like that, so I was really thinking that this was 
gonna be kinda shitty and when I actually got in the building I got 
right up on the security baracade and before the melvins even came 
out I got kicked in the nose by some croudsurfing dipshit. After 
that Maynard came out and tool a few pictures with a travel camera 
and said that they would be on in about an hour and then introduced 
the melvins. People started to get really pissed off when people 
were croud surfing and kicking the shit outta eachother and everyone 
was asking securtiy to kick people like that out and they ended up 
starting to take people out who were making the show miserable for 
all of us. When the melvins were on, I thought they were cool for 
about 15 minutes then I started to get a headache (even though I had 
earplugs in). I consider myself a very open minded person when it 
comes to music but I have to say - THE MELVINS SUCKED SHIT LIVE. 
They sound cool on cd but 45 minutes of feedback and screaming does 
not float my boat. After that tool was doing soundchecks and I had 
to defend my spot on the baracade with my life against people twice 
my size. After about 15 min tool finally came out. Maynard was 
dressed in bra and panties and painted blue and I heard someone say 
"boy he has big tits." they opened up with third eye which was just 
beautiful. The slow version of pushit is so awesome, I like it more 
than the faster version myself. I dont know why tool came to medford 
but it was an awesome move, it was probably the smallest venue that 
they have played in like 3 years and it was PACKED. When they played 
�nema, it was just so beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. 
They ended with a great Opiate/Flood combo and it was just so 
awesome then danny thew his drumsticks out and Maynard threw a 
couple water bottles out. After the show we went over to the tour 
bus and waited for a while and Danny came out and we talked with him 
for a while and he signed my Condoms are for pussys and assholes 
keychain and a dollar bill.. After many times of saying "the band is 
not here" to us, the pigs finally shut up and then maynard came out 
of the bus and went inside then he came out and we talked with him a 
little and thanked him for coming to medford and he signed a dollar 
bill for me and we waited for adam and justin to come out but they 
never did so we left about an hour after maynard came out. That show 
was so awesome words can't even describe it. There was a really 
friendly mosh pit and it was just awesome. 






Review written by: Robin Lund (FeeblePlan@aol.com)
Review posted on: 08/25/98 20:55:55

As shitty and boring as the drive down to the Medford Armory was, the show
was well worth it.  About 4 hours in a car with no A/C, but oh well,
enough bitching...  After suffering through the Melvins (an absolutely
horrible set) and about a half-hour/fort y-five minute wait, Tool walked
out and started into Third eye. Standing in front of a 40 foot tall screen
they played for a good two hours or so. Every song they played was
amazing. Maynard was in boxers and a bra and painted all up so he gave off
a glow under the lights. The energy he put out was incredible.  Adam was
at far right jamming away the whole time.  They re-wrote Pushit and it was
pretty mellow and psychedelic. Justin was pounding out the bass mid-stage
and seemed to be having fun. They also threw in a couple of extra parts in
songs that was very cool..  After a long drum solo they had a couple of
vocal clips from Timothy Leary and some clips from a movie or something
about what is the meaning of life..? I didn't recognise it.. Let's see,..
W hat else.. Maynard had a heart to heart with the audience about growing
up in a small town and about parents.  The Armory was pretty small,
smaller than the Salem armory so it echoed a bit more but still had an
excellent sound. They played most of the son gs off of �nima and they
played Undertow, Sober, Flood and Opiate...The Screen in the back had
images of an ape walking and slowly turning into a man.. i thought that
was pretty appropriate... On stage they had a huge glowing Magic circle
with other symbo ls of power on it... If you haven't seen tool, or haven't
seen them on this tour, don't let anything stop you from seeing them, it's
not just a rock show or a concert its truely an experience, for me it was
a fucking religious experience, and except for s econd hand pot smoke I
was sober even...oh yeah, and could someone e-mail me and tell me what the
fuck was with that pornographic sing-a-long at the end where those dancing
Dick Nose things in tuxedos and that girl singing out of her pussy
lips?!?!?! It w ould be appreciated, thank you.... Question authority, Dig
into the Collective Unconsious, Learn to Swim, Jack off into a high
powered Fan, Watch Pornography in Grandma's Underwear... 

                                             Tool, August 24th, 1998
                                             Medford Armory, Medford, Oregon
                                             Robin Lund                                                                      
                                                                   






Review written by: Das & Matt (greeley@cdsnet.net)
Review posted on: 08/25/98 13:11:02

Totally awesome show.  I saw them on Friday in Portland and this
was well worth the 280 mile drive down to the armpit of Oregon.
The Melvins were recieved with an ample mosh pit and many people
with puzzled looks on their faces (is this all one song?)

Maynard introduced them and took pictures of the audience with
a little disposable camera.

Tool came on at about 8:45.  Maynard was in full swing painted
blue with the red dots and with his large voluptious tits kept
in a black bra.  They started the show with Third Eye (YES!).
We were standing right in front of Maynard and Danny the whole
night.  Occasionally we lost ground but we would push right
back ahead.

Set List (sort of)
Third Eye
StinkFist (With Buzz.. no cover?!)
Eulogy
I think there was something else here (it is all a big blank though)
46 & 2
Push It
Sober
Aenima
Opiate
Flood

We kept screaming No Quarter but they just ignored us.  When the 
crowd was real quiet I yelled Cold and Ugly.  Maynard looked over
and said "Yeah that's one of our songs, but were not going to play it
were not a fucking jukebox.  Instead we'll play something you've 
never heard before." I yelled back Push-It!

During Push-It Maynard was staring right at us and I held up the 
vulcan symbol "Live long and Prosper", about two minutes later
Maynard was doing the Vulcan symbol back to the whole crowd...
Has anyone seen him do this before?  I think we started a new thing
.. forget the damn Heavy Metal hand symbol lets start doing the
vulcan symbol at all of the shows...

Maynard didn't talk about fucking at this show like he did in 
Portland.  Instead he went off on how Medford is a little
conservative town and that they were glad to be there to shed
some knowledge on the little city.  Question Authority and 
Think for Yourself. 

I asked people on the way out of the show what they learned tonight..
and they would say uh I don't know....  Followed by millions of dumb 
founded dip shits.. some say the end is near...







Review written by: Robert Jansen (Jansen@mind.net)
Review posted on: 08/25/98 10:47:03

Cool show!  Small arena; about 2,000.  Most polite mosh pit I've 
ever seen -- "Excuse me, pardon me, I'm so sorry..."

Great to get bands like this in Medford.