Tool (With Yob) - Wish I’d Seen This Six Years Ago Instead of Now

I wish I’d seen Tool back in 2006, back when I was really really into them, particularly when they toured with Isis and Mastodon; two bands which I was just discovering at the time of that tour, and which became some of my favorites at that time. So many things would’ve been better. 10,000 Days probably wasn’t even out then, but even if it was, I probably still liked that album at the time. And I know I gave a thousand and one shits about all of their songs and lyrics and shit. Time hasn’t been as kind to my relationship with Tool as it has with other bands I liked back then. I still like them, but I suspect a lot of what I like involves nostalgia, like a less embarrassing version of why I still enjoy old Linkin Park songs.

Still, Tool are known to put on a good show, right? Well, of course they are, their fanbase is gigantic and full of people who, and I don’t mean to sound elitist, don’t know the difference. I heard the phrase “album quality sound” tossed around a lot tonight which is simply a crock of bullshit, and that’s not even Tool’s (nor, Yob’s not that the crowd liked them) fault. I knew going into this show that it was at Hampton Colosseum and therefor the sound quality would be absolute ass. I knew that everything would sound muddy, the bass would overpower the mix and occasionally be louder than the speakers could handle, and that the vocals would sound awkward if audible. I was right. 

Yob, as a doom-metal band, are supposed to be described as a “wall of noise,” but in this case it was more like a wall of *just one noise,* since the guitar was nigh inaudible throughout their set (which consisted of three ten to fifteen minute songs). Tool similarly had an overpowering bass and both bands suffered from that effect where transitioning from a thundering bassline to a different one makes everything suddenly sound quiet thanks to the speakers, even though the transition was usually meant to be into a guitar crescendo or something. Anyway.

Aside from the shit speakers and my not being a huge Tool fan anymore, it was a pretty cool show. The band didn’t move much, with Maynard doing his whole wear-all-black-and-stand-in-the-background-with-no-light-on-him thing, but there were lots of cool lights and dramatically timed shit. It was coolest when they didn’t play their singles, because for those they usually had the actual music video playing on the background monitors, which wasn’t as cool as some of the more dramatic visualizations. 

They played ten total songs, opening with Hooker With a Penis, which is fun and a good way to get the blood flowing, then went into Jambi, which so happens to probably be the only Tool song I really *don’t like*. I think it’s a fan favorite for live shows just because of the talk box guitar solo which, well, I’ve seen cooler ones >.>. 

Next they played Stinkfist and Sober which is a good place to mention the holy fucking shit audience participation. So, Hampton Colosseum is a pretty fucking gigantic place, and this was practically a sold-out show. And everyone in that god damn building knew Tool and knew their songs, so suffice it to say they were very damn into it. I don’t get to see this too often, since I mostly go see smaller bands which don’t have this kind of rabid, obsessive, guys behind you won’t shut up about every single time they’ve seen Tool and any related acts kind of fanbase.

Anyway next was Push It which was cool, since it’s one of my favorite Tool songs probably, though it was one of those where I really wished Maynard would have sung the song the way it is on the album and not with a bunch of minor differences.

Schism had a random jam intro which I don’t know, was it for a sound test while they changed tuning? Someone before the set had mentioned seeing it on the setlist and hoped it would be new material, but if 4 minutes of essentially a generic shoegaze song is new material I don’t look forward to it lol. 

Intension would seem odd for a live show unless you were there when the point was obviously let’s have a crazy fucking array of lights going on everywhere and as my mom put it (she was with me) “this one’s for the trippers.” Indeed. And now I want to bring up trippers. My mom said she saw a couple behind us dropping acid at the start of Tool’s set. Meanwhile next to me was this dude who was really, really, really tanked from the start, and this guy cracked me up. When I sat down, he shook my hand and introduced himself, and I gave him my name. So a few times, before Tool, he’d randomly call to me and then tell me a fucking strange riddle. Such as:

What kind of meat does a fish eat? None.

…yeah. What cracked me up though was that this guy kept leaving for super-long periods of time to where he only caught maybe half of Tool’s set… even though when he was there, he actually seemed like a big fan and knew all the words to the songs. Did I mention we were in $60 balcony seats? 

Anyway they played Forty Six & 2 which that dude was really into, and then they played Lateralus, which is not only my favorite Tool song, but was by far the highlight of the show. Smack in the middle of this most aesthetically pleasing of songs, at a part where there’s a simple, repetitive bass riff, they suddenly called out a second drummer, whose kit had been set up before the song, and the two drummers had an awesome five-minute dueling drum solo, without ever breaking the flow of the song, and then we rode that spiral to the end and I loved it.

In lieu of an encore, Tool left the stage while an 8-minute drone song played, which was actually pretty cool. If only it were played on better amps! I wouldn’t mind if that one actually was new material lol. Also during that 8 minutes, a game of asteroids was suddenly being played over the visualizer for about a minute. After that they closed out with Aenima.

I think Tool has probably played more intense and interesting shows in the past, regardless of the sound system, but anyway this was fun I guess.