Tool 11/21/07: We'll ride the spiral till the end and may just go where no one's been...

This was my first time EVER seeing Tool live, and so almost by default it naturally had to be fantastic. I arrived at the show at the Pepsi Center in Denver with my twin brother and fellow Iggli bloggers Greg and Sam, and Sam's brother. We missed the opening show - some band called TransAm. The general consensus of the people surrounding us was that they blew, so I'm not too sad about it. Greg, my brother, and I all sat together in eager anticipation while Sam and her brother were on the other side of the arena. The fog on the stage grew thicker and suddenly the lights went out. Maynard (wearing a cowboy hat), Adam (in pigtails), Justin, and Danny (sporting a Laker's jersey and basketball shorts) ran onto the stage and jumped straight into Jambi - the crowd exploded. After it ended Maynard yelled something about holding on for a long ride and then played my FAVORITE song: Stinkfist. The giant projector screens behind the band showed scenes and images from the Stinkfist music video. By now the crowd was going insane and screaming along with the song: "I'll - keep - digging - till I - feel - something".

Then Tool relaxed a little, played some (-) Ions, and then Forty-Six & 2, the crazy great song about the gradual evolution of human chromosomes towards reaching a higher plane of existence. Next up was a long instrumental intro, which pulsed throughout the arena sounding like a person taking deep, unsteady breaths. I leaned my head back, closed my eyes, and lost myself in the music: this was good. The following three songs were Schism, Rosetta Stoned, and some unidentifiable song - probably from the Undertow album - but NONE of the Tool fanatics sitting all around me were familiar with what exactly it was. Next they played Wings for Marie (Part One), which starts off with solo guitar and rumbles of thunder, while showing an incredible CGI picture of the back of a skeleton- like figure looking across a desert wasteland at a huge solar eclipse looming massively on the horizon in a creepy twilight. When the Maynard started singing the vocals for Wings for Marie their trademark laser show kicked off - first with huge rotating wing-like fans that projected across the entire arena. Directly after this song Tool jumped into 10,000 Days (Part Two), complete with artwork from the album on the screens behind the stage.

Next the band played Lateralus - my second-favorite Tool song of all time. During the middle of the song is a long instrumental section, which the drummer and guitarist extended while Maynard frolicked around at the back of the stage. They assembled a second drum set on stage and had a drum battle between Danny and some other guy, who I'm told was the drummer from TransAm. Needless to say, Danny won - judged by Maynard at 9 to 8. Maynard also had a little fun TP-ing the pit with a giant roll of toilet paper and a fan. Then everything was put away and the band picked up where the left off on Lateralus. The end is the best section of any song I've heard in my life. The simple guitar chords and subtle drumming combined with Maynard's melodic voice are incredible....here are the lyrics to my favorite part of the song:

"I embrace my desire to feel the rhythm, to feel connected enough to step aside and weep like a widow, to feel inspired, to fathom the power, to witness the beauty, to bathe in the fountain, to swing on the spiral of our divinity and still be a human.......With my feet upon the ground I lose myself between the sounds and open wide to suck it in. I feel it move across my skin, I'm reaching up and reaching out, I'm reaching for the random or whatever will bewilder me. Following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been. We'll ride the spiral till the end and may just go where no one's been. Spiral out, keep going....."

Finally, Maynard wrapped up the show with a couple words of wisdom: "Don't drink and drive on the way home....you might spill.....Peace.....OUT......" before ending with Vicarious. The crowd screamed its collective lungs out for a couple minutes while the band members had a group hug, exchanged a couple pats on the back, and waved goodbye before tripping off the stage. Any hopes of an encore were quickly killed when the lights went up.


So obviously, the show was incredible. I had a stellar time, even though my twin brother was so drunk he kept puking and I had to leave a couple times to get him water. There were a couple downsides: 1) they didn't play AEnima. Sad day. 2) Even though they played almost all their most famous songs and everyone was happy, they didn't play any of their older stuff or equally-good-but-lesser-known songs. H., the Pot, Eulogy, Pushit, Third Eye, Parabola, Sober, Undertow, Jerkoff, the Grudge, and Right in Two were nowhere to be found. I think part of the problem was that Tool constructs each of their album to flow as a cohesive unit. All the little intros and crazy stuff they have going on between songs adds to overall mood of the album, and when they play their Greatest Hits that intimate connection is lost. You're hearing everything that the radio would play and nothing more. Tool has achieved an incredible cult following, but it seems like at this show they were pandering to the masses by playing almost exclusively their biggest hits. Oh well. It was fantastic: the best concert I've ever attended, and one of the high points of my musical life.