2006/04/30 - Indio, CA - Coachella Festival

[kabir]

Tool's first show since November 2002!

SETLIST --

01. Stinkfist
02. The Pot
03. Forty-six & 2
04. Jambi
05. Schism
06. Eon Blue Apocalypse
07. The Patient
08. Sober
09. Lateralus
10. Vicarious
11. Ænema

[NOTE: Setlist was SMSed to me by Kabir and tooldvn. --Chris_Brightwell]


*DO NOT POST IF YOU WERE NOT AT THE SHOW!

[pris0n]

Just got back from the show, it was so amazing. They sounded so good. I think my only complaints would be massive attack fucking sucking and not being able to get really up there close to the stage because of the VIP's.

Maynard said something about rock paper scissors that I didn't understand and I don't think anyone around me did either. Anyone catch it?

[heidegger]

the rock paper scissors thing was a joke. He said "we're going to paper, scissors, Rock you."

[Paradigm619]

Holy shit. Such a great show. I was able to get right down in front. After the first three songs, the chaos of pushing and shoving died down. I got a bunch of pictures and a few videos with my digital camera. I posted the only decent pictures below (hard to keep a camera still when you're packed in that tight). Unfortunately the audio on the videos distorts past the point of recognition when it gets heavier, but there are a few salvagable parts that I'll post tomorrow once I get some sleep. For now, enjoy the pictures.

GREAT FUCKING SHOW

http://www.sweepinghalo.com/tool/coachella/01.jpg
http://www.sweepinghalo.com/tool/coachella/02.jpg
http://www.sweepinghalo.com/tool/coachella/03.jpg
http://www.sweepinghalo.com/tool/coachella/04.jpg
http://www.sweepinghalo.com/tool/coachella/05.jpg
http://www.sweepinghalo.com/tool/coachella/06.jpg

[Andorion]

Maynard seemed much more colloquial than last time. He came out on stage in a cowboy hat and made some comments like "is everyone ready to rock" and some other smalltalk. Then he whipped off his shirt, and took off his cowboy hat, revealing a cool mowhawk underneath.

There were four small screens behind the band, with two large screens on the side. The effects/displays were exactly the same as the Lateralus tour - songs with music videos have the videos playing, other songs have various new/different looping animations in the background. They did not play the Vicarious music video when they played Vicarious, I was dissapointed.

Kabir called the three songs they were going to play live, and I expected the same - The Pot, Jambi, and Vicarious. Hopefully we see some others at other shows.

There were almost three endings to the show - after they played Lateralus, it had the big finale like during the last tour, but we all knew Vicarious was coming... it still seemed like an ending. After Vicarious, we expected the show to be over, but Maynard made some comment about LA and VIP passes, then launched right into "Hey hey hey hey" - everyone went fucking wild.

Stinkfist was the short version, and The Patient was sorta extended (the intro was stretched out some, I think there was another part that was sorta stretched) but don't think any music was added. Everything else was as heard on the albums.

Just before Sober played, it sounded like they might launch into Rosetta Stoned - there was some heavy distortion and a hanging note... I was dissapointed.

Almost noone in the crowd knew the new material, and it seemed over half didn't even know The Patient by the way they stood around. People rocked out to Vicarious, but didn't know what to do when The Pot and Jambi played.

I don't know how much else there is to say... it was a fantastic performance, as usual, but it really felt just like a show from the Lateralus tour, with two new songs. Maybe they'll switch some stuff up for the small venue shows or arenas - I'll let you know on Thursday ;)

Here are some shots of Tool on stage:

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/926/picture6016kk.jpg
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/1563/picture6020ii.jpg
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/3712/picture6217or.jpg
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/7691/picture621mx.jpg
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/4520/picture6318rj.jpg

Here's us trying to get out after the show :(

http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/6748/picture6726oo.jpg

[Paradigm619]

By the way.... was anyone else really nervous that they were going to stop playing The Pot when everyone started singing along? Those breaks between phrases at the beginning seemed so long, and I was sure Maynard was just going to stop.

I did like his comment though, "I know all you fuckers already downloaded the album."

[kabir]

man, coachella is such a great time. too bad i JUST got home at 444am.

i'll post a fuller review later, but i would like to tide you over with a few observations...

- maynard did in fact speak a lot more than usual tonight. clearly excited to have a (basically) hometown show after 3.5 years of no playing live. welcome us all with by calling us hippies and saying he could smell the patchouli.

- jambi. man that song shreds live.

- hilarious when maynard (after 'the pot' i think) made a comment about how he knew that 'all you fuckers already downloaded it', and went on to beseech the crowd to buy it on monday. a LOT of people near me (towards the front) knew 'the pot' and 'jambi' well enough.

- some rust did show. justin blew a note or two on the intro to 'schism'; adam changed up some things, including playing some feedbacky hum through the middle quiet part of 'sober', and maynard managed to rearrange the lines of the first chorus in 'sober' and forget to come back in for the later chorus of 'the patient' ... but it was still a great show.

- lots of disappointed moshers tonight. the midsection of the set ("jambi, schism, eon, patient") was intense yet mellow (no really), and a lot of the angry folks in the crowd backed down and didn't ramp up again until "ænema". even during "sober" the crowd was sort of mild.

- other thoughts on the day - massive attack was really great. lots of people standing around through massive attack unfortunately (for both parties) were tool fans, and these were the kind of tool fans who clearly wouldn't be into massive attack. it's a tough transition for a crowd to go from having a really mellow trip hop outfit to 20 minutes later tool taking the stage. ah well. but by far the best band i saw play tonight was actually digable planets. wow. we had thought it would be fun to check them out for old times' sake, but wow.

- all new visuals, for the most part. at long last, they actually played the entire videos through the respective songs, instead of just a loop of, say, five seconds from 'stinkfist' flipped around back and forth for the whole song.

- back to their old lineup, adam on the left, mjk in the back left, danny in the back right, and justin on the right.

- perhaps the biggest applause of the night was when they wheeled out danny's kit.

- "jambi" - the whole middle chunk was adam on a talkbox!!!

- final score:
opiate, 0 songs.
undertow, 1 song.
ænima, 3 songs.
lateralus, 4 songs.
10,000 days, 3 songs.

- technically, this was the 2nd of two consecutive tool shows for me (the last was tool's last show in 2002). and somehow, it appears this was my 20th tool show. yikes. i'm getting old.

[leeech]

They seemed slightly looser than they have in the past. Maynard came out and immediately said, "Good Evening Hippes! I smell patchouli." This set was definitely direct and to the point. Solid songs without much noodling in between.
There was a lot of smiling and laughing between the band members duting the set. Maybe not a lot, but more than I have seen before. I also saw Maynard making faces at Camella as she snapped pics of Adam on the talkbox during Jambi.

Danny was on his game. They all were, but he was doing some shit tonight that I have rarely seen from him.

Also, it seemed like most people were happy to hear The Pot. Maynard didn't seem to terribly upset about the leak. He called us fuckers.

[just simulacra]

Maynard said hes destitute, and needs the cash from album sales to buy a popcorn shaped gold ring, so when he punches people, it leaves a popcorn imprint on their face.

Pretty fucking hilarious ... but the quote of the night didn't come from tool ...

... instead, from a security guard arriving to the area a bit late, and commenting on the restless insanity of the crowd before had even arrived:


Guard 1: "Look at all this knuckleheads. What band is coming up next anyways?"
Guard 2: "Tool"
Guard 1: "...Oh shit."

[Cid]

maynard definitely talked more like the pre-lateralus tours. the talk box was awesome...justin on jambi was amazing and of course danny tore shit up. it did sound like they were about to start LK/rosetta stoned, but then went into sober. that was the only disappointment of the night. it was a great show though.

[leeech]

For the drummers:

It looked like one of the older Sonor kits. The brown one with the really thick shells. He had new heads on the kicks, but I couldn't tell if the were solid or screens like he usually plays.

Also, he's messing around with the remote hats between his top two toms again. It looks pretty cool and a lot more comfortable. He had the purple pads and the wave drum to the right and the handsonic--or whatever it is--on the left along with a good sized lcd screen right about where his old hihats would have been. I couldn't see what was on it, but it looked bigger than a laptop. Maybe a mixer or an eq or something.

I saw Scott Kinsey open for VOLTO and he dragged a whole G5 tower and Cinema display on stage with him. I don't know.

[vastus medialis]

I agree with kabir in that they seemd a little rusty, but they still "paper, scissors, rocked" the show. I wasn't too close to the stage, and most of the people in the back seemed to be the first-timers who were not all that familiar with Tool's songs. But that didn't stop me from being immersed in the show.

"Jambi" was the shit live, but I think that "The Pot" was my favorite of the new live songs. It just sounded the best live out of the three. But overall, it was definitely worth the money to see their first show in a while.

[Carbine000]

I agree there was some rust but I thought that really gave the show a better feel. These guys are human too (although sometimes it may not seem like it).

The talkbox on Jambi was so intense. Definitely one of my favorites live. All in all, I think the show was badass. I am sure that they will be doing a more intracate stage setup for the small venue tour.

[Mr. Krinkle]

What the fuck are you guys saying? The motive when the band came into Sober was the best.. don`t know why you`re so dissapointed, it`s a lot greater song than Rosseta Stoned.
I don`t remember anything... I was too drunk.
The worst thing in the whole gig was that many people didn`t even know what the hell TOOL is.

Oh, I Forgot. I`ve got a lot of pictures in a good quality... maybe I`ll post `em here, but don`t know where is the usb cable to plug in a pc my camera.

[SuperSteve]

That was absolutely fucking incredible! I was right infront of Adam and it was quite the clusterfuck of people. When I jumped i'd seriously move around without even touching the ground, i'd just be sandwiched inbetween some people.

I got some pretty good pics on a disposable camera, so i'll put them up once I get it developed.

Did I mention there were shit loads of people?

[Paradigm619]

This is the review I posted over at TA about the show. I also added 4 more pictures that I ripped off the video clips I got. I'd post the video, but the rules said I would be banned, so that's a no go.

Just got back from Coachella, and I have to hand it to them, Tool really did kick ass. For not performing live for 3 and a half years, these guys still got it down. Setlist was as follows:

01. Stinkfist
02. The Pot
03. Forty-six & 2
04. Jambi
05. Schism
06. Eon Blue Apocalypse
07. The Patient
08. Sober
09. Lateralus
10. Vicarious
11. Ænema

All the songs came across quite well. The new material sounds great live, by the way, and it all makes so much more sense when it's heard in that way. Both Jambi and The Pot were phenomenal with the full live effect, and the climax of Vicarious was breathtaking.

On the downside, Adam seemed to be having some tuning problems in Schism and Lateralus. Not sure what happened here, but overall it didn't detract too much from the overall performance.

The last three songs in the set were selected perfectly. It seemed as though it was going to be over after each of them, making it easier to take when they finally had to leave the stage. The new set and layout for this tour was a little less than I had hoped for, however. It is similar to the Lateralus tour setup, only now all four of the guys are in a straight line. It still goes (from left to right) Adam, Maynard, Danny, Justin, but now each of them have their own individual screen behind them with projections. Definitely cool, I guess I was just hoping for more of a change.

Most of the guys look the same except for Maynard. He sported a cowboy hat for almost all of the show. The one time he took it off, he revealed the Maynard Mohawk we haven't seen for so long. It was a bit of a shock to see that initially, but so cool.

Overall: Fantastic Show - 9/10

Link with a few more pictures:
http://www.sweepinghalo.com/tool/coachella

[povvy]

I was up front last night and was totally pissed off by the people screaming "TOOL!" between Massive Attack's songs. I yelled "be patient" a couple times to refute that, but it still makes me mad.

There were also assholes in jumpsuits who hung glowsticks from themselves and wore masks. They pushed themselves up near the front and eventually began throwing the glowsticks. MJK gathered them throughout the show and hung them on his belt.

In any case, this set list was definitely heavy on the singles (I noticed other major bands at the festival usually did the same thing) but quite enjoyable. Like others have said, "Jambi" live was great.

My favorite quote of the night? "Get out your calculators" -MJK before the heavy part of "Lateralus" kicked in.

Patrick.

[sonnyboy11]

man, coachella is such a great time. too bad i JUST got home at 444am. [...]

Nice review Kabir. Not much to add. This was my first time seeing Tool and I was not disappointed. Also, for a band whose fans seem to get such a bad rap, I thought everyone was pretty cool given the size of the crowd and the occasion. At least the fans around me were cool anyway. There was one girl complaining during Massive Attack for them to "hurry up!". I said 'shut up' at one point, but I guess she did not hear it.

Quick note- to the guy bashing Massive Attack, are you out of your mind?? They were great! It's a tough gig to go on before Tool as it is. But I thought they delivered in spades. If you don't know their material, or were just uppity to see Tool, that's one thing. But they 'sucked'? No.

[NAD]

I thought Massive Attack and Mogwai were great, never heard either band before. Anyhow, Tool were awesome. I think that was my 8th Tool show? The first was in some small rundown place in San Berdo in 1994. The intimacy of those days is long gone, but the intensity remains very much intact, and is perhaps better these days. Vicarious and Lateralus were the highlights for me, and other than that new one, I heard the others for the first time at this show which was very fun. Looking forward to hearing the album itself tomorrow.

Thankfully getting out of the parking lot wasn't nearly as hard as getting in, but it was still a 2 hour drive home. I'm tired.

[BlairLicksTaint]

That was a great show. Great sound, great playing. It sounded to me like Adam was trying alot of new sounds on the older songs. and Maynard was definitely changing his voice up a bit. I thought the visuals were kind of lame except for the videos. If this is their stage setup for the north american tour later this year, I will be very, very dissapointed.

[CaliKevin]

First Tool show ever, and damn, was I impressed. I was so overwhelmed by actually seeing them live that my eyes started to water as they performed from Stinkfist up until Schism, mouthing the lyrics and bobbing my head to the beat along with everyone else around me. I had never seen Maynard live before, but I was half expecting him to come out with full body paint or fake tits on. I too was surprised at how much he was "chatting", I'd never heard of him being very... "social" at the shows.

I thought it was funny that nearly every Tool fan within earshot was practically booing Massive Attack to get off the stage so Tool could perform. One quote went like this:

Tool fan: "Fuck this shit, bring out Tool!"
Massive Attack fan: "Fuck you!"

One thing I didn't like about the show were all of the thrashers. I really don't see the point of moshing, but I could be alone. I understand you are excited, but that doesnt mean you need to try and knock the people around you down. I was towards the left side of the stage, maybe 30 feet from the stage. (If you saw the guy in the arm cast crowd surfing before it started, and saw where he kind of fell into the crowd a bit, that was right where we were.) When the show started, the herd immediately pushed with all their force forward, knocked one of my female friends down, and started a moshpit. My girlfriend and the friend that got knocked down left that part of the crowd at that time, and I just moved back about 20 more feet, where the crowd was a bit more interested in the performance. I wasn't able to really get any decent pictures; I was too far away for flash to be useful, and too close for no flash to work. I did get video segments recorded though, so I could remember the setlist later on.

I'm so happy, I can now say I've seen all of my top bands live: A Perfect Circle, Dredg, The Mars Volta, Nine Inch Nails, and now Tool.

@NAD:
I found getting out of the parking lot a lot tougher than getting in, but that could be because I arrived at about 1pm. Not sure about you. Took about an hour or so to get to the freeway, wouldn't you say? Our hotel room was in Redlands, we didn't get back there until about 3am. But it was definately worth it.

@BlairLicksTaint:
I also noticed a few new sounds on the older songs, didn't Danny add some sounds to The Patient? Some kind of bell or something.

[MikeBalzary]

Amazing show
agree with kabir, crowd was a little lackluster at times.
it also seemed like the crowd was singing louder than maynard during stinkfist.

Sidenote: got pulled over on the way there, long story short the cop that pulled me over said he pulled over maynard on his way to coachella.

[NAD]

. I too was surprised at how much he was "chatting", I'd never heard of him being very... "social" at the shows. Before Lateralus he talked a lot, at least at the shows I went to. That's half the fun of a Tool show for me, Maynard is one funny dude. @NAD:
I found getting out of the parking lot a lot tougher than getting in, but that could be because I arrived at about 1pm. Not sure about you. Took about an hour or so to get to the freeway, wouldn't you say? Our hotel room was in Redlands, we didn't get back there until about 3am. But it was definately worth it. We got off the freeway at 2:30pm but didn't park until about 4pm, but getting out only took maybe 20 minutes to get to the 10. There were a lot of cars left in the parking lot when we got out there though, just got lucky I suppose. We must've been toward the front of the cattle herd getting out, haha.

[CaliKevin]

Ahh yes, you arrived at a later time than me, and we were fairly close the exit, in Lot 3. You must have either been right at the exit to Lot 3, or really deep into the next lot over.

Yea, Maynard is a funny dude. I loved the golden popcorn bit, and the "I know all you fuckers downloaded the CD" comment. "Paper, scissors, rock" was comedy gold. "I wrote that one."

[zoomster]

My first time seeing Tool. Second time attending Coachella.
Coachella was amazing overall.... Tool was a fabulous way to end the festival.

I was in the wayyyy back, by the time Tool came on I was already beaten by the grueling day. While it may not be as intense watching Tool from such a long distance, it was still very awesome.

I just wish I could have heard Prison Sex, 10k days, and reflection! Forty Six and Two was probably my favorite. Overall amazing performance. Took a couple small clips and some pictures.. may post later.

http://s40.photobucket.com/albums/e226/airzero23/Coachella/

[Apostate]

it also seemed like the crowd was singing louder than maynard during stinkfist..
They (we) were, I recorded the entire performance of Stinkfist on my phone, and its incredibly hard to hear Maynard clearly for most of the time.

First time seeing them live, and despite the "lackluster" crowd, I was amazed at the sheer power behind all of us singing along and pumping our arms together during all of the big finale sequences.

@Paradigm619 - Yeah, the way he abruptly stopped singing the opening to The Pot sort of had me going "Oh shit" since quite a few people around me (I was about 35-40 feet off to the left-center of the stage) started singing along.

[SoulEdge]

Holy fuck Coachella was an awesome set, finally TOOL performed after all these years.

They played on the main stage-the Coachella stage-with 2 enormous screens to the left and right of the set, with the addition of 4 screens behind the band. There were near 40,000 people anxiously awaiting the glory of TOOL, and they played well.

Hello Hippies!

This was the first thing Maynard said when he appeared on stage, classic.

This was the setlist (the order might be wrong):

Stinkfist
The Pot
46 & 2
Jambi
Eon Blue Apocalypse
The Patient
Schism
Sober
Vicarious
Lateralus
Aenema

Post pictures if you took any, and discuss any other Coachella follies here.

[bent]

I suspect I'm on an island here but did ANYBODY else notice how bad the sound mix was???? All of Danny's brass was mixed WAAAAY over the top. Everytime he hit a cymbal it just washed everything else out. It sounded like compressed steam being fired into your ears. I oftentimes during the songs couldn't hear Adam's guitar over this. Seriously, majorly fucking loud and not in a good way at all. Worst live drums I've ever heard. It was pretty disappointing. And oddly, Massive Attack's mix sounded PERFECT. I was sure there was a problem until it just never changed from song to song. Oh well. Perhaps I'm just getting too old.

[autumnleigh]

It was a great show. I won't go over the set list agin as it has already been posted. The band sounded very tight overall with few hiccups. Great, great show.

I tried to get some footage on my digital "camera" so its not the best, but not bad either. Here is the end of Jambi, from pretty far back. Enjoy.

http://media.putfile.com/Jambi-Coachella-06

[Emericana]

i flew in from denver to go to the show. ive essentially been up since 3am on sunday when my trip began. i just got home to boulder. it is 5:49pm right now. I have pretty much been up for almost 48 hours (too braindead now to do the math)... it was worth every penny i paid. it was the first tool show ive been too. it was SOOO good. i was 3 people behind the front bar so rediculoulsy close to the stage. probably the best concert ive been too.

yeah yeah yeah's surprised me i liked them a lot. their singer was pretty cool IMO

[AMF]

Ok, so what do you guys think of this setlist? I think for the the rest of tour we might get a longer set becauase they will have longer time to play, and probably they will throw some more 10,000 Days songs in once the album is officially out over here. What do you guys think?

[SoulEdge]

Ok, so what do you guys think of this setlist?

It was alright, I wanted them to play Opiate though.

[Paradigm619]

I think it's pretty good overall. They played all their "popular" songs: their singles and such.

It would have been cool to see a lot of other stuff, but you can't have everything. Right in Two, Wings/10k Days, The Grudge, Pushit, and Third Eye would have all been amazing, but I think it's pretty good th way it is.

I agree, however, that the setlist will be longer for the other mini-tour shows. They were kind of limited on time, and you will probably get around 15 songs instead of 11.

[PoisonSkin]

awesome show. thought it sounded great. some minor fuckups but whatever. fun show

seeing daft punk was a trip to. man people out there ate that shit up. probably the best light show with triangles I've ever seen.

[Milkbox]

Yeah, Coachella 2006.
Everyone was wondering what Maynard's stage performance was like.
Well, he appeared on stage with a cowboy hat, shirtless, and sporting some levi's.
He was much more verbose than usual and greeted the crowd by calling us all "hippies". He made a lot of jokes about the album leaking, said he wants us all to buy it so he can get some ring? I dunno...

At the end of the show Danny, Adam, and Justin approached the front of the stage and with the field lights on, gave a good wave to all of us. Maynard was still kinda in the shadows, kinda pissed me off. Well that might be some insight into what lies in the future for those of you who plan on seeing tool on this new tour. Oh yeah, the visuals were still awesome as usual!
If anyone finds out who's opening for Tool (if anyone) be sure to post it!

[Kaoticz]

Excellent show...

I was basically 15 feet from the stage (about 3-4 people back from the front rail) during massive attack. It was a clusterfuck during that time and Massive Attack was putting me to sleep (its not that they were boring, but after 2 days of nothing but heat and over $100 bucks in beer a day, any music would put me out). As soon as Massive Attack said "goodnight", me and my lady were forced up. I got really angry and began to put my feet ahead of me and hold as many back as possible. I did alright, until some dude began to REALLY push me. My lady felt suficated and I had to get her out. She damn nearly passed out as I was dragging her through the crowd. No one wanted to move as I said "SHES PASSING OUT!! MOVE!!", so I began to throw elbows and believe I nailed a couple of women...oh well...get the fuck out of my way next time.

That was that, we went and got some water and headed back toward the stage and ended up directly in front of the right screen about 100 ft. back...and it was much better than being smashed in the crowd.

Other than Tool puting on an EXCELLENT show, the rest of the festival was great. Sigur Ros, Atmosphere, Paul Oakenfold, My Morning Jacket, Sleater Kinney, and DAFT PUNK were among my favorites (I didnt catch too many acts, due to getting drunk in the beer garden all day long). The festival was fun...and I hope they do it again.

Oh, I forgot...fuck all the Madonna fans.

[zoomster]

paul oakenfold was fun... lol @ that girl who flashed
daft punk was amazing
wolf parade also was great

[Considerately Killing Me]

Mogwai blew my mind last night. I saw them in the Mojave tent with Ash in 2004 and that was a great show. Last night, though they were completely over the top. I was seriously concerned that my eardrums might burst before Tool came on, and I loved it.

Tool came on after a predictable half hour delay, complete with all the rigging drama you would expect from their first show in years. I wasn't crazy about the setlist (mostly the shorter "user-friendly" songs). Closing with Aenima was brilliant, though. It really fit the crowd perfectly. I was hoping to hear Third Eye live again, oh well.

I agree they were rusty, with the exception to me being Justin. Even though he didn't quite catch the arpeggios right at the beginning of Schism I thought he was fucking brilliant. Watching he and Danny is a treat. They are hands down the best rhythm section in rock music today.

As Adam broke into the talk box during Jambi, I regretted hearing the album leak. I thought with envy of someone at the show who was hearing that for the first time. Jambi live is a completely different animal than the leak, and the Meshuggar influence comes through much stronger.

I attend Coachella every year, and this year was one of the best (even though most of my crew were absent this year and I only did Sunday.) I have never seen it as crowded as yesterday. We parked out past lot G, and as we walked in we had to cut through the stables.

[lexiconoclast]

the ring is supposed to be a solid gold popcorn bowl... for when you roll up on him and try to take his picture, and he socks you in the face, it feels like a bowl of popcorn.


'Get out your calculators....'

'we're gonna scissors-paper-rock you'

w

pretty great show

3 10k traks i think

a bunch of standards

nothing off opiate


it was really good... vicarious really knocked everyone out...

met justin in VIP was a wonderful evening

fjoiv

[optimistic-pessimist]

I don't have time for a full review right now, I JUST got back to Baton Rouge from California. Coachella was a lot of fun, but it was a very tiring, almost grueling weekend for me... trying to see as many acts as possible. On Sunday around 4 I staked out a spot on the front rail of the main stage, out by the speakers, and stayed there for over 8 hours until TOOL finished around 12:30. After they finished I had to go pack up my stuff and drive to the airport to catch a flight back. With a couple of transfers and lengthy layovers, it has been one hell of a day. All worth it, though, for my 23rd TOOL show.

Anyway, just a few comments for now...

TOOL seemed like they were really laid back and just having fun with this show. There were some mistakes... Maynard with a few lyrics, Justin and Adam with a missed note here and there, Danny... well... actually I didn't really catch any on his part, but if he made them I'm sure he could cover it up pretty easily.

A few Maynardisms...

1) "Welcome to our first show in many years. We wanted to take it down a notch, keep it all small and intimite, invite a few friends. Welcome...
But you, dude. You need to put your fucking clothes back on. You're bumming me out. Got lost on the way to Burning Man."

2) "New album comes out tomorrow at midnight. I know you fuckers all downloaded it already. Do me a favor. I'm trying to buy this gold nugget shaped like a piece of popcorn, for a ring. So I need you to buy a bunch of records so I can afford that. Big ole gold nugget. Like four of 'em. Then when I hit you in the face for taking my photo, it'll look like someone hit you with a bowl of popcorn. Help me out, will ya? I'm destitute." This was just before Jambi... Fitting considering the lyrics at the beginning of this song...

3) "Hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Hope you all got a chance to go in the VIP tent. Of course you all did, right? It's fucking L.A. Everybody's a fucking VIP. Can I get a witness?"

Random non-TOOL comment: Brad Wilk from Audioslave was there and wandering around the festival both days. I managed to meet him briefly when I was up close watching Sigur Ros. Anyway... moving on...

They re-used many video clips previously seen on the Lateralus tour, but they had them mixed in with some new ones. One that stands out in memory was a closeup of a face that looked like it was sort of made of raw hamburger meat, for lack of a better way to describe it.

I can't speak for the rest of the crowd, but NO ONE in my immediate area noticed or responded when Justin walked onstage at the beginning of the show. From my viewpoint, he was the first one to come out. He just strolled out, smiling, walked over to his bass and put it on. Even then, I didn't hear any response from the crowd. But anyway, TOOL didn't use any kind of intro or lead-in or anything, which just added to the "casual" feel of this show.

Also, all the TOOL fans that were chanting "TOOL" during Massive Attack's set, and making comments about how they should hurry up and get off the stage and whatnot, REALLY pissed me off. You don't have to LIKE them, but at least have some fucking respect. It just reminded me of EVERY SINGLE headlining show I've been to, where people will bitch and moan about the opening act.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment. Several people have already posted most of the things that I would have said. It was a good show... lots of fun, but now I'm REALLY looking forward to my 3 mini-tour dates.

[kether4602]

o.O ....amazing concert.

.

[smithers]

Did anyone notice when he changed the lines in Aenima? Instead of MJK singing "Fuck L Ron Hubard and fuck all his clones" he said "Fuck Rupert Murdoch and fuck all his clones"

Coachella was amazing. got super close, was somewhat preturbed by the disrespect many in tool shirts showed Massive Attack. What do those douchebags want?!?!?! tons of bands doing music derivative of tunes you already like and recognize?

[EvilDoR]

Anyone have any idea where that phone conversation in between Massive Attack and Tool is from? Very interesting.

"I'm an evil motherfucka!"

[Emericana]

yeah i was at the total front too. 3rd person from gate. AMAZING SHOW. my favorites were jambi, 46&2, and aenima

[darshun]

HEY FUCKTARDS!!! anyone noticed that maynard had a keyboard next to him to his right? I think he played a few inaudible notes but i forget what new song he played it on (vicarious or jambi, maybe the pot). In my oldness I have already forgotten, plus being a day older than kabir couldn't get any worse. Massive Attack was fucking great, just wished they played protection. someone is already busy putting up on a site a few of the songs from the set... you just gotta squint your eyes and prep your bowels to find it. my recording turned out alright, except there were a few maynard wannabees singing along to their favorite or known song.

[wix3l]

What a great show. It was so fucking intense.

Best Maynard line:

"You need to put your clothes back on buddy. You're fuckin disappointing me. What'd you get lost on the way to burning man?"

He was talking to a crowd surfer.

[darshun]

it wasn't you're fuckin disappointing me... it was "you're bumming me out"

[Paradigm619]

Excellent show...

I was basically 15 feet from the stage (about 3-4 people back from the front rail) during massive attack. It was a clusterfuck during that time and Massive Attack was putting me to sleep (its not that they were boring, but after 2 days of nothing but heat and over $100 bucks in beer a day, any music would put me out). As soon as Massive Attack said "goodnight", me and my lady were forced up. I got really angry and began to put my feet ahead of me and hold as many back as possible. I did alright, until some dude began to REALLY push me. My lady felt suficated and I had to get her out. She damn nearly passed out as I was dragging her through the crowd. No one wanted to move as I said "SHES PASSING OUT!! MOVE!!", so I began to throw elbows and believe I nailed a couple of women...oh well...get the fuck out of my way next time.

That was that, we went and got some water and headed back toward the stage and ended up directly in front of the right screen about 100 ft. back...and it was much better than being smashed in the crowd.

Other than Tool puting on an EXCELLENT show, the rest of the festival was great. Sigur Ros, Atmosphere, Paul Oakenfold, My Morning Jacket, Sleater Kinney, and DAFT PUNK were among my favorites (I didnt catch too many acts, due to getting drunk in the beer garden all day long). The festival was fun...and I hope they do it again.

Oh, I forgot...fuck all the Madonna fans.

Hahaha... I saw you as you went by i think. There was some dude right behind me as you were coming through and he was like "Hey there's a lady here man" and you were like "She's passing out".

[Paradigm619]

Did anyone notice when he changed the lines in Aenima? Instead of MJK singing "Fuck L Ron Hubard and fuck all his clones" he said "Fuck Rupert Murdoch and fuck all his clones"

Coachella was amazing. got super close, was somewhat preturbed by the disrespect many in tool shirts showed Massive Attack. What do those douchebags want?!?!?! tons of bands doing music derivative of tunes you already like and recognize?

Yeah I heard that. That was hilarious.

[beligerentfokker]

This was my first Tool show since Coachella '99. One major contrast between the two was the size of the crowd that stayed to watch them at the end. Much larger crowd this time around. It seems the maturity of the crowd has also grown with the band. There's always that ONE guy.. you know who I mean.. but the majority of the crowd was definately more mellow, like.. well, a bunch of hippies. This one girl in front of us, for instance, was dancing to Aenema as if she were working the pole at a gentlemen's club. It looked rather odd, but fascinating to watch.

The band sounded crisp throughout, despite their absence from the scene (and a few minor technical difficulties). After a delay in their start, they kicked of the set with Stinkfist and never let up. As they went into The Pot, many a strain of the "happy cloud" could be seen and smelt wafting up from the crowd. Crowd pleasers were Schism, Sober and Aenema - as well as.. many a strain of the "happy cloud". Maynard seemed to be channeling Bill Hicks with his sardonic quips between songs, as Adam channeled Joe Walsh with his amazing use of the Talk Box during Jambi.

If this is the first of a few warm-up dates, then I can't wait to see how they sound when they're warmed up for the start of their tour later this summer.

Although my sole purpose for going was to see Tool, I did happen to check out a few other acts while there. James Blunt was starting upon our arrival, so we made our way to the Mojave tent. Next we went to the Outdoor Theater to check out Minus The Bear. Hadn't heard a whole lot about them, but with a name like that, it was worth a look-see. They didn't sound too bad. I was pretty loaded, though, so I couldn't really describe them here. After that, we made our way to the Sahara. Our thinking was, since we'll never pay for a ticket to see her, why not extend the value of our tickets and check out Madonna. My pre-show opinion didn't change, an entertainer like Madonna doesn't belong at an event like Coachella. That's like having Britney Spears headline Lollapalooza. She finally came out after a long delay, and played 5 songs, only 2 of which I had heard, and then bailed. I feel bad for the people who bought tickets just because she was in the lineup. I would have felt cheated. Before her, at the Sahara, was Paul Oakenfold. Definately one of the premiere DJs worldwide. I witnessed as he converted many non-dance types into a bunch of mad bastards. After losing about 4 pounds of water weight in the dance tent, we watched the last 20 minutes of Coheed & Cambria, made our way to the souvenir stand and caught the tail end of Massive Attack's set.

Coachella itself has turned into a beast. The cost for a ticket in '99 was $50. The price this year was up $5 from last year. It's my hope they don't continue to use "entertainers" to boost ticket sales and their bottom line. That kind of thinking is what eventually did the original incarnation of Lollapalooza in. Keep it as an art and music festival, focusing on the music being part of the art.

[GeorgeinNY]

I was standing on the right side behind the x barrier close to middle. Got there for Metasyahu, then Sleater Kinney (who made a Tool comment) something like "is everyone going to see Madonna later", and everyone yelled "NOOO" then she said how they had more in common with Tool than Madonna. Then it was Yeah Yeah Yeahs (best show of the day my opinion) By this time people really started to move up. I was talking to some dude he said no need to move up yet, I moved up few songs later. Moved up close to the middle of YYY, and by the end it was pretty solid Tool fans up by the x barrier, only a few people left and rest of the people camped the spot.

After the long ass delay for Madonna on the other end of the grounds, Massive Attack. I have to say of the bands that played the main stage they were probably one of the worst. Absolutely no crowd response, polite applause at best. NO Massive Attack fans to speak of, some of it was downright 2nd rate, like the singer who did the Sinead OConnor parts, she was awful...

Before Tool came on you could tell people were suffering up front, there was a chant "We want water" no wonder they must have been camping their spots at least since 5 pm.

The delay setting up the rigging omg, at least 10 minute delay, the union guy had to go up the rigging and adjust refloctors, then something else got fucked up to the left of stage which took few minutes to fix.

Warm up music was infomercial parody Frankenstein something, then black metal band phony phone call which got the biggest laughs and a some death metal song which I did not recognize. All this was used on the previous tour? Im sure I heard all of these clips before...

Performance itself was good, not great(third time seeing them live, plus bootlegs). Maynard coming out in his mid 90s look mohawk was nice. Only thing that wasnt mentioned is he said before Aenema, "Did you guys get to visit VIP area, everyones a VIP in LA" or words to those effects. I dont think thought Maynard saying he would punch fuckers in the face who tried to take his pictures went over too well considering every fucker in the crowd had a camera and was taking pictures....When they kicked off Stink Fist cameras flashing all over the place...

Performance itself I would rate a good, but pretty much Tool by numbers, arrangements followed the records CLOSELY. The visuals for Sober were changed, though I dont remember if it was the same as the last tour. It was not as good as it should have been IMHO, wish they threw in something crazy ala Salival, or Third Eye, basically we got Tool greatest hits (btw from talking to maybe a dozen people, I was surpirised how many of them first got into them only since Lateralus).

Got to say hello to the 2 dudes and 2 girls from Arizona I met at breakfast in the camp, also to the dude from Bayside I met on the plane ride back, drop me a line or post here, (He went all the way to Coachella just for Tool(1st show ever) and "somehow" managed to miss them.) Maybe someone will be kind enough to set up this guy with a ticket to one of the NY shows(if you have extras)...

Also should be mentioned "Tool at Coachella" shirts were on sale, I guess they are collectible unless Tool Army is selling them...also minitour shirts, Tool logo and dates for the minitour on the back.

PS- Took pictures and snippets... whats the policy on cameras rest of the tour anyone know?

pps- Belligerent- I agree this was my first Coachella, dont know about Madonna since I didnt see even 1 sec of her, but Depeche Mode? I mean come on the premise of Coachella from little I know is its supposed to be up and coming young bands cutting edge etc. Depeche Mode is practically an oldies revival act.
Other bands I caught that I liked- Clap Your Hands, YYY, Franz Ferdinand and Wolfmother, Daft Punk, even whats his name James Blunt? pretty damn good though normally thats not my type of music. Also who was the skinny little punk chick on the secod day? Man she had energy.

Acts that I did not care for- Eagles of Death Metal- rip-off Southern Rock- come on! plust DM and Massive Attack.

[melvintillius]

The rehearsal show in LA was 2 hours long. All 7 shows I went to on the Lateralus tour were 2 hours as well. I expect the shows to be about that long with a very Toolish trippy intermission. Festival sets are normally shorter, although when I saw them at Voodoo in New Orleans in 2001 it was a 2 hour set. Expect much more of the new material at the headlining gigs.

[sonnyboy11]

Massive Attack was great and crowd response was fine except for the idiots who kept yelling for Tool. Seriously, what show were some of you guys at?

[absurd73]

"I smell patchouliiiii"

maynard is a funny motherfucker when he's feeling it.

re: "bad" tool fans. yes, there was a jocko contingent. but more and more these days you watch the backwards baseball caps run around and hit people for a few songs, then slowly transform into slack jawed statues as they realize they're having a religious experience. i remember and regret acting like those jackasses during the early part of the aenima tour, so i always hold out hope that the retards yelling "fuck massive attack" are just hatchlings on their way to a greater experience. that is the most hippie bullshit i've ever written.

anyone else stand in front of the ground level stacks? i was left of adam, 20 feet back, right in the footprint of those beasts. justin was heavily distorted, but the sound was so f-ing big that every low end note made the band look like a shakey-cam effect because my eyes were vibrating in my skull. i've seen sunn0))) from 10 feet and the melvins from 0, but i've never experienced that kind of huge-osity before. just wish the mix was as clean as massive attack.

decided not to cum too soon and miraculously avoided listening to pre-release bootleg of 10,000 Days (regretted listening to bad boot of Lateralus last time). VERY GLAD i waited. hearing new songs for the first time in a live setting was...um...intense. as was the climax of 'lateralus' (most amazing song ever written, imo), Adam's trance inducing riff descending large from the heavens. indescribable.

last thought...dear coachella organizers: many people at the festival have been drinking your $8,000 beers and/or taking drugs for 12 hours straight. howzabout giving them a couple minutes after the music stops to lay on the grass and recover before herding everyone into the parking lot and onto the road?

[Mavrik21]

They went on about 15 minutes late (11pm) and ended at 12:20am. 10 Songs but I have to tell ya - it seemed like the set-list was chosen from their 'radio' songs. Except for 'the patient', 'jambi' and 'the pot' = everything else was kinda like their 'popular' songs. Little disappointing. On the good side - Maynard sounded amazing - his voice is well rested.

[optimistic-pessimist]

Anyway, did anyone else notice that during "Damn my eyes..." in Jambi, they layered Maynard's voice, and put an effect on the layers, so it almost sounded like he had a chorus singing with him. Pretty cool...

[TOOL_Rules]

Nice review Kabir. Not much to add. This was my first time seeing Tool and I was not disappointed. Also, for a band whose fans seem to get such a bad rap, I thought everyone was pretty cool given the size of the crowd and the occasion. At least the fans around me were cool anyway. There was one girl complaining during Massive Attack for them to "hurry up!". I said 'shut up' at one point, but I guess she did not hear it.

Quick note- to the guy bashing Massive Attack, are you out of your mind?? They were great! It's a tough gig to go on before Tool as it is. But I thought they delivered in spades. If you don't know their material, or were just uppity to see Tool, that's one thing. But they 'sucked'? No.

Yes, Massive Attack DID indeed suck and they in no way belonged on that stage before TOOL was to play their first live show in 3 1/2 years. I was telling everyone around me, "This is painful, their tunes are getting worse with every one they play." Granted, it was a stage full of good musicians, I'll give you that. But the tempo of every one of their suck-ass songs was about the same. Slow, droning, boring pace to everything they played. No one can refute that fact. You could not pay me enough money to put one of their CDs in any of my players. God, they sucked! They really belonged in the dance tent opening for Madonna. NO WAY did they belong on that main stage before a band the caliber of TOOL. I've seen some suck-ass bands open for TOOL over the last 13 years, but Massive Attack was anything but massive or attacking. It was fucking boring as it could be, until the last half of their last song. It was cool.

As for TOOL, very few missteps, sound quality was incredible, and the three new tunes fit right in with anything they would choose to play. Great set overall. The naysayers will see if they get to see them live on this tour that these latest tunes are awesome and they go over very well live. With The Pot being the second tune, every single person around me knew the words and were singing them at the top of their lungs. Everybody go BUY 10,000 Days because this is the best music you can find anywhere in the world. Let's see if we can make it debut at #1 again like Lateralus. I don't want to see the leak hurt first week sales too much. At $10 each I'm going to buy several. I'll help Maynard get that popcorn gold nugget ring.

[Andorion]

Every time I've seen Tool from the pit, I've camped for hours and hours to be sure I'm at the very front. That's about 12 shows that I've waited 5+ hours for, each. I said fuck it this time. I enjoyed my time at the rest of the festival, and just before Tool came on, I made my way through the crowd to just behind the big barrier-cross. It was a great view, pretty close. If anyone else was in that area (right/back of the cross, very near the inside corner) that I pissed off, I apologize, but the people who I ended up near were cool and didn't mind me being there.

I felt bad basically cutting in front of a bunch of people, but we all shot the shit for the hour before Tool came on, and a good time was had by all.

[GeorgeinNY]

"Mellow Retreat"- dude that made me crack up! Where I was standing there was no one really screaming Tool or anything, it was polite clapping. Bottom line is Massive Attack made no new fans with that performance, I checked out some of their studio stuff when I found out they were on before Tool, and man it wasnt even as good as that, the Sinead imitator was weak, the guy in dreads- bad singer off key. I think you could tell in the lead musicians face at the end, they seemed so down, the white girl was so down...

You should go check out the review of Coachella at NY Times, Tool is mentioned. However I must say I read in two places already how this was the break out moment for Yeah Yeah Yeahs. I think they made a lot of fans, I wish I had tickets for tonight at Roseland. That is definitely one band Id like to see again. I bet their record sales jump this week more than any other band in the lineup.

Andorion- I think you are the dude that cut right in front of me from the sound of it! Back of your head is in all my pictures(fucker! j/k), to my left was a girl and a guy with a big ass Tool back pack and then some small girl and the corner, I was about 6 feet from the corner, wearing a Mets hat. Behind me was also a girl with a professional camera I hope she got some good picks to post, sorry if my head was in your way btw if youre reading this...

[sonnyboy11]

Sonnyboy, I was at the same show as you and what in God's name did you like so much about Massive Attack? You must know their music and like it for some reason. It, to me, could not be more boring and I could never listen to that for any sort of enjoyment. As musicians they are great. That was apparent. But you can take the best studio musicians in the world and put them on stage and that doesn't mean they're going to MOVE people like a band like TOOL can. I know you're not saying they're TOOL. There's only one of those. But I thought MA was horribly misplaced on that bill and in no way should have been the last band to go on before TOOL. Do you think they write ANY up-tempo songs? Or are they all that slow, droning pace that makes a boring song take forever to get through. Everyone around me agreed that it was painful to get through their 75-minute set (about 45 minutes too long if you're hearing about the same song every time). Their female singers weren't even that good. Massive Attack needs to rename itself Mellow Retreat with Ocaasional Volume.

I too was there primarily to see Tool and, as I said earlier, I was not disappointed. But Massive Attack was not misplaced on the bill. The idea behind Coachella is to put together a diverse bill of artists with the intention of perhaps broadening a few musical horizons. At every other message board related to this Coachella show, the general consensus was that Massive Attack was one of the best acts there that night, and I agree. It is ONLY Tool fans who did not appear to get it.

Remember, Sunday at Coachella was NOT a Tool show- it was Coachella. And there is a difference. Massive Attack was excellent. Yes, I know their music well. And I love their slow, heavy vibe. I also thought the vocalists were great. How anyone could think otherwise is beyond me and, again, it's only here that I have seen anything negative written about their performance.

That said, I respect your opinions. I simply take exception to using the word 'suck' to define something that just wasn't your thing. If someone tells me Tool 'sucked' that night (and they have), I react pretty much the same way.

Also, I know I am not the only person here who liked Massive Attack (Paradigm619 ). This will be my last comment on it though. There are plenty of other places to talk about other bands. I'm excited about Tool and that's why I come here. New CD today and I could not be more stoked!

[faun]

Great show!! Here are some photos and a couple video clips. I am new to this forum, so sorry if they do not post correctly...the video is all over the place because could hardly contain myself but the sound is good...

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool12.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool11.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool10.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool3.jpg
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/?action=view&current=ToolVideo.flv
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/?action=view&current=ToolVideo2.flv

[Mavrik21]

I'll try to be as quick and candid as possible.

Maynard's voice sounded well rested. Justin, Danny and Adam were amazing as usual. The set list was very 'popular radio songs' = which was weird considering the band's m-o. Crowds at these festivals do not really understand TOOL's music. I heard one idiot pushing threw the crowd asking where the mosh pit was = annoying!

Looking forward to the small venue tour before Europe...see ya in NYC!

[anthrotool]

Anyone have any idea where that phone conversation in between Massive Attack and Tool is from? Very interesting.

"I'm an evil motherfucka!"


thats evil joe. it's a prank phone call that has been around the net for a while. Tool added some ethereal track over it. Sounded so funny there in that kind of atmosphere. If you want it, just type in evil joe on google and you'll find it somewhere.

[sonnyboy11]

Great show!! Here are some photos and a couple video clips. I am new to this forum, so sorry if they do not post correctly...the video is all over the place because could hardly contain myself but the sound is good...

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool12.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool11.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool10.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool3.jpg
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/?action=view&current=ToolVideo.flv
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/?action=view&current=ToolVideo2.flv

Nice clips you got there! I raelly thought that end section for Lateralus was the highlight of the night for me. It was just plain thumpin!

I am interested to see in these coming theatre shows just what direction they go with the setlists. I would think that the main arena tour later this year would focust mostly on 10,000 Days. But for now maybe they are content to just use the older material as a way to 'warm up'.

[SuperSteve]

I got my disposable camera developed today. The quality of the pics didn't come out as good as I hoped they would. Oh well, that's what I get for using a disposable.

http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f377/surfer144/Coachella/?action=view&current=010_9A.jpg
http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f377/surfer144/Coachella/?action=view&current=011_10A.jpg
http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f377/surfer144/Coachella/?action=view&current=012_11A.jpg
http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f377/surfer144/Coachella/?action=view&current=013_12A.jpg
http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f377/surfer144/Coachella/?action=view&current=014_14A.jpg
http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f377/surfer144/Coachella/?action=view&current=018_18A.jpg



Great show!! Here are some photos and a couple video clips. I am new to this forum, so sorry if they do not post correctly...the video is all over the place because could hardly contain myself but the sound is good...


Pretty sweet pics man. How many megapixel is your camera? I'm looking to buy one and i'd be happy with pics as clear as yours.

[Captain_Stupendous]

Coachella was my second Tool show. First was United Center in Chicago in 2002 for Lateralus tour. Personally I enjoyed them much better outside under the stars. Both shows were absolutely fucking riveting and deeply spiritual experiences. The anticipation and energy prior to Tool taking the stage was palpable.

Did anyone recognize the first pre-performance audio clip? Not the Evil Joe phone call, (funny but old) but rather the "Frankenstein implants....world-wide lobotomy...blah blah blah Frankenstein....." bit that sounded like a 1950's radio advertisement for teflon frying pans. It was tough to hear all of it and I would like to see if I can find it on the net, as what I could make out was brilliant!

Other notable performances at Coachella:

Daft Punk, Gnarls Barkley, Digable Planets

There is little else to say to anybody that braved the desert heat this year. Tool is undoubtedly the greatest show on earth. For those of you who couldn't stomach Massive Attack, I feel sorry for you. At least your ability to appreciate good music is apparent in your devotion to Tool.

[faun]

Pretty sweet pics man. How many megapixel is your camera? I'm looking to buy one and i'd be happy with pics as clear as yours.

Thanks. It is a Canon Power Shot. 5.0 megapixels but the best part is the 12x optical zoom. I was on the back side of the sound stage during the show.

[noresolution2]

Highlights of the show for me.

Tool (obviously)- A little rusty for the reasons stated before, but an excellent show nonetheless. Good selection of songs, I was hoping for 10000 days/Wings but I'm sure they'll pull that out on their real tours. The mix was a little funky, too much high end and cymballs and not enough bass, but it was a big outdoor venue and I was pretty far back. I think if you wanted a good spot, you pretty much had to get there 3 hours early and stay planted. I would have, but Mogwai and Coheed went on right before them and I wanted to catch both of them. We pushed our way as far towards the front and middle as we could during Massive Attack but at some point it was just a solid mass of humanity. I expected people to clear out a little between bands, but all the Tool fans just ended up packing closer together. Oh well. I'll have a seat next time, and a good one.

Sigur Ros- Their last song completely destroyed me. Insane. I like how they brought out the extra horns and strings, espcially the massive bow-shredding on their second to last song. That was the first time I have seen them live and I was very impressed.

Coheed and Cambria- Third time seeing them, was very impressed. The mix was perfect, there was a lot of energy in the crowd. They played a good set, mostly their harder stuff, and Claudio's vocals were much better than the last time I saw them. The jam during the Final Cut was a little too long and they probably could have fit a couple more songs in there if they weren't trying so hard to be the Mars Volta. But whatever, good performance.

Mogwai- Only caught the first three songs because their set overlapped with Coheed's and I left early to catch them and meet my friend at their tent. They were fucking LOUD. Does anybody remember their setlist? I'm not too familiar with them and I'd like to know what I heard.

Minus the Bear- I wanted to discover one new band and this was it. Excellent performance, I wish they hadn't played right in the middle of the afternoon, the heat was fucking me up and I probably would have enjoyed them more if I wasn't so delirious. But I was very impressed. My friend described them as a less poppy version of the Killers, which is pretty accurate. Or maybe their a more poppy Facing New York. In any case, good band. I bought their newest CD today.

Kanye West, Common, Depeche Mode, Damian Marley, and Oakenfold were also pretty entertaining, but nothing about them blew me away. Oakenfold sounded amazing, but I can only take trance in small doses.

[cliff]

Good line about Massive Attack not being massive or attacking, however, someone correct me if I'm wrong, I think alot of Tool fans are Massive Attack fans. Not that that matters if you think they suck, but I'm pretty sure some Tool members are big Massive Attack fans. Just an observation. I know I like them. To me they are slow and mellow, but have enough of the darkness I seem to like in heavier bands. Maybe you just need to put some years on you.

Yes, Massive Attack DID indeed suck and they in no way belonged on that stage before TOOL was to play their first live show in 3 1/2 years. I was telling everyone around me, "This is painful, their tunes are getting worse with every one they play." Granted, it was a stage full of good musicians, I'll give you that. But the tempo of every one of their suck-ass songs was about the same. Slow, droning, boring pace to everything they played. No one can refute that fact. You could not pay me enough money to put one of their CDs in any of my players. God, they sucked! They really belonged in the dance tent opening for Madonna. NO WAY did they belong on that main stage before a band the caliber of TOOL. I've seen some suck-ass bands open for TOOL over the last 13 years, but Massive Attack was anything but massive or attacking. It was fucking boring as it could be, until the last half of their last song. It was cool.

As for TOOL, very few missteps, sound quality was incredible, and the three new tunes fit right in with anything they would choose to play. Great set overall. The naysayers will see if they get to see them live on this tour that these latest tunes are awesome and they go over very well live. With The Pot being the second tune, every single person around me knew the words and were singing them at the top of their lungs. Everybody go BUY 10,000 Days because this is the best music you can find anywhere in the world. Let's see if we can make it debut at #1 again like Lateralus. I don't want to see the leak hurt first week sales too much. At $10 each I'm going to buy several. I'll help Maynard get that popcorn gold nugget ring.

[Greenman]

Great show!! Here are some photos and a couple video clips. I am new to this forum, so sorry if they do not post correctly...the video is all over the place because could hardly contain myself but the sound is good...

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool12.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool11.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool10.jpg
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/tool3.jpg
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/?action=view&current=ToolVideo.flv
http://s65.photobucket.com/albums/h234/faun45/tool/?action=view&current=ToolVideo2.flv


Great pics; especially the videos. The sound is excellent; a nice bit of the show for those of use that couldn't be there...

[darshun]

for those that bashed the singer re: singing the sinead parts--THEY DID NOT PLAY ANY SONG THAT SINEAD SINGS ON. the only song they played from 100th window is the 1st song on the album, "Future Proof." Believe me, I recorded their set as well.

[Briznitch]

for those that bashed the singer re: singing the sinead parts--THEY DID NOT PLAY ANY SONG THAT SINEAD SINGS ON. the only song they played from 100th window is the 1st song on the album, "Future Proof." Believe me, I recorded their set as well.
I'll take both of those please. hehe

[dozer]

[QUOTE=kabir]- some rust did show. justin blew a note or two on the intro to 'schism'; adam changed up some things, including playing some feedbacky hum through the middle quiet part of 'sober', and maynard managed to rearrange the lines of the first chorus in 'sober' and forget to come back in for the later chorus of 'the patient' ... but it was still a great show.[QUOTE]

"Everyone pull out there calculators">>>>>>

Assuming they didn't have a set list

"scissors, rock, paper"....

SINGLE.....SINGLE.....

All in all, I felt like I got to see old friends I haven't seen in 5 years. Couldn't help but think the tight jeans, the HUGE beltbuckle, and the cowboy boots were a tribute to old GWB. Fun times and HOT AS FUCK>>>>Can't wait to see them after they come back from Europe

-jae-

[smithers]

Good line about Massive Attack not being massive or attacking, however, someone correct me if I'm wrong, I think alot of Tool fans are Massive Attack fans. Not that that matters if you think they suck, but I'm pretty sure some Tool members are big Massive Attack fans. Just an observation. I know I like them. To me they are slow and mellow, but have enough of the darkness I seem to like in heavier bands. Maybe you just need to put some years on you.


It's odd. I think tool fans from Utah suck.....just kidding. I point to my earlier post where I ask what tone deaf tool fans want. just more rock bands that sound like tool? and to the ignorants making noise that MA didnt belong at Coahella......who the fuck do you assholes think you are? are you aware that there are great many number of people that thought T00l didnt belong at Coachella on account of their "redneck fans"......ponder that one.

count me as a OGT with more than my fare share of MA records. I was also one of the hippies in attendance, and I got more than a few fellow T00l fans high whilst we were waiting. And no I dont wear patchouli.....

I've been to every Coachella.....there are many bands one gets exposed to and if one opens their mind.

the show was amazing. just a little short. but then thats festival rock shows for ya.

[crog62]

I think Maynard said "Ask not the Toolie" when he came out on stage.
Also the reference in Aenemia was to Rupert Murdoch, not L. Ron Hubbard. Scourge none the less.
Craig

[the_incunabula]

I handcuffed my self to the railing. I was like 10 feet from Mr Adam Jones. That talk-box solo made my eve, I was happy for Adam that he finally got to perform with it, he looked so happy during it. Astounding. Beautiful. Mesmerizing. Then I drove back to Oakland all night, fucking sweet ass weekend.

[firesuite]

There's already been so many reviews...First off, I have to say that Coachella was great...Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, Gnarls Barkley, Minus the Bear, Sigur Ros, etc etc. were all outstanding.

Also before I rant, here are some pictures I got with Canon Digital Rebel SLR. It was quite the shitshow trying to take pictures sans flash as close to the band (and the mosh) as I was. Nevertheless, a few turned out:


http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach61.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach62.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach63.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach64.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach65.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach66.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach67.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach68.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach69.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach70.jpg
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/coach71.jpg


As for this show, it was only my second one. As great and fun as this show was, I had somewhat set myself up for disappointment, trying too much to be in the same spiritual mindset as my previous show (10/01 in Dallas). I didn't really stop to think about the different mindset that the band most likely had. I initially got the feeling that they didn't want to be there considering the show wasn't as solemn as the Lateralus tour I had seen. But I really think it was a combination of them having a good time and them wanting to play new songs/singles.The length of the setlist was somewhat disappointing as well, but it was the best they could do since it was a festival and not a solo show.

The new songs were rockin'. "The Pot" and "Jambi" hit me hard and made me appreciate those tracks (which I had only heard once or twice before) much much more. "Stinkfist" was a sweet opener that really quenched the ravenous fans in the front around me. Other notables..."Lateralus" seemed a bit off, it sounded like Justin was struggling at a few points and the rhythm seemed strained. "Aenima" closed and it totally blew me away and made up for other negativity I had for the show.

I blame myself for trying to be too spiritual for the show...it goes to show that you should always be open to what Tool will offer live and be ready to embrace it for the best experience.

[STEVOx]

Hey all!

This was my first Coachella. I just arrived back in Colorado today after my visit to LA. I would of posted sooner but didn't have access.

I was front and center the whole time - or second row (the rail seemed to be guarded pretty well). Worked my way to the front after Massive Attack. It was pretty intense. But man was that an amazing show! I had conserved much energy for it as Tool was what I was there for. Looking forward to August shows. And may be back at Coachella next year. Many cool people which made my day and visit to LA sweeter then I expected my few days there could be. That was my first Tool show up that close. And the energy for me was just awesome. I can't believe Tool's last tour was so long ago. I saw them three times that year and it seems like just yesterday.

I may hang back and just enjoy again next time. I guess we'll see ;)

Thanks all!

much love,
Stevo

[zier]

Massive attack was amazing. I expected much of sentiment that I'm seeing on this board about MA "sucking" because I felt pretty much the same way when I first listened to them. Not to mention Seeing/listening to them for the first time while waiting for Tool to go on stage is a recipe for disaster.

I decided to give Massive Attack another chance after my first listen after maynard said 3D from massive attack is one of the people he respects most in the music industry in an interview. After listening more, they are now one of my favorite musical acts.

Massive attack's set list was pretty mediocre, they could have played more faster paced songs such as butterfly caught or some of the songs from the Unleashed soundtrack, but whatever.

[optimistic-pessimist]

I was thinking about the length of TOOL's set compared to the length of Depeche Mode's set the night before... (75 min compared to 90+, give or take)... and it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, TOOL offered 15 minutes of their set to Massive Attack, so that they would be able to play for a little longer. Of course it's pure speculation, but seems entirely possible. I think that for Massive Attack, it must have been a pretty special night. I was told that they constantly have dissonance in the band and so don't play live all that much, not to mention that I don't think they have ALL of those vocalists together very often, if ever. I'm sure TOOL must have been offered the full 90 minute slot... so why only play for 75?

Anyway, just tossing an idea out there...

[GeorgeinNY]

I dont know about that, but I was wondering if they cut the set by one song because of the delay setting up. Looking at last nights set list, maybe they did cut it short, I think they did a bit less than 75 min, Id have to check the time stamps on my pics, maybe someone has the exact times?

Another thing I would like to discuss, that I brought up yesterday, we know us Tool fans ate it up (for the most part) But did this set convert any non-believers? Just by talking to few people post show and next day, the non-Tool fans werent really all that moved by it. The "buzz" really wasnt about Tool, it was the other bands playing, even checking the reviews in LA Times and NY Times Tool's set is an afterthought, other bands are getting more mention like Franz Ferdinand, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sigur Ros. etc.
Anyone else notice that?

[optimistic-pessimist]

I dont know about that, but I was wondering if they cut the set by one song because of the delay setting up. Looking at last nights set list, maybe they did cut it short, I think they did a bit less than 75 min, Id have to check the time stamps on my pics, maybe someone has the exact times?


I can check the EXACT times when I get home from work, but I'm almost positive that TOOL played for 75... maybe even 80 minutes. Yes they had a delay in getting started and didn't go on until after 11, but they played well after midnight to make up for it.

[firesuite]

I appreciate the compliments guys...

For those of you who were at Coachella, I posted the rest of my band shots here:

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/

I'll be putting up some more later of random scenes from the festival. Enjoy.

[sonnyboy11]

I dont know about that, but I was wondering if they cut the set by one song because of the delay setting up. Looking at last nights set list, maybe they did cut it short, I think they did a bit less than 75 min, Id have to check the time stamps on my pics, maybe someone has the exact times?

Another thing I would like to discuss, that I brought up yesterday, we know us Tool fans ate it up (for the most part) But did this set convert any non-believers? Just by talking to few people post show and next day, the non-Tool fans werent really all that moved by it. The "buzz" really wasnt about Tool, it was the other bands playing, even checking the reviews in LA Times and NY Times Tool's set is an afterthought, other bands are getting more mention like Franz Ferdinand, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sigur Ros. etc.
Anyone else notice that?

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/entertainment/homepage/article_1125291.php

[PoisonSkin]

I appreciate the compliments guys...

For those of you who were at Coachella, I posted the rest of my band shots here:

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/

I'll be putting up some more later of random scenes from the festival. Enjoy.


nice. thanks

[BlairLicksTaint]

I dont know about that, but I was wondering if they cut the set by one song because of the delay setting up. Looking at last nights set list, maybe they did cut it short, I think they did a bit less than 75 min, Id have to check the time stamps on my pics, maybe someone has the exact times?

Another thing I would like to discuss, that I brought up yesterday, we know us Tool fans ate it up (for the most part) But did this set convert any non-believers? Just by talking to few people post show and next day, the non-Tool fans werent really all that moved by it. The "buzz" really wasnt about Tool, it was the other bands playing, even checking the reviews in LA Times and NY Times Tool's set is an afterthought, other bands are getting more mention like Franz Ferdinand, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sigur Ros. etc.
Anyone else notice that?
My Girlfriend was with me, she has heard Tool, but never really liked or disliked them, she LOVED the show

[sipofsoma]

was front row all fucking day until the pushing started during the yeah yeah yeahs and got increasingly worse. knew i wasn't going to be able to actually enjoy the show with my body being thrown around, constantly removing other people's elbows from my neck/chest. as for tool's performance...really liked hearing the new songs live, but the rest of the setlist was rather disappointing. biggest complaint was definitely the crowd though. so a big fuck you to all you pushing and shoving motherfuckers. >;]

-mike

[optimistic-pessimist]

was front row all fucking day until the pushing started during the yeah yeah yeahs and got increasingly worse. knew i wasn't going to be able to actually enjoy the show with my body being thrown around, constantly removing other people's elbows from my neck/chest. as for tool's performance...really liked hearing the new songs live, but the rest of the setlist was rather disappointing. biggest complaint was definitely the crowd though. so a big fuck you to all you pushing and shoving motherfuckers. >;]

-mike

Hmm... another Louisianian at Coachella. I met someone else from Baton Rouge standing up front just before Matisyahu. Crazy...

I actually thought the crowd would be much much worse. It was definitely worse when TOOL came to VoodooFest back in '01, and I doubt that they had a larger crowd at Voodoo than Coachella. Must have been all the laid back hippies hanging out in the back that kept this crowd relatively manageable. ;)

[TOOL_Rules]

was front row all fucking day until the pushing started during the yeah yeah yeahs and got increasingly worse. knew i wasn't going to be able to actually enjoy the show with my body being thrown around, constantly removing other people's elbows from my neck/chest. as for tool's performance...really liked hearing the new songs live, but the rest of the setlist was rather disappointing. biggest complaint was definitely the crowd though. so a big fuck you to all you pushing and shoving motherfuckers. >;]

-mike
I agree with you, Mike. And my hat's off to you for making it up there through the duration. I was about 50-60 feet back and, though it was relatively calm there, it was hard to see very well and still a general swaying of the whole mass of people. TOOL's aggressive style of music is always going to incite people to move and crowd together. The band doesn't like it (the fact that people can get seriously hurt in there) and they would just as soon people give each other a little personal space and forget the moshing/crowd surfing. It's okay to bounce up and down to the awesome music, but moving/moshing guys don't have to lock their elbows together to form inpenetrable walls of flesh that otherwise make it very uncomfortable for others to be close to the stage. Another big fuck you to all the pushing and shoving motherfuckers.

[roomservice]

for those of you that dont have it yet... this show was indeed recorded, and is now seeding at DAD.
rather big file, but fuck it, right?
heres the link
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=94135

enjoy...

[d_goddard]

Another big fuck you to all the pushing and shoving motherfuckers.

Hear, here.
I love to mosh (to some bands, not all, certainly not TooL, that's thinkin' music, not moshin') but I do so only where it is completely clear there is a mosh pit/section, not near any seats.

I was at a They Might Be Giants concert once (yeah, I'm a geek. sue me) and some people started moshing to "Why Does The Sun Shine?"
The band stopped playing, the lead singer said they'd leave unless the moshing stopped.
Assholes kept moshing.
They Might Be Giants packed up their gear and left.

Kinda sucked, but I had to admire them for taking a stand against rudeness.
Mean people suck!

[STEVOx]

Concerning the pushing/shoving motherfuckers. When looking around it seems some people were not prepared for the kind of crowd or the rush that was to come soon as Tool was to come on stage. I thought it would be MUCH worse as well. However I would not expect many Tool fans to be violent like punching and head-butting. I did not underestimate the push that took place though. I would recommend if you really want to enjoy a Tool show though that in a small venue you sit back in the stadium and just take it in. Sharing the energy up front with other tool fans and so close to LA was great. But next time I will most likely just want to enjoy the show. I have been to Tool concerts before where I have actually been pissed at people trying to run up on stage during Aenima as it really is inappropriate for the music.

[insaner]

I appreciate the compliments guys...

For those of you who were at Coachella, I posted the rest of my band shots here:

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~andrewth/

I'll be putting up some more later of random scenes from the festival. Enjoy.

hey man can you put these in the flikr group?


or i could do it if its cool with you...

[melcro]

i am THE glow stick asshole... just for your information people were ripping the glow sticks off of me and throwing them on stage... don't hate cuz me got mad props by maynard wearing our shit foo!!! but sincerely, we did'n't mean to piss anyone off, we just wanted to have a good time. i did also get over 500 pictures of tool, so if you want to see them, you better be a little nicer the next time you mention the glow stick guys.

[NIB]

6th time seeing Tool!

Tool played for 75 mins by my watch. DM played for 90 mins the night before. I think the shortened set for Tool was due to Madonna not wanting anybody to play on the main stage while she was on at the Sahara tent.

BTW, I was about 4-5 people back from the front on Adams side and about 2 people from the center railing. I'm pretty sure I bumped in to a few of you here.

[optimistic-pessimist]

Considering that TOOL played Lost Keys and Rosetta Stoned at the Seattle show, I believe that they intentionally shortened their set at Coachella to 75 min rather than 90, which they surely would have been offered. Depeche Mode was onstage for about 96 minutes the night before. I don't think there's any question that TOOL would have had the opportunity to play for 90 minutes as well. I think it's likely that they offered some time to Massive Attack.

[sonnyboy11]

I know this is a TOOL forum, but I'm really surprised that no one has at least mentioned Daft Punk's light show on Saturday night. It was one of the, if not *THE*, most amazing visual presentations I've ever seen at a concert, including the Lateralus tour and NIN's Fragility tour. (Is that blasphemy?) If you didn't get to check it out, go to video.google.com and search for "Coachella." There should be 20 or so little video clips. Some of them are pretty bad, but there are a few decent ones in there.

I could only make it the second day but concur about Daft Punk. Looks like that was an amazing show and I'm sorry missed it. Thinking back though, one day in the heat was enough for me.

BTW, about the time allotment for the bands, DM always was slotted for a 90 minute set whereas Tool was always slotted for 75 minutes according to the schedule Coachella released. So both bands worked with the amount of time they were given.

I don't think there were any concessions there for a longer Massive Attack set. I think it's far more likely that Tool's set was affected by Madonna going on when she did and the mainstage completely shutting down during that time. So we really have Madonna to thank for a shorter Tool set.

[wix3l]

I forgot to mention it was weird seeing Maynard singing Lateralus songs in a pair of jeans and a cowboy hat after seeing him all painted half blue/half red.

My avatar is a pic during Stinkfist.

[darshun]

WARNING: do not go to this site for it loads a trojan onto your pc. this person wanted to trade for my coachella bootleg, and he sent me this link (http://onebear.net/shows.html). i posted this link on another site and my friends were viewing the page and their antivirus kicked in. the user who sent me the link goes by "onebear." i wasn't sure where to put this, but please do not go to onebear's site. the reason why my comp wasn't affected is b/c i'm on a mac.

[smk4813]

I loved it. It being the first show of the tour they had so much energy. It was the first time I had seen TOOL live ever. We got so close (about 15 rows of people from the front). It was great. The visuals and CGI were amazing; Adam did a fantastic job. People who see them (the visuals) at the shows are really luckly in my opinion, because they never get released on video. I have lived now that I've seen TOOL live and I got to see the first show of the new tour. I'm going to try to see them again when they head back and tour around the southeastern coast as I am all the way out here in fucking Georgia.

The setlist:

Stinkfist
The Pot
Forty-six & 2
Jambi
Schism
Eon Blue Apocalypse
The Patient
Sober
Lateralus
Vicarious
Ænema

What amazed me a lot was that a lot of the effects that I thought were done on guitar are actually done on bass.....wow'd me.

"Stinkfist" was a great opener. Everyone knew the words and sang along so Maynard could barely speak over them.

"The Pot" was bad ass. I hadn't heard it until then and it was just so raw and....aww just such good TOOL metal.

When "Forty-six & 2" came on, my girl just had to do some serious headbangin'. I thought they were going to play "H." though. I heard them playing it during their soundcheck on Friday (4/28).

The apex of the show for me was my favorite song, "Lateralus." I really got into it. Everytime the heavy part near the end kicks in, I loose it. My spine always shivers. It feels like spiritual energies just pour out of my chakras and my mind melts into the universal mind lattice.

I just now bought the album yesterday. I can't wait to explore it and converse with the rest of you.

To the rest of you, happy TOOL touring.

[optimistic-pessimist]

When "Forty-six & 2" came on, my girl just had to do some serious headbangin'. I thought they were going to play "H." though. I heard them playing it during their soundcheck on Friday (4/28).

Shit... no kidding? First of all, where were you that you could hear soundcheck? What were you doing out there? Secondly... shit, really? Man I've only heard that song live twice in 23 shows.

Also, on another note, some people are reluctant to believe that TOOL gave Massive Attack some time from their set so that MA could play longer. I submit to you, Exhibit C... On Saturday night, Depeche Mode's set was 90 minutes and Franz Ferdinand, who played just before them, had a 55 minute set. Now, subtract 15 from 90, and add it to 55... what do you get? 75 and 70, the exact lengths of TOOL's and MA's sets, respectively. Coincidence? I think not.

[sonnyboy11]

Shit... no kidding? First of all, where were you that you could hear soundcheck? What were you doing out there? Secondly... shit, really? Man I've only heard that song live twice in 23 shows.

Also, on another note, some people are reluctant to believe that TOOL gave Massive Attack some time from their set so that MA could play longer. I submit to you, Exhibit C... On Saturday night, Depeche Mode's set was 90 minutes and Franz Ferdinand, who played just before them, had a 55 minute set. Now, subtract 15 from 90, and add it to 55... what do you get? 75 and 70, the exact lengths of TOOL's and MA's sets, respectively. Coincidence? I think not.

23 shows? Dang man, that is nice. That's way more than I've seen any one band and I'm willing to bet I've been on the planet a bit longer than most here. So props for that kind of dedication.

Read my earlier post about the length of the sets. I really do not believe Massive Attack had anything to do with Tool's set time, I believe it was all related to Madonna and the fact that they had to close everything down on the mainstage during her act in the Sahara Tent. FYI, Coachella is supposed to have the mainstage acts wrapped up by midnight. Tool did not stop until 12:30 which is unusual for the festival.

Regardless, I loved Massive Attack's set so, frankly, getting 75 minutes out of both acts was brilliant for me, as it was for many others in attendance. Madonna though- that's different. If my theory is correct, then I like her less now than I did before (which was not at all).

As a side note- Massive Attack is coming back to LA in September at the Hollywood Bowl. I will be there front and center! (still waiting for more Tool dates in the area... anytime now......... really- anytime!)

[spiralsight]

Seeing that there was a ~15 minute delay in Tool's starting time at Coachella due to a stage lighting piece that was left in storage mode in the rafters above accidentally until last minute, I think the band was forced to skip Rosetta Stoned, which they've been opening up with at the other consecutive shows. This was probably due to the Coachella curfew. What a drag. Thats my favorite song and the one I was hoping to hear the most. Doh!

[sonnyboy11]

Seeing that there was a ~15 minute delay in Tool's starting time at Coachella due to a stage lighting piece that was left in storage mode in the rafters above accidentally until last minute, I think the band was forced to skip Rosetta Stoned, which they've been opening up with at the other consecutive shows. This was probably due to the Coachella curfew. What a drag. Thats my favorite song and the one I was hoping to hear the most. Doh!

Wow, you might be right. Just got back from reading the Oakland thread and they got Rosetta Stoned too. And yea, that's my fave cut from the new album right now as well. Bummer! But then I plan on seeing them at least 2-3 more times this year so I will get it. And just as importantly, I will get to see 10,000 Days (the song) performed live. That's my other fave right now.

[optimistic-pessimist]

Seeing that there was a ~15 minute delay in Tool's starting time at Coachella due to a stage lighting piece that was left in storage mode in the rafters above accidentally until last minute, I think the band was forced to skip Rosetta Stoned, which they've been opening up with at the other consecutive shows. This was probably due to the Coachella curfew. What a drag. Thats my favorite song and the one I was hoping to hear the most. Doh!

This can't be true. They had 75 minutes allotted on the PRINTED schedule, and they were onstage for about 79 minutes. Yes they had a delay in setting up, but they played the full set that they had planned.

As far as "they had to shut down the main stage for Madonna." I'm just wondering... where are y'all getting that? Is it just speculation? I mean, why just shut down the main stage? Why not the second stage, or either of the other tents, for that matter? I don't think that idea holds any water.

[GeorgeinNY]

There was talk of that on the Coachella message boards as soon as Madonna was added, that while she was on the main stage would be shut down(people that were posting this seemed like they had inside info on this or at least so they claimed). I didnt think it was gonna work out that way anyway cause YYY's finished their set at about 8:05 while Madonna was supposed to be on at 8. Another thing- Madonna's set was short (as pointed out in most reviews) maybe her set was shortened too so they could get the show back on at the main stage?

[Suntorn]

So my friend and I got back from Coachella two days ago and I must say, I'm still overwhelmed with the boyz being back in action. It was fun to here the more "popular" songs, but overall, the show ruled everyone's face. What better way to say that they are back?

I'm from PA and it was well worth the money and time that was spent in Cali to see a great band that has paved a new path for rock n' roll. Tool has definitely grown so much. You can tell by their new material, but better yet, you can tell by the way they played together. Tool is our generation’s version of Pink Floyd.

My favorite highlight of the show was being able to hear Eon Blue Apocalypse/The Patient. It happens to be one of my favorite songs and let me tell you, I enjoyed every minute of it. Lateralus was freakin’ sick as well as 46 & 2. As for the new stuff, I waited for the album to be released before I listened to the album. That's right!! I have discipline, lol. But I must say that The Pot live is incredible. The song grabbed me from the beginning. Totally gave me the impression that T00L has NOT forgotten their roots as a band as well as evolving together. As for Jambi, that is one song that is musically insane. Just when you think you “understand” T00L’s timing, they pull some tricky stuff to make everything so fresh and new again.

I was really impressed on how well that we could hear the show. We were back far enough that T00L looked like little ants performing on stage. So what was the best antidote? To just close my eyes and let the sounds of Adams guitar carry me away to the hard driven bass lines that Justin lays down, to the insanity that Danny creates on those drums, to the melodic melodies that Maynard belted out. I love these guys and I'm so happy that they are back in action. T00L for life, baby!!

[#1raiderfan]

Well this is my first review, but this was also my 2nd Tool show, the last show I saw, was back in 02' in the Oakland arena. Well, this was one, hell of a mission for me. First off let me say, that I have had the pleasure of listening to Tool since the age of 10, back in 1993, when my brother used to bump Undertow in his VW Golf with 2 12's, and that shit use to bump man. Ever since then, Ive been hooked, even at such a young age, so Im glad to say that Ive grown up on Tool. My weekend started off for me on the wet, humid morning of the April 28th, in good ol San Salvador, El Salvador. As I got on the plane, I noticed for some reason, that as I checked in, the employee at the counter mistakenly gave me a seat in first class, ahh for once, champagne and fresh squeezed OJ offered as soon as I parked my ass. Then the breakfast, they actually use ceramic plates, instead of the plastic boxes back in coach. Eggs, beans, platanos, yup, this must be a flight from Central America. As I fly into LAX, get through customs in like 10 minutes, and I get to the budget rental car, I noticed everything is running smoothly. They ran out of the Neon's that I was suppose to get, so they gave me a SUV for the same price. I guess in the end, I ended up paying the difference due to the fact of the extremely high gas prices, damn bush. I pick up my cousins and my best friend at the greyhound station, who met me there from Fresno. Of course I was one of those "fuckers" who downloaded the new album early, but cmon man, I couldnt help it, dont trip, I already bought it on tuesday. But i didnt listen to it until I picked up my bros, and we all listened to it for the first time together, at that moment, it was special, of course, with cali's finest aroma in the air. It was the shit, Tool was back, the long awaited, highly anticipated album, we were all in space at the moment, not knowing exactly what to say, then I heard "fuck dude, tool is back man" from my cousin val. When I heard it, I heard them combine all albums, with a dab of APC. The of course after listening to it more and more, its tool, straight up Tool, getiing better like wine. We stayed in moreno valley at a friends house, we ate, drank, choked, and watched the lake show shut down the suns. Sunday came all too fast, yet we still payed 3.39 a gallon for gas, and got a couple cases of corona and heine's. We parked about a mile down the road from the main parking lot. we backed in, bumped tool, and kicked back all the brews. we finally made our way in to coachella around 5, heading directly to the beer garden. and of course some philly cheese steaks. We drank, walked around, saw insanely amounts of booty all over the place, i mean, if you are looking to hook up with a chick, that was the place to be, chicks dressing skimpy all over the place. Finally, Massive attack was down to their last song, we moved our way to about to the 20th row. They were not too bad, I didnt know too much about them, they were ok, There was alot of people booing and talking shit, I mean, thats cool man if you dont like them, but atleast give them some respect. As they finished, more fans drew back, and we moved foward, all the way to about the 8th row back. This is a perfect spot, cause you can go anywhere from here once it starts. I had lost my cousin, but when they brough out dannys kit, my cousin yelled out, "theres the backbone", and we were reunited. You know, I really dont understand people who get so close to the stage, and expect everyone is going to stand still. I mean tool plays emotional music, its very passionate, and very vulgar at times. Some times this creates mosh pits, and if you dont want to be part of one, then go to the back, or to the side, or not in the "designated pit area". Yes, I did want to watch, but i love it when tool gets down man, and you can mosh to a mojority of their music, no matter anyones says, people have different reactions from the music, we all have our own interpretations of tool and their music, and we all express ourselves from those interpretations in our own individual way. So if Tool makes you mosh, thats great, if tool makes you jump, thats great, if tool makes you want to sit in the back and videotape the whole show, thats fine too, just dont tell other people on how to react to their music, thats nuts. I cant believe I had a guy in there right after stinkfist say, calm down dude, its just a a concert. What?? are you kidding me. I had been waiting for this moment for a long freakin time, so with all the emotions that have been backing up, with the good and bad times, tool has always been there for me, they have been that outlet so that I can get away from all this bullshit, so fuck you buddy. They came out casualy. We all had our predictions on what they would open with, the dude behind me passing the ganj, called it, boom... stinkfist. That shit rocked, as did every song after that. The pot was insane. Justin really came out there, and ripped those chords up. adam and maynard where both on point, hypnotizing everyone there. and danny was flawless as usual. I didnt start to mosh until the end of schism, and there I was doing my monkey dance, knocking heads with my fellow tool fans screaming "I know the pieces fit", it was awesome. Lateralus kicked ass, as did Vicarious, man this show was the shit, I remember looking up at the sky, and saying thank you, thank you for this special moment. the highlight for me was the patient, I was in heaven at that point. Jambi had everyone in awe, I heard a dude say tool went hard on their new shit, they have always been hard man, its in their veins and their roots. Its tool hard. No other band has that sound, there are harder bands of course, but no one can duplicate the sound of Tool. They ended with Aenima, what an epic. Awesome, everyone sang the words, and it was also the biggest pit of the night, this night was surreal for me. After the show, I was speechless, not only because I screamed my voice silent, but I just didnt know what to say, I imagined me being there for so long, and now, im speechless. The whole ride home, none of us said a word, until the next day, then we couldnt stop. A couple days later, after spending time with my family and friends, I found myself again at LAX, waiting for my redeye back to san salvador. I know Im a shitty writer, but i am writing this as I would say it from my heart. I was looking back on my trip, and i really came to the conclusion that, Tool is a very important aspect of my life. They have guided me to think for myself, and even at times where I disagree with them, I can get something positive out of it. Its something that has made alot of people learn about me. And after all is said and done, after the great show they put on for us to enjoy, the most postitve thing about this trip, was the connection of people. I came from my job here in El Salvador to be there, with my cousin val who left his son and pregnant wife to be there, and my buddy matt who left school and his addictions to be there with us, to see TOOL, and that is something positive, it brought us all together for this one, special moment, and we forgot about all the bullshit that we left behind, to be together to experience that moment. And now, we all went our seperate ways, back to our daily lives, but we can use that positive feelings to help guide us to a more positive, and meaningful life. thank you TOOL, thank you.

[sonnyboy11]

Hmm, I think I got a post deleted here and cannot figure out why. Kabir- did you delete me? Not sure if I violated any policies but I don't think I did.

Anyway, I definitely hope they are planning on releasing a DVD of this past Coachella. Looks like they did it for last year's show. So everyone interested in a DVD head over to the Coachella boards and make your voices heard.

[myownredeemer]

I was among the attendees of Coachella and It was thouroughy enjoyable. The entire festival was a great experience and it al culminated into an amazing mset by Tool. I couldn't ask for much more in life. . . .

Don't forget Opto Pesso, Massive Attack was (is?) a much bigger group than Franz Ferdinand and it was their first live show in the U.S. in quite some time. Massive Attack wasn't considered to be quite as far below Tool as Franz Ferdinand was to Depeche Mode.

Although it is completely plausible that Tool would donate time to Massive attack, but why?

[optimistic-pessimist]

I was among the attendees of Coachella and It was thouroughy enjoyable. The entire festival was a great experience and it al culminated into an amazing mset by Tool. I couldn't ask for much more in life. . . .

Don't forget Opto Pesso, Massive Attack was (is?) a much bigger group than Franz Ferdinand and it was their first live show in the U.S. in quite some time. Massive Attack wasn't considered to be quite as far below Tool as Franz Ferdinand was to Depeche Mode.

Although it is completely plausible that Tool would donate time to Massive attack, but why?

Out of respect...

[Briznitch]

Man I can't beleive you guys, or lots of people, didn't like Massive Attack's set. I just downloaded it and it fuckin jams good! They played a lot of their good shit, I would have loved seeing that before Tool. Perfect time to warm up and just get good and buzzed. Man this set jams, you guys are nuts. I really really regret not going now.

[Preictal]

My second time seeing TOOL at Coachella. I thought it an awesome show especially since I was getting to hear the new material live. I was dissapointed to see people around me singing along with MJK on the new tracks when I had no clue what I was hearing except for of course Vicarious. I will never forget the first time I heard "Jambi" after Adam tore it up on the SquakBox! The hair on my head stood on end and I had goosebumps! Does anyone remember the name MJK dropped in the middle of Aenima? Seemed to get a good cheer out of the crowd. I'm a Massive Attack fan as well but for whatever reason was underwhelmed by the live performance. Perhaps a lack of sleep. Can't wait to see TOOL live again later this year.
A final Plea: Anyone have an extra TOOL Coachella T-Shirt they might be willing to part with? The one with the Alex Grey artwork on the front. Damn things sold out before I made my way to the merch counter. Let me know!

[GeorgeinNY]

I got the Coachella shirt on the first day just for this reason- in case it sold out by the second day. Never wore it however Im not selling mine, too good a souvenir to part with. Does anyone know if the fanclub is selling this shirt or limited release item only?

[sonnyboy11]

I got the Coachella shirt on the first day just for this reason- in case it sold out by the second day. Never wore it however Im not selling mine, too good a souvenir to part with. Does anyone know if the fanclub is selling this shirt or limited release item only?

Yea, I got mine on the way in. I thought they might sell out. I seriously don't know how you could get one at this point outside of looking at ebay. I have the black one with the face art and the Tool/Coachella print on the back. It is damn nice.

George- I think I may have met you at the show. Were you wearing the white Tool/Coachella shirt and taking pix with a Canon camera?

Briznitch- I mentioned this earlier but just a reminder- Massive Attack is coming to the Hollywood Bowl in Sept. Tickets go on sale May 13th. I see you are in Vegas but you may want to consider coming out for that show. Hollywood Bowl should be a pretty sweet setting and they hardly ever play.

[Carbine000]

Man I can't beleive you guys, or lots of people, didn't like Massive Attack's set. I just downloaded it and it fuckin jams good! They played a lot of their good shit, I would have loved seeing that before Tool. Perfect time to warm up and just get good and buzzed. Man this set jams, you guys are nuts. I really really regret not going now.

SERIOUSLY! I had never ever heard of Massive Attack and thought they kicked fucking ass! I also (uhm aquired) their live show and relistening to it , it still ROCKS!
Its a shame to read about so many Massive Attack/Coachella fans dissing on those Tool fans who were in the Massive Attack crowd and being disrespectful. Alot of the slander and ugliness I have seen there is not (IMHO) indicative of your normal Tool fan. Although, me and my friends were told to shut up more than once, (only cause we were drunk and loud, not yelling things like (THIS SUCKS!) ...I hate to think of us as "those guys" because I know we appreciate Tool on a way higher level than your typical rock-tard (read the Oakland review) who goes to mosh and head bang and be angry.

[ecg0792]

Coachella 06 in my opinion, was the best display of tool's musical genius. After seeing them in Dallas, the notion of the small, intiment venue show being more crowd pleasing is absurd. At Coachella, Tool seemed as though they had something to prove, and the fans as well, showing support the the band that had been absent for so many years. I do not believe I will see a show better than that of Coachella, but if I am proved wrong, I will make sure and let you know.

[kabir]

Thanks to all reviewers!

Now that it's been a week, no more reviews are being accepted for this show.