r e f l e c t i o n:

[brent]

i know this site has a tour "review" section, but i have some time to kill and want to reflect on my tool experiences. seeing that this "opinion" page is dealing with the live art aspect of the show, this thread is quite appropriate. i am in no way an "O.G.T."..........unfortunately, i had not payed much attention to them until Aenima came out. i remember sitting at home before i left for school, in the winter of 96, when "track 1" came on MTV. ever since then, ive been addicted. due to my age constraints at the time, there was no seeing tool until the summer 98 tour. i guess ill try and describe the shows:

[brent]

08/08/98 Dallas, TX : Fair Park Coliseum
tickets went on sale towards the begining of the summer, and since they didnt come to dallas that year with ozzfest, i was determined to see them. for whatever reason, i didnt get my ticket on the sale date, and they sold out pretty quickly. i was forced to purchase one from a god-dam scalping company......texas tickets. those motherfuckers charge at LEAST double on any sold out show. and im sure half the reason the show is sold out to the public is because companies like them buy out as many as they can. but i quickly forked over the $48 and felt assured that it would be worth it. i had never seen any live footage, or even a picture, of the band, so i had no real expectation. the day of the show i sat around and waited on my fucking brother to show up. i was only 14 at the time, and thus could not drive myself. his philosophy was that it was a waste of time to get there early, especially if you have never heard or care about the opening band. so unfortuantely, we missed the melvins. we actually barely made it inside for fucking tool. once i got inside of the little horse arena, i opted not to wait in line for a shirt or any other memorbilia. since this venue was General Addmission i quickly got my ass on the floor and pushed my way about 15 feet from the stage. within minutes there was a man on stage to introduce the band as "Le Tool." for whatever reason, i decided to do this show sober and made sure not to even smoke pot. the band took the stage with "cold and ugly." i had just recently found out (lack of "discography") about "Opiate so i was surprised to hear this song off the bat. the song ended and the crowd was more than receptive. i just remember being so overwhelmed.....and they had only played on song so far. most noteably the funniest thing id seen live, was maynard dressed like a fucking tele-vangelist,.....in a blue/grey suit and a funny looking blonde/white wig. while in this "reverend" state, his little comments to the crowd were fucking hilarious and appropriate. he referred and introduced the band to us: Reverend Daniel "Lion Fucker" Carey; "Partner to Eve" Reverend Adam Jones; Justin Chancellor "Native American"; and later on the Reverend Buzz Melvin. my favorite song at the time, eulogy, was next. its such a fucking powerfull song. i remember trying so hard to sing/scream along at parts and was taken by how long the man can hold a note. he speaks for himself....."standing above the crowd, he had a voice that was strong and loud." the song ended and maynard told us to "grab a pole and fill a hole," or something like that. up next was "Crawl Away" and then "Stinkfist." Buzz came out and played with the band during Stinkfist and stayed to play for You Lied, the Peach cover, as well. I had never heard of this song before, so i figured it was just either a REALLY old song, or a new one. either way, the whole fucking small arena was blown away by the end verse....."you lied!!" jesus fucking christ, man, that dude can sing/scream. The song ends heavy, but the crowd began to subtley slow down when the wind and guitar came in for "Third Eye." I honestly still charish this moment of my memory. It wassnt until this past fall tour that i was able to hear this song again. Maynard sat down while the band started to experiment and jam out. the video screen (which ill talk about later) switched to the game "intelligence cube." it appears maynard was playing it. i dont know.......im a short bastard and couldnt really see him once he sat down. after a few minutes of "noises" the guitar riff started to song vaugely familiar. then a transformation happened and we were getting a sweet-ass intro into "Sober." Being quite a favorite with the crowd everyone was very receptive. After it was over, maynard asked us "to find a comfortable place, that was not only comfortable, but vulnerable." It is quite funny how he has "canned" speeches on stage. but i guess if half of my point of being onstage was to share a moment without an ego......you cant really have converstaion with a huge fucking crow, especially when all they do is scream back and/or put there fists in the air like a bunch of sheep. once he was done talking the band played an alternative version of "Pushit." I honestly didnt recognize the song until the lyrics became REALLY appariant to me....."you better take care not to make me enter." they heavyiest part of the show was next. maynard introduced the song as being about "california falling into the ocean" and "watersports" (very much in the adult since). The crowd was most receptive during this song.......and rightfully so. the left their "positions" for a little while to get the crowd pumped up, but returned with a quick explination of the next song. and they only put their money where their mouth was by "instead of fucking some-one up physically, [they] just scream their heads off about it." Sticking with the mood of the whole tour, they added another experimental bit at the end of the song before "consequeces dictate a course of action." it seemed to end too early, but it was beyond any experice i had ever had.......or still have.

i know i left out descriptions of the the visuals....but i honestly cant remember enough to go into TOO much detail. there were two huge screens in the backdrop that projected most of the visual images. danny's set seemed oddly to the far left of the stage, with maynard following to his right, and justin and adam following to the even further right of the stage. not knowing who was who in the band, this was oblivious to any of this meaning anything. one of the coolest feelings ive ever had happened during this how: i was honestly pretty much fucked up (high) simply on the "enviornment." i REALLY wanted to be able to remember this show vividly, so i made sure not to chemically alter my mind in any way. i actually turned down a joint. but this only heightend my experience at the time. the visual images screaming lobster, adam, and spiral eyes put together are FUCKING AMAZING. and i know everyone, including me, bitch on about how "cool" these images are......but fucking rightfully so. i basically spent the entire hour and a half staring not really AT the band themselves (besides maynard, the band just kind of chills) but at the screens. THAT was the actual "show." the band was just the "orchestraters." i was surprised not to see as many of their music video images on the screen. but in the end, i think it helped seperate the songs being played at the time from the MTV mass-mediated versions. the images were insanely tripped out. not in the "alice in wonderland" type of tripped out. but in the sense that i was fucking sober and hallucinating. the colors and forms were clearly morbid and deep, but somehow it seemed natural and flowed very fucking nicely. i remeber a lot of naked chicks. but i was 14 at the time too. during "stinkfist" i remember what looked like a doctors view of the eye switching back and forth (edited) being cleaned with water. they end up using this loop again during "sober" on these past u.s. tours. a big theme i noticed on the screens were static and rhythmic patters with lines. the way the visuals are edited and looped fits incredibly in sink with the music. i honestly cant recall much more of the actual images during the show. i remember and odd since of "red" all around me during Anima. the pit was most active and i remember having to actually fight to stay up. i hate when the crow does that shift thing......they dont actual "mosh" and open a circle, they just lean and push. its fucking annoying. the last song, "jerk-off" had a really vivid image on screen during the extra verse. there was a darwinistic evolution happening. you know, from monkey to man. it was fucking cool. after the show ended, the lights came back on in the arena and people started to leave. i almost made it to the stairs, but the lights went back out. the crowd was confused......another encore?, not really. it was it chick kind of bending over and spreading her legs and pussy-lips. there was a super-imposed mouth in her crotch that was singing an odd (lounge) version of "hooker with a penis." for the chorus this little dick-like creatures, with suits and a hat i think, popped up on screen to sing. it was fucking hilarious. and then it was over........and as i left the arena i noticed the t-shirt stands. i really wanted a "tour" shirt with dates, but all they had were the "normal" cam-de leon shirts. i bought the "bite me" shirt and headed towards the car. it was quite funny, the cotton-bowl, or maybe it was the starplex, right next door had elton john playing. it was quite humorous to see the crowd of people leaving the parking lots. i went home and taped my ticket stub to the "pins and needles" poster i had on my wall and thats where it stayed until i got an "Aenima" poster (which was more suited and appropriate to house the ticket).

-

as quoted by maynard: "Jesus Fucking Christ!!" that was a long review. i dont think i want to type anymore, and i doubt yall want to read anymore. ill stop. if you couldnt attend this tour i HIGHLY recommend finding and picking up a bootleg of the summer 98 tour. my favorite bootleg is in Sacramento,CA on 08/25/02, seeing that it the closest replica of the show i saw in Dallas. deffinetly check them out.

-s p i r a l - o u t - k e e p - g o i n g-

[blueghost]

it is totally great to hear about concert experiences from fellow fans, hey admins how about a "Concert Experience" section????


Ghost

[GregoryWohlwend]

You must have heard the live version of Pushit that is on Salival, that is awesome, any Tool show is an experience within its own rite, but to see that version of pushit for the first time LIVE would be INCREDIBLE. I most recently saw them at the Quad Cities show, which was the last on the leg before their tour with Meshuggah. My god was it amazing, with all the Alex Grey muriels and three video screens, not to mention two "parabola" balls hanging behind the band. An incredibly personal experience, unlike you i wasn't sober though, so recognition of details is not easy. I wouldn't have had it anyother way though, just the feeling that came over my entire consciousness when the "sawblade" as some call it started to vibrate on the video screens. Here comes a shamless self-promotion, but it's the only way, check this out:

http://wu.sw0bes.com