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View Full Version : 2006/11/30 - Cardiff, UK - Cardiff International Arena


swaps
11-15-2006, 12:07 PM
SETLIST --

Stinkfist
Forty Six & 2
Jambi
Schism
Lost Keys
Rosetta Stoned
Swamp Song (ft. Phil Campbell of Motorhead)
Wings For Marie
10,000 Days
Lateralus
Vicarious
Ænema

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

Jimmeny
11-30-2006, 04:55 PM
SETLIST --

Stinkfist (extended)
Forty Six & Two
Jambi
Schism (extended)
Lost Keys
Rosetta Stoned
Swamp Song

(Intermission)

Wings for Marie
10,000 Days
Lateralus
Vicarious
Aenema

Well, I had my first Tool concert back in July at Hammersmith, and I guess I would have to admit to myself I was a little bit disappointed. The stage show wasn't big, their performance was a little rusty, and mainly, the whole palava with bags and cameras and all that really put a scratch on the whole affair. I told myself, though, that it was just a small warm up tour, and when I heard they'd be back in the Winter, also told myself that I'd be going. When I saw they were playing at Cardiff, which is quite close to me, I was definately going.

The things I told myself turned out to be true. This was a fantastic, fantastic gig. The performance of all the songs were really energetic and spontaneous, I really felt I was watching a clever, clever band. The performance of Wings For Marie and 10K Days really shows that they are the strongest works on 10K Days - as an Opus, it's Magnus. The laser show during these two songs really made them spectacular to be present at, the light show was clever, sometimes resembling wings, or multiple wings, sometimes resembling a 'W' and an 'M' (if you were dead centre towards the rear, like me) and sometimes resembling sacred geometry.

Lateralus, was massive, massive, MASSIVE. It's probably one of the best performances I've seen. It finished like a finale, and I kind of wish it was.

After Lateralus, some technical hitches came in. Maynard had switched to a gas mask with a built in mic, that clearly had a dodgy connection and cut out alot of the Vicarious words, and a little bit Aenima. Even on Lateralus, when it kicks it for the first time, Adam forgot to switch pickups, and the first hit was a clean pluck, hehehehe. But this actually made the song for me, because, unlike Hammersmith, the whole performance was alot more human, alot more like the 4 guys were jamming, really performing like humans rather than robots, which is the feeling I got at Hammersmith. The electronic segues were perfectly placed, and the pacing of the entire set (with the exception of Vicarious, which in my opinion should have been dropped, or replaced with something like The Grudge [just to make me happy]) was spot on.

But yes, I LOVED getting 46&2 AND Swamp Song. Both of these were played amazingly. I had a feeling they'd change it up again, since they were changing songs every 2 gigs. When 46&2 came in, I was like WOOO, when Swamp Song also came in I was like YEAHHH. I didn't miss The Pot, they didn't play it at Hammersmith either, and I really didn't miss it, standard fare tbh.

A great, great gig. I'm not going to go all emo and say it reduced me to tears, I felt my life was complete, I could have slit my wrists to keep the moment for ever, etc etc, (because nothing will come close to Angel by Massive Attack with the ORIGINAL singer LIVE and outdoors), but this was a great, GREAT, superb, amazing gig.

mittspk
11-30-2006, 06:11 PM
i completely agree with the above.

everything. it was stunning. 4th time this year and by far the best.

but. one critical thing wasn't mentioned.

during schism phil campbell, yes, guitarist from motorhead came out. played a few solos. as maynard said "that, i believe, is what's known as shredding.."

maynard was in high spirits and justin was extremly into the gig. much more so than i've seen him before.

maynardisms (correct me if i'm wrong)

"We sound like a few grumpy old bastards but, please no smoking for your health and the longivity of ours.." - not the complete phrase, there was something in the middle of that, i cant remember the words he used.

"Justin: English, Danny: Irish, Me: Irish, Adam: Welsh *crowd cheer*"

"I'm sure we'll see you soon"

---

the microphone troubles were a little disapointing to be fair but aside from that, the sound was perfect.

i agree with other reviews in that mastadon were very bass heavy, but i'm assured by a friend of mine this is usual in mastadon gigs.

setlisting above is correct. the WFM/10KD and LK/rosetta are the right way round.



to bed.

Jimmeny
11-30-2006, 06:12 PM
Hahah, yeah, I forgot about that, but I DO have a legit reason for forgetting: The sound guy forgot to turn him on, so anyone who wasnt right at the front couldnt hear a fucking thing! That was cool though :D But because he wasnt turned on, it didnt really have the impact, which is a REAL shame, because Tool and Motorhead together, WTF?

Glad I remembered the setlist properly :D

mittspk
11-30-2006, 06:19 PM
i know man. i was stood by the sound stage and wondered what the fuck was going on when this solo appeared from nowhere, then i looked towards adam and wondered for ages 'who the f*cks that?!' then when maynard said thank you to him it became clear.

Jimmeny
11-30-2006, 06:22 PM
Yeah, at first I thought it was just one of the Mastodon boys, and I thought to myself, I'm sure he's doing something amazing but I just can't hear it. When he said it was Phil Campbell I was like, WHAT, I MISSED Phil Campbell?! You FUCKED UP Phil Campbells impromptu solo?! Haha.

horsiest
12-01-2006, 02:19 AM
here's the real setlist because you've cocked everything up, no offense! Phil Campbell played his mostly inaudible solo in Swamp Song not Schism and also you got the song order wrong

Stinkfist
Forty Six & Two
Jambi
Schism
Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned
Swamp Song (featuring Phil Campbell of Motorhead)
(Intermission)
Wings for Marie Pts 1&2
Lateralus
Vicarious
Aenema

dacbo
12-01-2006, 03:00 AM
not sure what everybody had been smoking to say that rosetta stoned came before WMF, setlist was definately

Stinkfist
Forty Six & Two
Jambi
Schism
Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned
Swamp Song (featuring Phil Campbell of Motorhead)
(Intermission)
Wings for Marie Pts 1&2
Lateralus
Vicarious
Aenema

as above

swamp song was definately a highlight for me (minus the phil campbell solo) which was inaudible anyway - i assume adam must be a fan or something as he brought him on stage but the random shredding over the top was a bit pointless (i guess why he was so quiet in the mix)

the sound was a bit off at the beginning I thought bass-wise, especially noticable in 46& which seemed to have no bass and and jambi which had far too much and it was distorting - by bass i mean the sound in the mix rather than the instrument

wings for marie / 10,000 days was stunning

good turnout considering it wasn't sold out and there were a lot of people buying tickets on the door

maynard seemed in good spirits as did the rest of the band but he donned the gas mask and orange hoody (hood up) at the end, i assume someone pissed him off - or he just got pissed off with the smoking in the venue in general (it kinda pissed me off a bit too)

all in all great gig though... better than hammersmith and download

tiryth
12-01-2006, 03:06 AM
Great gig - Maynard did seem a little moody to me, he usually talks to the crowd more than he did last night. Awesome gig though, shame about the smoking/non smoking thing that kept being battered into everyone's brains - other than that it was top class

met some cool people too :)

Jimmeny
12-01-2006, 03:17 AM
Heh, I did actually edit my post to say the setlist might have been more like what you guys are saying, but I deleted it when he told me I was right :P I wasn't really that far off, I just had Rosetta Stoned 2 songs later than it was! But fair doos.

goa head
12-01-2006, 03:23 AM
Amazing show, a bit disappointed with Mastodon though....other than that the show was amazing....good crowd......good sound......amazing band....what else can you ask for?

dacbo
12-01-2006, 03:33 AM
i thought Mastodon were great, sound for them wasn't half as bad as people on these boards have been saying and as bad as the beginning of tool was - was it just me that said that?

lasers were a lot cooler than I thought they would be and the way that the visual stuff built up throughout the gig to the aenima climax was great - still think lateralus would make a better closer tbh, but thats just me

to reiterate - swamp song - wowee!

skankfish
12-01-2006, 04:14 AM
was it just me or were the vocals far too quiet? great show but i think it took a while to get going - and i didn't like mastodon, i was expecting isis :/
plus i was stood behind some mental 7ft prick having some fucking epileptic attack to every song and another prick trying to whip everyone with his hair

on the plus side, thank fuck the bristol train was delayed for 15 minutes or a load of us would have had to wait until 4.40am for the next one!

magentus
12-01-2006, 04:19 AM
Hurrah! I thought they were immense - I agree Lateralus would have been the best closer - It was the climax for me. I had a great view down the front which was only obscured by the security pricks with their torches. Whats wrong with taking a couple of photo's? Personally I'd rather watch the band but hey!

Got there just in time to see last two Mastodon songs - wish I could've seen more.

Ia Yog-Sothoth!!?!!
12-01-2006, 04:47 AM
Yeah, that was awesome!
I was really pleased that they played 'Swamp Song' instead of 'The Pot', not that I don't like 'The Pot' they just have alot of better songs. Shame that we could hardly hear Phil Campbell's solo.
Wings/10k days was the highlight for me, but the whole set was great! Lateralus also deserves special mention, I really think this would work better as a set closer than 'Ænema' does.
The only real problem came when Maynard put his gas mask on for 'Vicarious' and 'Ænema' because his vocals kept cutting out!
All in all I would have to say that this was the best show I've been to so far, and I look forward to hopefully seeing them again as soon as possible!

Missed the start of Mastodon's set but what I heard was good, despite the dodgy sound. Can't remember the order but they did 'Sleeping Giant', 'Colony Of Birchmen', 'Circle Of The Cysquatch', 'Megalodon' and 'Hearts Alive'. At least that's all I saw of them.

mandibleTongue
12-01-2006, 09:14 AM
Tool were mint (Goes without saying). The soundman must have been out of his tree on something because he let the band and audience down on quite a few occassions. The lasers were very cool! Just hoping the band comes back next year...

I wasnt expecting that much from Mastodon...but I was blown away.The Big-Bearded guitarist/Vocalist and the drummer were both especially good.

Superb Evening! *****

Kristina
12-01-2006, 09:53 AM
Lateralus was on orgasmic experience. Word cannot describe:) And It's worth noting that the Stinkfist was a great opening, and of course.. 10 000 days was massive and whole crowd reacted amazingly. It exceeded my expectations. :*

assailing eyes
12-01-2006, 11:18 AM
i'll have a blog up soon, and ill post a link to it when its totally finished.

cardiff didn't beat wembley.

Destiny'sDead
12-01-2006, 12:46 PM
How SLACK was security?!
And Mastodon were utterly shit.
Anyway...first few videos (from balcony seating, on a mobile..hence low quality, basically dead centre =] )
Vicarious (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhvTj-JCrYo)
Lateralus (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fprGMhK409U)
Wings (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZY7zFkSLps) (Really short bit..more to come)
I have more, which will be available once I have figured out how to flip the video up the right way...any help appreciated!!

Some photos coming in a minute as well.

Destiny'sDead
12-01-2006, 12:58 PM
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/poizboyz/Pic-0396.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/poizboyz/Pic-0395.jpg

Destiny'sDead
12-01-2006, 01:36 PM
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/poizboyz/Pic-0394.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/poizboyz/Pic-0393.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/poizboyz/Pic-0390.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/poizboyz/Pic-0389.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/poizboyz/Pic-0388.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/poizboyz/Pic-0386.jpg
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y23/poizboyz/Pic-0392.jpg

That'll do for now.

assailing eyes
12-01-2006, 01:52 PM
my thoughts on cardiff & some videos are on the second part of this blog (top half is wembley);

http://blog.myspace.com/37558489

magentus
12-01-2006, 02:51 PM
Mastodon beat Tool in the beardy contest if nothing else. I reckon they were good though.

arcane
12-02-2006, 04:03 AM
I was seated again, and it'd have been great except that Wings I & II were spoiled due to three ignorant chumps sitting in the row behind who decided to TALK all the way through Wings for Marie and almost the entire way through 10,000 days. (They even let out a rendition of kumbya just before Wings I.) On the louder parts they were drowned out, but most of this delicate masterpiece had chatter and giggles pervading it. I was shaking with anger by the end and turned round to have a go at them once the songs were finished.

Drumming was cleaner here, but aside that the sound at Wembley was better. 46 & 2/Jambi/Lateralus the highlights of this one.

magentus
12-02-2006, 09:19 AM
[it'd have been great except that Wings I & II were spoiled due to three ignorant chumps sitting in the row behind who decided to TALK all the way through Wings for Marie and almost the entire way through 10,000 days. (


It makes you wonder doesn't it? maybe they won the tickets in a competition 'cos they sure as fuck don't know anything about those 2 songs. Give yourself a pat on the back for not killing them. Well done.

mandibleTongue
12-02-2006, 01:37 PM
After viewing Destiny'sDead's phone cam vids I remember that Tool's performance was ropey at times, though the instances can be counted on one hand.

In other words, it didnt matter at the time. Plus, it was quite apparent that the sound engineers were ballzing up towards the end i.e. Vicarious and Aenema.

spiral_out88
12-02-2006, 02:46 PM
"I was seated again, and it'd have been great except that Wings I & II were spoiled due to three ignorant chumps sitting in the row behind who decided to TALK all the way through Wings for Marie and almost the entire way through 10,000 days"

----

I know what you mean -I was standing, and thoroughly annoyed when people started to do an ongoing clap throughout both of these songs. This just demonstrates that not everyone who was there understands the implications of Wings & Wings pt2 - I wish that hadn't had happened.

Despite this, Wings & Wings pt2 had to be the highlight for me. I was thrilled, as when I saw them at Hammersmith in June they didn't play them. The laser show was incredible, matched to the songs with such detail. I thought Maynard's voice faired well, apart from hitches when he put the gasmask on (serves him right -as I have a fear of them!).

Mastodon were disappointing - but at least there was a support act this time round.

Overall it was an excellent show - better than Hammersmith. Bring on the next tour.

Mongeese
12-02-2006, 04:01 PM
My full account of the show is http://www.last.fm/user/y_helo_mongoose/journal/2006/12/2/281536/ here.

Go read pleasy. =]

Mongeese
12-02-2006, 04:04 PM
"I was seated again, and it'd have been great except that Wings I & II were spoiled due to three ignorant chumps sitting in the row behind who decided to TALK all the way through Wings for Marie and almost the entire way through 10,000 days"

----

I know what you mean -I was standing, and thoroughly annoyed when people started to do an ongoing clap throughout both of these songs. This just demonstrates that not everyone who was there understands the implications of Wings & Wings pt2 - I wish that hadn't had happened.

Despite this, Wings & Wings pt2 had to be the highlight for me. I was thrilled, as when I saw them at Hammersmith in June they didn't play them. The laser show was incredible, matched to the songs with such detail. I thought Maynard's voice faired well, apart from hitches when he put the gasmask on (serves him right -as I have a fear of them!).

Mastodon were disappointing - but at least there was a support act this time round.

Overall it was an excellent show - better than Hammersmith. Bring on the next tour.

I really have to disagree. When I started clapping along, to me, that was my way of saying to Maynard "Yeah, I'm here for you." I may not be able to relate to that song as much as other people, but that was my way of showing support to him.

spiral_out88
12-02-2006, 04:34 PM
I really have to disagree. When I started clapping along, to me, that was my way of saying to Maynard "Yeah, I'm here for you." I may not be able to relate to that song as much as other people, but that was my way of showing support to him.


Ok, thats fair enough - but what really got to me though was these little kids who clearly only went to see Tool because they had heard Vicarious on Radio 1 - and the clapping was what they usually do at their shit-metal gigs - it didn't help that I was practically surrounded by them.

I just personally think you really need to LISTEN to wings I & II - it's a slow song for a reason - and some people there obviously didn't understand that.

Mongeese
12-02-2006, 04:44 PM
Yeah, I can understand why you're pissed off. Tool are getting incredibly popular now. So kids that just conform to that latest fads will go to gigs if they heard a single on radio one and there's a venue on the doorstep. I just stick with people who know their shit. Like in my account of the concert (up the page a bit) I noted that the guy on my right had no idea what was going on when they started swamp song. He gave me a really strange look when I was singing the lyrics with the guy next to me. I'm not implying that he was a "trend follower" at all. He knew the lyrics to everything the played from Lateralus, 10,000 Days and Aenima. I'm just using that as an example.

assailing eyes
12-03-2006, 05:16 AM
I was seated again, and it'd have been great except that Wings I & II were spoiled due to three ignorant chumps sitting in the row behind who decided to TALK all the way through Wings for Marie and almost the entire way through 10,000 days.

where were you sitting? because there were some people just along a bit and behind me who would not SHUT UP through those two songs. i kept turning round and giving them my filthiest looks, and made a very loud comment about the 'fucking rudeness of people that talk' afterwards. and i hope they heard, because at times during wings they were so loud it started to distract me so much from the performance, which was horrible. it was times like that that made me wish i was at the front again like at wembley.

mikeanthony
12-03-2006, 05:29 AM
Lol wtf noisy people at a rock show who would of thought it , you didnt go to see riverdance ffs,

only thing that messed the show up really was the sound tech during vicarious and aenima.

Also a friend of mine who has liked tool for quite a few years longer than me and you cant name half the songs or the lyrics for them.

assailing eyes
12-03-2006, 05:30 AM
Also a friend of mine who has liked tool for quite a few years longer than me and you cant name half the songs or the lyrics for them.

i know this was aimed to someone else, but i just find that bizarre.

mikeanthony
12-03-2006, 06:17 AM
I dont, not everyone is obsessed by them

assailing eyes
12-03-2006, 08:07 AM
I dont, not everyone is obsessed by them

i thought you meant he was, yet didn't know song names and lyrics.
no need to get arsy.

mikeanthony
12-03-2006, 09:05 AM
I didnt i just responded to your comment

janeelisabeth
12-03-2006, 09:36 AM
I agree with whoever said that the vocals were far too quiet at the beginning. And yes, the gig took a while to get going. Having said that though, wings made up for every single mistake, it was just amazing. I loved the way that the lasers fanned out to look like wings and then piped smoke looked like clouds moving really quickly across the sky. The buildup was immense and the climax was just phenomenal, I've never experienced such an intense rush at a gig before.
Anyone else think that Maynard seemed really tired? In july in Milan he was dancing like a maniac, he hardly moved much at all in this one. Not surprising really, given how hard they've been working, they must be totally exhausted!

Johovishta
12-03-2006, 09:41 AM
I must say the TOOL performance was very impressive.. I was worried they might be old jaded an unenergetic but this was simply not the case. Awesome.

Great visuals.

BUT to be fiar the performace of the FRONT OF HOUSE sound engineer was quite frankly apalling for a show of this magnitude.

1. Isuue 1 - Maynards vocals just werent loud enough relative to the other instruments for the whole set. Whats the pint in having thousands of pounds of outboard gear if you dont turn the volume up ???

2. Couldnt hear the guest solo guitar at all. Clearly the monitor mixer got it right as Maynard was loving it but for the rest of us?? I was near the desk and the guy was not even watching!!

3. The bass mix was just all wrong. True the CIA isnt an ideal venue acoustically...but come on it was all over the place in terms of frequencies sometimes it sounded empty other times too much.

That guy should be fired..I dread to think he is their permanent engineer!!

assailing eyes
12-03-2006, 11:18 AM
btw mongeese, thanks for mentioning me in your blog. it was sweet. especially the credit at the end of your one on myspace, i didnt see that the first time i read it.

Derrainan
12-05-2006, 03:24 PM
Well, after many years of waiting, this was my first Tool gig. Have loved them since I first heard Aenema in about 99, and my obsession has steadily grown!

So I bought tickets for Cardiff the second they went on sale.

Maybe my expectations were TOO high. Or maybe not. But I was SOOOO dissapointed with the gig. It does have to be mentioned that none of this was really Tool's fault; but even so, I felt pretty peeved by the end of the show.

But I digress. Mastondon? Hmmm, not my cup of tea. I'm not, I hasten to add, really a 'metal' fan and Mastodon were probably just too metal for me. Though it was hard to tell; because from where I was standing, the mix was without question the WORST I've ever heard in 20 years of gig-going. I'd read other posts previous over the tour saying how poor their mix was, but nothing prepared me for this! Though it might have had something to do with where I was standing in the arena.... more of which anon!

Anyhoo, on to Tool - I had high hopes that Mastodon's mix was purely their problem, but alas no - Stinkfist began, and although the sound was a LOT better, it was still far from perfect. There was far too much bass...ummm.... vibration? dunno, as I'm not a sound engineer I find it hard to describe, but there just was a lack of crispness to the sound as a whole. Adam's guitar was pretty much spot on through the whole gig, as was Justin's bass - but I think the muddiness of the sound took a lot away from the Danny.

The worst problem though, as others have mentioned, was Maynards vocals. WAY too quiet for most of the set; and yet, though quiet, when he sang, I noticed that the "muddy" quality of the sound increased. It was only when he wasn't singing that I could really get into the music! :o(

I think some of this is probably due to the acoustics of the venue - it seems a lot of people who were at the front loved the gig, but alas being an old(ish) fart, I prefer to stand nearer the back now! But even so, I wasn't far from the mixing desk... who knows what this guy heard? He was probably listening to McFly on his headphones or something....

I don't want to sound all moany and groany; there were a few highlights - for some reason, the sound on 46&2 was pretty much perfect, and I was in awe for several minutes. Trouble is I didn't feel the same again until Lateralus, which was just jawdropping and shone dispite the mix (apart from the instrumental middle of Schism, which was also pretty bloody wonderful).

But I was gutted by Wings1&2 - to me, it was like listening to the song through a wall of muddy gloop. If the soundman really is to blame, then he should be fired IMMEDIATELY. My wife and I spent £200 on tickets and train fares from west Cornwall, and I don't take kindly to some joker not doing his job properly.

It also seemed odd that, for Vicarious and Aenema, the vocals got a lot louder once the "gasmask-mike" was used - hoo-fricking-ray I thought, only for Maynards voice to be cutting out half the time!!!

The mix (at least to my ears) was the worst I've heard, apart from Mastodon, and The Mission last year (yes I am an old goth!!!).

One things for sure, I'll never see ANYTHING in Cardiff arena again. As for Tool? Well, of course I will - but please, get a new sound man!

Jimmeny
12-05-2006, 05:08 PM
Dunno who you guys have been listening to, but I find most live gigs too loud, too bassy and too muddy. I thought Cardiff was pretty good tonally!

spiral_out88
12-05-2006, 06:22 PM
I agree with the point that Maynard's vocals could have been a bit louder (and yes it was weird and pretty annoying when they got louder but also got cut out when he put the gasmask on), but I've seen other bands at Cardiff Arena, and comparing them to Tool - Tool's sound comes out on top.

But Mastodon's sound was way off - I thought at some points my head was going to fall off due to the overly loud bass. Again, I'm probably bias because they're not really my thing, but still the sound was pretty shocking.

To be honest - bad sound or no bad sound, Tool are excellent musicians and put on a brilliant show (more robust than when they played London in June).

Derrainan
12-07-2006, 12:42 PM
Just goes to show, I guess, that a lot of it depended on where you were standing. Probably, the closer you got to the front, (centre front mind, not side front - I tried that!) the better the sound.

I'm actually used to hearing CLEAR sound live - I saw Muse recently, and their sound was perfect. I always expect a band to be Better live than on record, and Muse were. I know Tool are as well, having heard various live recordings, but it was bloody hard to tell from this gig! It was like listening to a dodgy bootleg...

I mean, I've seen Swans for crissakes - probably the loudest band ever, and even though they were crushingly loud, they were still clear sounding.

The other possiblity, of course, is that Mastodon were either so loud or so badly mixed that they screwed my ears up first...!!!