I leave the solitary confinement of my office to the sky exploding. It's about 4:57 and I have to get home, there's much to do this evening. The falling water slows my commute, but I get through it, and I pull into the driveway at 5:15. My brother is there, and my girlfriend's cousin, and we shoot shit and make jokes and sip some barley waters. My girlfriend arrives at 6:38, and we instantly hit the pavement in a Civic, North and West towards the next corporately sponsored sound box. The sky takes a Zanex and calms the fuck down.

The drive in is easy, simple, expedite. The walk into the Centre is even easier - while all the clones line up at the main entrance, our sly companion spots a quicker route through the ticket counter, and we're in like Flint...no line, no feverish piss dance. Instantly to the wrist band station, the frosty brew guy, the human waste terminal. A young kid asks me to buy him a beer, but when told the asking price of $6.50 he freaks out and storms off...his first lesson in inflation. Another 2, 3 trips to the waste terminal while Big Business makes noise, and then we find our seats. Section 114 Row 9 Seats 1 & 2. My brother and her cousin are recipients of a radio giveaway - their seats are much better than mine - and free. We watch the slowly forming mass of drunks, stoners, freaks, preps, frat kids, moms, dads, grandpas, and a midget, until suddenly...

THE LIGHTS GO OUT! The ring of feedback penetrates the smokey atmosphere and injects itself into longing ears. Four shadows creep onto the stage; One sits behind a golden mass of tubes and bells, shimmering in a red light. Another stands and straps on a four-stringed assault weapon. Another shadow keys a swaying electronic device with a six-stringed weapon around his shoulder. And one perches himself on a platform and poses infront of a swirling red ball of fire. "Here from the king's mountain view" he says, and I erupt.

The smell of burning plants permiates the air, while the conductor of this extravaganza preaches "nothing has to change" and "I've been crawlin on my belly". A suprise when he asks the crowd "who are you to wave your finger?", but my response is uncontrolable and I shoot my fists into the foggy air. While he brags about how he knows that the "pieces fit", I decide to take myself to the human waste terminal once more. I'm back in time to hear the ambient squealing and low bass tremelo, and realize that this is when he tells us about The Experience, the time when "he looked right through me, with somniferous almond eyes". As he finishes shamefully admitting "god damn, shit the bed", I see the stage fill with water and I realize that there is a Flood! He tells me to "take what is mine, all that is mine," and I jump in ecstacy and put on a wide grin. My whole body pounded with sound, I wonder to myself if there is heaven, and if this is it.

I can feel my heart begin to beg for escape from my chest, beating on my inner-ribcage in a mass production of blood. This is what I have been waiting for...this is it..."You....You Believed...You believed in movements none could see" I grab my girlfriend in soft embrace, I realize the porportion of the song and its meaning relative to my tiny existence, and water trickles from my eye and evaporates in the sweaty air.

Another shadow creeps onto the stage, and begins the epic journey of the evening, a transportal into the depths of the third eye, the mind, the body, and the spirit. Green lines dart into the air, and black, white, red, and yellow lights swarm the five shadows who convulge and sway and sing. A battle of titans takes place before my very eyes, a fight of sound that leaves me in awe, and the shadow behind the golden mass of tubes and bells comes out the victor, while the guest shadow waves good bye with pride and appreciation. The night ends with a frightening prediction and an observation of the present..."vicariously I live while the whole world dies," and I am at one with myself and everything around me. The four shadows wave and hug and give gifts to their dedicated constituents, and We make our way through the crowds and head to our humble homes.

I'm laying in my bed, pressing rewind and play and rewind and play, accessing my memory and smiling to myself as I revisit the magnificient experience. I realize that I am falling asleep when I see myself playing guitar next to Adam Jones while Maynard plays pinball in the back of a dirty warehouse. My life has just been changed, and although I have experienced this very event more than 5 times before, I understand that the gift TOOL gives us allows sound and soul to intersect and tangle in the depths of our hearts, and puts pieces of our mind to the forefront, where they can be enjoyed in a common appreciation of talent and ingenuity.