Just got home from my third TOOL show in eight long years and I have to say this was just about the best one yet. Our seats left something to be desired (section 123, row X) but we had a bird's eye view of Justin and Danny which was pretty sweet. We also got a really good view of the graphics that were being displayed on the stage which people in general admission as well as people in lower rows would have been unable to see. They were incredible! Definitely the best so far. That was the upside of the seating. The downside was although we got a lot of Justin's bass (which was great, don't get me wrong) it was very difficult to hear any vocals, when the mike was working. However, I pretty much know all the lyrics to most TOOL songs, as did every other fan in the audience, or so it seemed. It was quite moving actually to hear the entire venue singing Stinkfist and Schism, etc...

I could have lived without the opening act but what the hell. You have to take the good with the bad. When I saw them last time in 2006 at the Verizon Center they had a band named Isis opening for them and they were incredible. When I saw them in at the Verizon center in October of 2001 the opening band absolutely sucked, so like I said, take the good with the bad. I guess the next opener will be good.

As for the set list, I would have liked a little variation from the '06 tour but these were all damn great songs in '06 and remain great songs tonight in '09. I was particularly happy with Flood as I do not recall ever hearing anything off of Undertow live before. Stinkfist was awesome as it always is. Jambi was a perfect opener, right on the money. Forty Six & 2 was absolutely incredible, and the graphics were amazing. My girlfriend had bought Lateralus while she was in her Emergency & Critical Care Residency program but never really listened to it all that much. She had heard Schism and liked it. This was her first true introduction to the band and she really enjoyed it. She was very happy that they played Schism. Of course, how could you deny the genius that is TOOL. I don't want to sound like a puppet on a string here. I do, however, truly believe that there is definite genius behind the music.

I would have gladly traded Lost Keys & Rosetta Stoned for other tracks such as The Pot and 10,000 Days or The Grudge, Eulogy, Pushit, etc... I couldn't hear or understand a word of Rosetta stoned tonight nor when they played it back in '06 so it was a good time to hit the bathroom and grab a t-shirt. You could still clearly hear the music even in the bathroom which was kind of cool. I felt as though I wasn't really missing anything. The laser show was pretty cool as well.

So all in all I would give this show two thumbs up, five stars, a perfect ten, basically it was exactly what you would expect from a TOOL show - It was perfect.