mjr

ok now I am seriously confused. I think my ears are fucked up. And that is a problem. I was in section 5 row P and everything sounded horrible. It didnt sound like Tool. The guitar sounded too high. The levels were all off...I don't know enough about music production to really pin it down. It did NOT sound like the album and I DONT get why. I went to the orpheum show and it sounded absolutely amazing. I listened to Aenima as soon as I got to the car...and it sounded NOTHING like what I had just heard. Is it possible there is a bad couple of seats in the tweeter center? I really am at a loss. I came 6 hours for this show all the way from college.

Did Isis sound like they added parts into their songs? Like looping or something. Thats what it sounded like to me. I know all their songs and they sounded different too, as did Tool's. It sounded like one of their 3 guitars that isnt really on lead in the song might have been amped up too much, or that they literally were looping small 2-5second parts of their songs in order to freeze time and extend the songs. The worst part about all of this was that I wasn't fucked up...unless pot could somehow do this. And if it did I need to quit smoking because I'm not letting anything ruin Tool for me. The thing I don't understand is the only people that understood what I was talking about (and I described what I was hearing fully during the show) were a guy sititing near me tripping acid and two kids behind me on shrooms. So much for a sample size. Fuck. I really don't know what to think. Interestingly, I saw two guys behind me leave after lateralus and they seemed pissed off. Maybe they were hearing what I was hearing.

The most striking part was durign 10,000days. Thats what I knew something was messed up and exactly what it was. Both the guitar and the bass were way too high. The darkness of the song (that is supplemented by the ambient noises) was just nonexistant. It sounded like everything was taking up to a higher sound.

The only things I can think of that logically make sense:
1. my eardrums popped or something is seriously fucked up in my ear...
2. it actually was messed up...and everybody else is just crazy...
3. there is something about where I was sitting (sec 5 row p seat 14-17) that we got the mixing of sound waves bouncing off the ceiling or SOMETHING that fucks it up. probably not though becuase the other 2 people I was with that weren't tripping acid (and just smoked) said it sounded fine/amazing. granted they haven't seen Tool live before like I did at the orpheum...and there it all sounded straight from the album.
4. I don't know.

I need to figure this out. If you've got any ideas or want to comment please do. I'm angry and I don't get it. I came 6 hours for what should have been the best show of my life and, while the visuals were amazing, it sounded blasphemous to Tool. Like some kind of a sick joke. Even if what you heard was slightly off...and you just dismissed it...please say something. I don't know what to think.

Edit: is there any condition in my ears that could possibly lead to lower sounds being changed into higher sounds? I was thinking and maybe only I was hearing this and the people tripping around me were just agreeing because they were tripping...and you can be suggested to believe practically anything when tripping.