Alrighty then...Picture this, if you will.....

This was my fourth, and BY FAR my best Tool show. I saw them at the Orpheum last spring and at the Tweeter Center and the Hartford Civic Center last fall, and this one owned all of them. It wasn't just the way Tool played or the set list that won me over though, but part of it is due to my last minute decision to bring the earplugs that I use for band practices. They're Hearos High Fidelity filters, and they're amazing. They don't really muffle sound as much as they filter out the sounds that you don't need to hear. I was down front on the aisle in section 3, and the earplugs did a great job at filtering out alot of the mud that comes from sitting to close to the subs. The result was like listening to the CD's being blasted on full volume. This is in part because Tool has amazing live sound, but the earplugs took the "muddiness" out of the guitar, bass and kick drum and opened up the mix so that Maynard could be heard alot clearer. I've never heard better sound at a concert in my life.....and Danny has the best arena drum sound ever!!

So for the show...

I got to the Tweeter Center early that afternoon with my bass player and his friend to try to meet the band. We had no luck, as they stayed inside the venue and never came out to the busses, but oh well. The venue is awesome. I love the setting. It's cool to have it surrounded by all of those woods. It makes going to a concert like going for a day at the park. We also had VIP parking, so while the after show rush sucked for most people, we were out of the venue within 10 minutes of getting to our car.

My friends and I walked around the back of the venue, behind the lawn seats to listen to the soundcheck. The sound is actually really good in the woods out there. We went way back into the woods, away from all of the security and cops (there were like 20,000,000 of them all over the place) and got ripped out of our heads while we listened to the soundcheck. They checked the vocal mics, guitar, bass, drums, and then Tool took the stage. They played through Stinkfist and then PUSHIT!!!! My friends and I almost shit ourselves. It sounded so beautiful echoing through the woods. Then they played the first half of Jambi, Justin did Lost Keys, and then the rest of Jambi from the talkbox solo to the end.

We stayed in the woods to listen to the opening act. Aside from the vocals, they weren't horrible, but the sound wasn't that great and the singer was annoying. Definitely not something I'd listen to on an everyday basis. Toward the end of the set, we ventured out into the parking lot to mingle with the crowd. Everyone was pretty drunk by the time we got there, but we were so high that it didn't matter. Walking through the tailgaters, hearing Tool blasting on 10,000 car stereos drove it home that we were about to be rocked like never before.

We got into the venue as they were setting up the stage for Tool. My brother (whose account I'm posting on) bought a poster, a T-shirt and a hoodie. $120. Nice. I had no problems at all with security. In fact, the guard next to us was pretty cool. He didn't even kick out the guy smoking weed next to us. He just told him to put it out. I also saw him turn around several times to watch the show.

We found our seats quick. Right on the aisle down front in section 3. FUCKING AWESOME VIEW!!! As a drummer, I was fixated on Danny's bronze drumkit. I have the snare from that series, but the whole kit is something to behold. My mom, my brother and I sat together. My bass player and his friend had seats on the other side in section 1. My mom could clearly tell that I was ripped, but didn't seem to really care. I mean come on, it's a Tool show. The lights went out, the crowd went nuts, and the band took the stage. Earplugs in...ready...GO....

Jambi - What an opener!!!! This song rips. The guitar seemed plenty loud by itself, but when Danny came in he overpowered everything with his gut-punching floor tom pattern. The sound engineer brought the guitar and vocals up halfway through the song to a perfect mix. Maynard was staring right at us for the whole Talkbox solo. His vocals cut through fairly clear with the earplugs.

Stinkfist - Flawless. No extened part, but having heard it 3 times already, it was no big deal. Maynard changed the lyrics from "I'll keep digging" to something I couldn't quite make out. It almost sounded like he said "I'll keep stinking, 'till I smell something."

-Maynard says hello-

46&2 - Even my mom flipped out for this one (she knows it quite well since my band covers it). It went off without a hitch. It seemed like Danny may have dragged a tiny bit durring the one messure of improv he does in the middle of the drum solo, but he stayed with the band.

Schism - Amazing. Love the added drum solo in the middle (I'm a drummer, what do you want?)

Lost Keys - We only got about 10 seconds of the bass feedback, then they launched right into....

Rosetta Stoned - A couple of little hiccups from Maynard and Adam here and there, but it is a hard song to play. Maynard's megaphone wasn't turned up loud enough at all. Danny owns this song. The 5 over 6 polyrhythm durring Adam's solo is one of the craziest things I've ever heard him play.

-Synth interlude-

PUSHIT!!!! I thought from the soundcheck that we might get it, but it still hit me by surprise. They really pulled it off too. Adam's solo was perfect, and Maynard's vocals made me melt inside.

-Bass interlude - Distortion kind of sounded like the intro to H. My brother and I started flipping out, but instead, we got.....

FLOOD!!!! - Still all good. I didn't think it was comming, but I love the song. It's cool that they play something that wasn't a hit. Soooo much low end!!! The water visuals were awesome. I love the full intro too. One of my favorite Danny licks.

-Intermission - Didn't have my lighter, so I used my cell phone. The whole place lit up.

Wings/10,000 Days - So dramatic live. Justin's classical-style bass line shows what a versitile player he is. The visuals were stunning. The lasers never get old, and when they dropped the curtain to reveal the 10,000 Days backround, the crowd went nuts. Maynard's vocals were very heartfelt. The crowd also seemed very respectful of the song.

Lateralus - This is probably my favorite song live. Maynard messed up the vocals a little in the beginning, but it wasn't really that noticeble. Then came the drum duel. Danny is a monster, but the guy from Big Business held his own. Extremely well done. Durring the duel, Justin pounded back 4 Heinekins in a row. When he'd finish one, his tech would bring him another. Danny's over the shoulder gong hit is really cool. At the end of the song, my bassist caught one of the drummer from Big Business' sticks. Said he had to fight for it, but he got it.

- Maynard calls the crowd drunk bastards and tells us to look out for one another on the way home and not to get carried away and fuck a relative. He said they'd be back too, which left me with a good feeling -

Vicarious - I love the song and they played it perfect, but they should have played Lateralus last. It's such climactic song that nothing can really be put after it. Maynard held out "death rattle" and let the crowd sing the next part. He also let the crowd sing the last chorus. Then it was over.

We want more, but thats it. The band takes their bows and leaves. We exit the arena to ABBA's "Dancing Queen". My mom is now a Tool fan and she says that now she knows why we love them so much. We blast Undertow all the way to the hotel.....