I've been to 3 Tool shows since the start of this tour: both San Diego shows and the first Los Angeles show (debut of Wings). This May 3rd San Diego show easily gets the award for best show in my book, followed closely by the LA show back in September.

I'd have to say that the second SD show was twice as good as the first. Sure that's a bold statement bound to invoke jealousy from those that only went to the first one, but its true.

The first show certainly wasn't bad by any means, but the dynamic was off. From the band's end, it seemed like they played it safe. No real surprises and a little too "canned". The crowd dynamic probably played a big part of it. 80% of the attendees were frat boys from San Diego State. No alcohol was served at the show. A room packed full of frat boys and no beer is bound to cause issues. I'm sure the remnants of the Reno show had an effect too.

The second show was essentially a 2 hour orgasm. Utter perfection. The band had really let loose on the second day and that vibe seemed to translate over the crowd. The crowd in general seemed to be far more involved this time around. Maybe its because the frat boys bought all the tickets to show 1, forcing more of the fans to come to show 2.

The peak of the evening was definately PUSHIT. I remember the moment so well. After Maynard said they were going to try something they haven't played in a while, the excitement started to buzz around the arena. When that distinctive intro to PUSHIT started, the crowd went f**ing nuts. Cheers, screams, hell yeahs, no f**ing ways, and various explitives made the rounds in anticipation of this masterpiece. The execution was completely flawless considering this Aenema version probably hadn't been played live in a decade. I loved singing along with this one. Combined with several controlled substances, I reached a state of euphoria unreachable by any means other than a Tool show.

It's nice to see Tucson got Pushit as well. Just changing the one song on the setlist was enough to push this show over the envelope. Hopefully the band will be bold enough to add in some of their other "cover band" songs in the future rather than just cycling between Pushit and Right in Two.

The other highlight of the night was extended Lateralus. Here's a great 7 minute video from that exact performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5I5MVXQumA