I was REALLY disappointed. This is the second show I've been to at the Pensacola Civic Center. The first one was just last month, where Muse opened for My Chemical Romance. By far, the Muse show (as the opening act, without any visuals) was much better. I could actually hear Muse, where as being front row in front of Adam I could only hear Maynard during the quieter parts. Don't get me wrong, I loved what I was hearing, but it seems kind of dead when you can't hear ANY OF THE LYRICS!

Anyway, it also didn't help that some hill-billy covered in Tool tattoos (please!) got pissed off because he had been at the front gate since 8 am, and my girlfriend and I showed up 5 hours early and got our wristbands before him. Our fucking wristbands. As this happened, he said something along the lines of, "If they get in before us, I'll be pissed. They JUST GOT HERE." Yeah... well fuck you buddy. Next time read the signs that say that there are 4 lines to get in.

And also, to the drunk bitch who weaseled her way behind the front row and spilled her beer on like 5 of us right in front of her, fuck you.

That kind of set the mood for the whole show. There were only a few drunken assholes near the front row. And the kid who started the mosh pit on my side got pushed to the front and taken out to cheers from the crowd. He did this twice. You would think he would realize the first time that nobody was really into it?

Adam seemed really, REALLY bored during the first half of the show. Playing the classics (46 & 2) he looked like he zoned out and was just going through the movements. I don't blame him. If I had to play the same old songs a million times over, I'd be pretty pissed off, too. He kept his eye on Justin for the second half of the show, almost like they were all trying to keep in time. I think the song he liked playing the most was "Right In Two" I liked it a lot, too. During Lateralus when the Kinksi guys came out, Adam stood off to the side of the guitarist with a microphone that he must have been using for feedback. He held it right on his pickups and would move it ever so slightly as the kinksi guy played. I guess there was something else to the Kinksi guitarist's act that I couldn't hear. The only time I heard him play was when he would jump and go into convulsions with his guitar. Any strange noise he was making, I didn't hear at all.

Justin was REALLY into the show. He did a lot of gentle head banging (nothing crazy) and seemed to really be enjoying himself. At one point he sat down on a bench with the spotlights shining right onto his bass. During lateralus he was on his knees playing with his effects and keeping the "dun dun dun dun" thing going on his bass while Kinksi played. He picked up a piece of paper when the show was over, rolled it into a ball and tossed it into the crowd. I assume this was the setlist? And when the band took a break, he pulled out his lighter and held it up, and so did most everyone in the room. It lit the civic center completely. It was an amazing moment.

Danny did good, as usual. His golden drum set is fucking awesome. He threw his ice-pack that he had on his arm during the break, into the crowd.

Maynard did his thing in the back. I liked his dancing. It's like he's a composer, but he uses his whole body to direct the orchestra. I would call it Tai-Chi, if I had to call it anything. During one of the songs, right before "Right In Two" he brought out a giant bag of popcorn and slowly approached the front of the stage. He ripped a little hole in the top and sniffed at it. People went wild, for some reason. Then he tossed it into the crowd and went back to his spot in the back. He looked kinda disappointed that the bag was immediately ripped to shreds and wasted. I thought it was fitting that they played "Right In Two" immediately after. Silly monkeys...

I met some cool kids from Tallahassee. The people who stood right next to us for the whole show were really mellow and cool. I was glad we didn't have to deal with any more assholes. Wings for Marie was probably my favorite song of the night. I could hear Maynard much better during that song than any other.

I would say that I definitely like Tool better as a recording artist, and not as a live act. If they were to just make all of their supplemental artwork to their music and sell it as a DVD or something, I would readily buy that instead of going to the show. In fact, I think if I would have saved my $125 and spent it buying all of their albums over again, I would have been much happier. It could just be me, but Tool is not something I can really enjoy WITH people. Despite the awkward audio setup, I think the fans are what made the show less enjoyable.

Thanks for having me at your show, Tool. I hope you heard me when I yelled "Thank you!" right before Vicarious. I meant it!