My third Tool show, all three coming on this tour.

Fucking excellent show, better than the 2006 Chicago shows. Although, I was much closer this time around. Section 2, row V. The band seemed in good spirits and the crowd was very cool and respectful, for the most part. Maynard was pretty lively, swearing that he "smelled baby shit hand lotion" and commencing to ask the crowd if "someone pooped their pants and was trying to cover it up." He also said that "fireworks were invented to blow dummies' hands off, sort of a survival of the fittest type of thing." He wished a happy 4th during the breakdown during Stinkfist.

The highlights for me were The Pot, which just seemed really intense tonight for some reason, and obviously Lateralus. The drum-off was epic. Maynard was blowing toilet paper all over with a fan, in a silly oversized pink cowboy hat. The set and laser show has definitely evolved, and the mini encore break before Wings was really cool. More trippy music and weird shit onstage this time around. However... the setlist has become a bit stale. Rosetta Stoned needs to go and be replaced by Eulogy or Parabola or something. It's fine, it just really slows everything down in the middle of the show. That's pretty much the extent of my complaints.

The band was really fucking focused, and Danny and Justin seemed to be having a blast. Even Adam had more interaction with the crowd than I've seen in the past. Maynard's rodeo dancing never fails to get a laugh out of me. There was definitely some new song type jamming during the show and it sounds epic. I hope the new stuff comes sooner rather than later.

Thanks, Tool. You guys really are the pinnacle of musicianship.