Huge disappointment.... Every song was an instrumental.

I left (completely pissed off and feeling ripped off) during Flood.
It was my *first* Tool concert... and if they don't have a different sound guy next time, it'll be my last! I honestly would have had more fun sitting at home alone in the dark listening to Tool on my iPod.

Actually, I'm not pissed off that I spent the money to see them... I'm pissed because it *should* have been a GREAT show.

GOOD ASPECTS OF THE SHOW:

Tool are magnificent musicians. They make it look and sound effortless!
The lighting and effects were great.
The band was tight (love the meter changes) and the levels of all of the *instruments* perfect.
My seats were great; I was about a dozen rows from the front.
Maynard's a sexy bastard. (Hell, I'd switch for him.)


BAD ASPECTS OF THE SHOW:

VOCALS: The audio engineer needed to take the wax from his ears! I never imagined what Tool would sound like as an instrumental band... but I found out! You could *NOT* hear Maynard AT ALL! It was so bad that the audience was having trouble singing along! Maynard's vocals are *key* to the feeling and texture of the music! You could tell taht Maynard was putting his all into it... and I'm sure it sounded great in his monitors, but the audience couldn't hear any of them unless he was screaming.

...A note to the engineer... Maynard's a dynamic singer! His vocals go from pianissimo to fortissimo. Get a fracking compressor/limiter and learn how to use it! If you can only hear him when he's screaming... then something's wrong. Maybe it's time you realized that your ears are shot. Or maybe you just *forgot* there was an audience! I'm sure the stage monitors sounded great! If you're not mixing from 2/3 back in the middle of the audience, at *least* have someone with good ears out there during the first song to fix any differences in sound now that there's a ton of people in the seats. Maybe I shouldn't be too critical of my fellow sound guys... but bad sound *really* ruins what should be a good show.

...that was the biggest part of why the show was bad.

A few little things that were annoying, but not enough to have caused me to say that it was the *worst* big concert I've ever been to... (Which, thanks to the sound guy, it was.)

1) I was stuck between two couples that were fighting. To the left of me the couple was giving off angry vibes and ignoring eachother while talking to everyone else. To the right of me, one girl was swearing and yelling at her girlfriend for about a half hour.

2) I'm tired of going to a concert and wondering if the people there are just drunken idiots or if they actually *get* the music? Have half these people ever *listened* to the lyrics!? I really doubt that the band would want you going around punching fellow fans and making homophobic remarks.

3) Some a$$hole punched me in the back as I was walking along the walkway between the amphitheater levels. Now, I'm a cute little blond 5 foot nothing faerie chick... why anyone would punch a girl as she's walking by... I'm not sure... After he punched me and I turned around, he pretended to not have done it while looking out of the corner of his eye at me as if to say "What? I'm just standing here. I didn't do anything." ...a$$hole.


...as is *usually* the case for shows that *should* have been great... a combination of horrible audio quality and people who don't know how to act ruined the show. Mostly though, it was the horrible audio quality.