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kanaduh
06-23-2012, 09:55 PM
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As soon as Tool announced its single show for 2012, I knew I would be going. Obviously flying would have made more sense from Toronto, by why do that? Nothing beats a roadtrip! Conveniently enough, Maynard scheduled his Puscifer tour alongside the festival performance, so I was fortunate enough to make stopovers in Buffalo and Columbus to see Puscifer along the way.

The first day I made the trip over the border to Buffalo. They were playing in a small venue called the Riviera Theatre. One thing I absolutely love about Puscifer is that they play in very obscure, historical and unique venues. This place could not have had more than a few hundred seats, making it a very intimiate setting. I realize this is a Tool thread, but I am going to include my Puscifer experience and review in it as well.

Much to my surprise, the historic venue in Buffalo was selling Guinness - on tap. Seriously, most people do not appreciate how fucking awesome this is. GUINNESS. On tap. At a concert venue. Pints for $6! Needless to say, I got pretty damn drunk on my favourite beer. It was glorious.
As always, Junior was kind enough to talk to me before the show. He is touring with Puscifer for the entire tour, and of course would be lighting up the stage for Tool at Rivers Edge.

I have said it before and will continue to say it: Puscifer is an absolutely amazing experience live. I have been to dozens of concerts over the past few years, and not a single one of them was even remotely similar to Puscifer. Imagine a rock concert, comedy show, acting skits, custom videos, dance show, and movie all juxtaposed into one stage performance. That is Puscifer.

Maynard danced and moved around like the early Tool days. The passion and effort he puts into Puscifer is very evident when you see them live. Puscifer is his baby - and I think he will continue this project for a very, very long time.

My only complaint of Puscifer is that they are still not playing Humbling River (by far their best song imo), but oh well. Other than that, the setlist was outstanding. I was glad that they changed it up significantly compared to the last few tours. It was a nice mix of all 3 albums:

Queen B
Vagina Mine
Dozo
Toma
The Rapture
Tiny Monsters
Rev 22/20
The Weaver
Potions
Horizons
Conditions of my Parole
Man Overboard
Telling Ghosts
The Undertaker

After a horrible morning trying to get over the hangover, the girlfriend and I commenced the trek to Columbus Ohio to catch Puscifer one more time before the festival. This was a sober show for me, as I was still recovering from the previous night. What's great about going to multiple shows of the same band is getting to experience it from different perspectives. The drunken show in Buffalo was wildly fun, exciting, and just a fucking great experience. The sober show though was equally as great.

One of the most memorable things for me was watching how Maynard communicated with the band. Often during songs he would simply walk around the stage and watch Carina or one of the other band members playing. Sometimes Maynard would throw shit at the drummer just to try to mess him up. You could tell that every single person on that stage was genuniely having an awesome time and loved what they were doing. This is such an incredibly refreshing thing to see from Maynard. That's what Puscifer is to me: refreshing. It's a chaotic, quirky way for Maynard to express his non-Tool related artistic expressions.

Now Puscifer was completed. Bring on TOOL!

Friday morning we began the drive from Columbus to Minny. I am a huge soccer fan, and with the Euro Cup currently going on there was no way I would be missing the Germany vs Greece quarter finals. I was able to plan the roadtrip out so we were driving through Indianapolis about an hour before the game. We found a sports bar downtown that surprisingly was playing the game with sound (Euro Cup isn't a thing in the USA, I've found), had a few drinks, and watched my German bros destroy Greece. Good times!

We continued driving for plenty more hours, stopped for some always-intriquing American fast food (was it Steak n' Shake or White Castle?) along the way, and called it a day somewhere past Chicago.

Saturday would be a glorious day - ahead of me after another 400 or so kilometers was my 30th Tool show!

We got into Minny at about 4:00PM, which was fine as I had little interest in most of the other bands playing at the festival. One of the first things I noticed at the festival was one of the Alex Grey booths set up in the vendors area. I was able to buy one of those absolutely insane net of being shirts with the 10 000 days artwork everywhere, in many different colours. Absolutely the most awesome shirt I have ever worn. I'll post some pictures. Also surprising is the fact they only charged $50 for the shirt. Considering the official merch booth charges $40 for shitty quality overpriced black Tool shirts, I thought this Alex Grey booth was an amazing deal. At the official merch booth, there was a custom poster for the gig; however, it's pretty much the same as most of them from the January tour earlier this year. I also noticed them selling a $500 custom "adam doodle" poster again.

My next order of business would be acquiring some performance enhancing drugs. Tool concerts and marijuana were made for each other, as most of you know. My supply of the substance is endless at home, however I would not dare risk taking it over the USA border. I made a quick post the other day on both toolshed and fourtheye asking for anybody willing to help me out in acquiring some ganja.

The amount of responses I got from generous Tool fans willing to hook me up was impressive. After an unnamed forum member supplied me with some local Minnesota pre-rolled bud, I was good to go. This is why I love the Tool community.

The next stop would be for alcohol. The beer selection was the usual American bud-light or lime beers or other such piss waters ;)

Because I'm a classy mother fucker, I decided it would be a wine evening. Now you have to picture the amount of stares I got from people while I walked through crowds wearing the Alex Grey colourful net of being shirt, while double-fisting two glasses of red wine. It was simply awesome.

At this point we were ready for the show and secured our place along the barrier, about 15-20 feet from the stage. Being the nerd that I am, the first thing I noticed on the stage was Adam's talk-box voice-guitar-distorter contraption, so Jambi was certain to be on the setlist for the 30th time out of the 30 shows. I also recognized Aaron Harris (ISIS/Palms drummer) setting up the kit for Danny Carrey. Junior was also around, doing his usual thing.

Before I start on the Tool review, I will take this time to say that I was very impressed with the organization of this festival. This was easily the best festival experience I have ever had. The ticket system used wristbands which could be scanned which allowed unlimited entry/exits. The cops and security were very lenient and did not bother anyone, including filming/smoking/etc. There were plenty of washrooms and the lines were not very long. The alchohol tents were plentiful and I never waited more than 4-5 minutes to procure a beverage. The location itself was perfect, right along the waterfront and main river going through the city. Overall I dont have a single negative thing to say about the festival.

8:45 hits and Tool takes the stage. I finish my wine and light up the joint.

SETLIST
Hooker
Jambi
Stinkfist
Pushit
Schism
46 & 2
Lateralus
Parabola
Aenema
__________________
.

Last edited by kanaduh; 06-24-2012 at 08:58 AM..
Old 06-23-2012, 09:55 PM   #4
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 1,420
Bincount™: 45
Re: REVIEW THREAD: Rivers Edge Music Festival

As soon as Tool announced its single show for 2012, I knew I would be going. Obviously flying would have made more sense from Toronto, by why do that? Nothing beats a roadtrip! Conveniently enough, Maynard scheduled his Puscifer tour alongside the festival performance, so I was fortunate enough to make stopovers in Buffalo and Columbus to see Puscifer along the way.

The first day I made the trip over the border to Buffalo. They were playing in a small venue called the Riviera Theatre. One thing I absolutely love about Puscifer is that they play in very obscure, historical and unique venues. This place could not have had more than a few hundred seats, making it a very intimiate setting. I realize this is a Tool thread, but I am going to include my Puscifer experience and review in it as well.

Much to my surprise, the historic venue in Buffalo was selling Guinness - on tap. Seriously, most people do not appreciate how fucking awesome this is. GUINNESS. On tap. At a concert venue. Pints for $6! Needless to say, I got pretty damn drunk on my favourite beer. It was glorious.
As always, Junior was kind enough to talk to me before the show. He is touring with Puscifer for the entire tour, and of course would be lighting up the stage for Tool at Rivers Edge.

I have said it before and will continue to say it: Puscifer is an absolutely amazing experience live. I have been to dozens of concerts over the past few years, and not a single one of them was even remotely similar to Puscifer. Imagine a rock concert, comedy show, acting skits, custom videos, dance show, and movie all juxtaposed into one stage performance. That is Puscifer.

Maynard danced and moved around like the early Tool days. The passion and effort he puts into Puscifer is very evident when you see them live. Puscifer is his baby - and I think he will continue this project for a very, very long time.

My only complaint of Puscifer is that they are still not playing Humbling River (by far their best song imo), but oh well. Other than that, the setlist was outstanding. I was glad that they changed it up significantly compared to the last few tours. It was a nice mix of all 3 albums:

Queen B
Vagina Mine
Dozo
Toma
The Rapture
Tiny Monsters
Rev 22/20
The Weaver
Potions
Horizons
Conditions of my Parole
Man Overboard
Telling Ghosts
The Undertaker

After a horrible morning trying to get over the hangover, the girlfriend and I commenced the trek to Columbus Ohio to catch Puscifer one more time before the festival. This was a sober show for me, as I was still recovering from the previous night. What's great about going to multiple shows of the same band is getting to experience it from different perspectives. The drunken show in Buffalo was wildly fun, exciting, and just a fucking great experience. The sober show though was equally as great.

One of the most memorable things for me was watching how Maynard communicated with the band. Often during songs he would simply walk around the stage and watch Carina or one of the other band members playing. Sometimes Maynard would throw shit at the drummer just to try to mess him up. You could tell that every single person on that stage was genuniely having an awesome time and loved what they were doing. This is such an incredibly refreshing thing to see from Maynard. That's what Puscifer is to me: refreshing. It's a chaotic, quirky way for Maynard to express his non-Tool related artistic expressions.

Now Puscifer was completed. Bring on TOOL!

Friday morning we began the drive from Columbus to Minny. I am a huge soccer fan, and with the Euro Cup currently going on there was no way I would be missing the Germany vs Greece quarter finals. I was able to plan the roadtrip out so we were driving through Indianapolis about an hour before the game. We found a sports bar downtown that surprisingly was playing the game with sound (Euro Cup isn't a thing in the USA, I've found), had a few drinks, and watched my German bros destroy Greece. Good times!

We continued driving for plenty more hours, stopped for some always-intriquing American fast food (was it Steak n' Shake or White Castle?) along the way, and called it a day somewhere past Chicago.

Saturday would be a glorious day - ahead of me after another 400 or so kilometers was my 30th Tool show!

We got into Minny at about 4:00PM, which was fine as I had little interest in most of the other bands playing at the festival. One of the first things I noticed at the festival was one of the Alex Grey booths set up in the vendors area. I was able to buy one of those absolutely insane net of being shirts with the 10 000 days artwork everywhere, in many different colours. Absolutely the most awesome shirt I have ever worn. I'll post some pictures. Also surprising is the fact they only charged $50 for the shirt. Considering the official merch booth charges $40 for shitty quality overpriced black Tool shirts, I thought this Alex Grey booth was an amazing deal. At the official merch booth, there was a custom poster for the gig; however, it's pretty much the same as most of them from the January tour earlier this year. I also noticed them selling a $500 custom "adam doodle" poster again.

My next order of business would be acquiring some performance enhancing drugs. Tool concerts and marijuana were made for each other, as most of you know. My supply of the substance is endless at home, however I would not dare risk taking it over the USA border. I made a quick post the other day on both toolshed and fourtheye asking for anybody willing to help me out in acquiring some ganja.

The amount of responses I got from generous Tool fans willing to hook me up was impressive. After an unnamed forum member supplied me with some local Minnesota pre-rolled bud, I was good to go. This is why I love the Tool community.

The next stop would be for alcohol. The beer selection was the usual American bud-light or lime beers or other such piss waters ;)

Because I'm a classy mother fucker, I decided it would be a wine evening. Now you have to picture the amount of stares I got from people while I walked through crowds wearing the Alex Grey colourful net of being shirt, while double-fisting two glasses of red wine. It was simply awesome.

At this point we were ready for the show and secured our place along the barrier, about 15-20 feet from the stage. Being the nerd that I am, the first thing I noticed on the stage was Adam's talk-box voice-guitar-distorter contraption, so Jambi was certain to be on the setlist for the 30th time out of the 30 shows. I also recognized Aaron Harris (ISIS/Palms drummer) setting up the kit for Danny Carrey. Junior was also around, doing his usual thing.

Before I start on the Tool review, I will take this time to say that I was very impressed with the organization of this festival. This was easily the best festival experience I have ever had. The ticket system used wristbands which could be scanned which allowed unlimited entry/exits. The cops and security were very lenient and did not bother anyone, including filming/smoking/etc. There were plenty of washrooms and the lines were not very long. The alchohol tents were plentiful and I never waited more than 4-5 minutes to procure a beverage. The location itself was perfect, right along the waterfront and main river going through the city. Overall I dont have a single negative thing to say about the festival.

8:45 hits and Tool takes the stage. I finish my wine and light up the joint.

SETLIST
Hooker
Jambi
Stinkfist
Pushit
Schism
46 & 2
Lateralus
Parabola
Aenema
__________________
.

Last edited by kanaduh; 06-24-2012 at 08:58 AM..
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