This was my 4th Tool show, and I have to say that it was better than I had expected. My husband and I had read the reviews of the previous two shows before going, and I was a bit concerned with the level of negativity in those posts. What I saw was Maynard was being Maynard in Tool. He spoke to the crowd more than what the previous reviews in this forum said, so I wasn't upset about it. He still sang like crazy and danced a good amount. If people want to hear Maynard talk more during a concert, then they should have gone to an APC show.

As for Maynard going off stage, it was during the instrumental parts of the show - interludes and solos. The main reason that he stands in the back of the stage is that he wants people to pay attention to his band mates. He doesn't want to be the "front man" of Tool; his voice is just another awesome instrument in the band. Earlier this week, a neighbor told me that he had seen Tool before and kept referring to the band as "he" (meaning MJK). If this is common, I can see why MJK does what he can to put the focus back on his fellow band members. There was a lot of focus on him the last tour because of the intensely personal nature of 10,000 Days for him, so he may be trying to remedy that. Also, it seemed that there were a lot more interludes this show than in past shows I've seen, so that may explain Maynard's multiple absences on this tour. This is just speculation since I'm not a mind reader, but none of it is truly out of character for MJK, so it shouldn't detract from the show.

I enjoyed the set list, including the revised Lost Keys and Rosetta Stoned. The lighting and visuals during those two songs really added to the experience. Well, the lighting and visuals were great throughout the show, but they were really well coordinated with the theme of the music at that point. I was expecting Danny to do more of a solo after the drummer from Tweak Bird during Lateralus, but the kid was decent, so I wasn't too disappointed. It wasn't mindblowing like when they had John Stanier sit in on Triad during the Lateralus tour, but it was still good. I like when they change things up a bit like that. I didn't know that Maynard was having trouble with the mic/megaphone. It seemed like when the sound dropped, it was during sections where people were singing along, so it didn't stand out to me. I think there was only one time when I noticed it. I was losing my voice by the time Aenema started, but I could still hear others in the crowd singing.

I have no problems with the venue. I saw APC there a few years back, and now I live less than 15 minutes away, so no worries about the awful DC area traffic. Our seats were directly across from the stage, about 2/3 of the way up, which gave us a great view and good acoustics. The crowd in the arena seemed cool for the most part, with most everyone standing and "dancing" to various degrees. I say "for the most part" because most of the people in our section and the one to our left were sitting, except for the lowest tier of seats and some scattered people the rest of the way up. If I'm paying $60 to see Tool (really $120 for the 2 of us), then I'm going to enjoy myself.

My husband and I have never stood through a whole show (unless the people in front of us are standing), but we will get up and dance/sing with our favorite songs. We will move in our seats as well - tapping out rhythms, bobbing our heads, etc. I guess the 2 people to our right didn't like that, because after giving us some nasty looks for a while, they got up and left. They didn't seem to be into the show anyway. During Schism, the guy behind us told me to sit down so he could see (didn't have the nerve to say it to my husband). I told him that it was a concert, so he should stand up. He said that "everyone else was sitting", and I pointed out that almost every other section was standing up. We sat down for Lost Keys through Flood, which we would have done anyway, but were back up with the ovation and then through Aenema. We sat during the latter part of Lateralus, and during the drum solo, I could hear the girl behind us complaining for the duration about people standing up. We were back up singing/dancing through Vicarious anyway. If you want to sit and listen to music, go to the opera. I guess the people around us didn't get what Maynard meant by welcoming each other like the show was our home. If a guest in my home was dancing to music, I'd be joining them instead of telling them not to do it.

Overall, we had a great time. It didn't beat our best Tool concert experience so far, but we left feeling happy and looking forward to the next one. I hope that the rest of the shows in this tour have the overall positive reviews that this one does instead of going back to the reviews from Charlotte and Atlanta.