evfain

A little belated, but here are some thoughts...

I gotta start this with a story from last year that oddly ties into this. I was at the Dave Matthews Band weekend, and a friend of mine introduced me to someone claiming they were Maynard's cousin. He knew his stuff well enough and seemed like an honest guy, and when we got to talking about Tool I mentioned how sick it would be if they played the Gorge. He said that he didn't really expect it, saying that while Adam Jones is for bigger venues, Maynard is more about the smaller ones. True story, as far as what I was told.

I got there Saturday morning to begin my Gorge camping experience. I've been to tons of shows there, and have gone every year for something since I was a sophomore in high school (I'm a senior in college now). The vibes were unlike any other Gorge experience I've had. Without exaggeration, probably 90% of the people camping were bumping Tool, whereas with DMB or Ozzfest, people play whatever the hell else. Also, both Saturday and Sunday before the show, the campers would spontaneously start cheering and yelling "Tool!" which was fun. I started yelling "ISIS!" (i'm a big fan of them) and got some responses from my neighbors. People eventually started joking around with it; when people yelled "TOOL!" others would yell "Maynard!" and then "Blair!" and then stuff like "Kevin Federline!" and "President Bush!" My one regret, and it's a very small one, is that I got so tired at the show, with pre-funking and drinking at the actual concert and from the 98 degree heat on Sunday that I couldn't kick it much afterwards... pretty much gassed out around 1:00am which is way early for Gorge camping by my standards.

Anyway, on with the show review. On one hand, I was mildly disappointed. Not because the band was not excellent (actually, it was some of the best playing I've heard them do, and they sounded fantastic), but because of the venue, I *was* hoping for a slightly longer set. I had a gut feeling Tool wouldn't do anything special like that, since it's not like them to do so, but since it's the Gorge and every other band does, maybe it was just too much wishful thinking. To think that bands like Pearl Jam and Dave play for 3+ hours every time, and you go to those shows every year... it just conditions you for high expectations.

That said, I was happy with the set-list. Opiate was a nice surprise, but personally, I'd rather have Right in Two than Opiate/The Pot to fill in the time. Stinkfist was excellent, and Lateralus is my favorite song so that was great. Danny and Adam did a little diddy midway through which was fun (with a pulsing light coming from Danny's kit... very cool). The lighting and video set up was also tight, but I thought the Lateralus tour set up was better and overall more intense.

There were a lot of meatheads there. This was not surprising. I didn't really have a problem during the show being in GA, but it was obvious they were there and I can see how other posters could easily have an issue or two. The Gorge is in the middle of bumfuck nowhere so it doesn't automatically draw the sophisticated Seattle crowd; thinking back to the Lateralus show at the Key Arena years ago, it was clearly a different group. I felt like the only person without at US Army/Navy/Marine/Flag tat...

As others have said, Schism was THE highlight. The middle section blew me away... I'm not sure if they've done that for other shows this tour or not, but before the mellow breakdown leading up to "Cold silence has..." they speed it up and make it so freaking hard. Just tremendous and I suggest going out of your way to hear this new version. I'm not a big fan of Rosetta Stoned but it cuts deep live.

All ranting aside, it was a tremendous experience. I wish they recorded it. Loved Maynard during Jambi with the "King's mountain view" nod to the background, and saying the Gorge was the best venue in the country. Because it really is... Red Rocks is cool, but a notch below.