ihatemickjagger

Me and my pal T Mat were in Premiere Seating #17; for both of us, our first time seeing Tool live. It was a very special night for both of us. Starting with Stinkfist was very meaningful to me, seeing how it is the first Tool song i ever knew of. When Danny did the synth drum intro halfway through the song, I nearly wet myself. 46 and 2 was just breathtaking, of course featuring Danny's solo.
10,000 Days, as an album, still hasn't warmed up to me yet, but I very much enjoyed The Pot, Jambi (especially Adam's solo, which is a little cheesy on the album, but i absolutely loved last night) and of course Wings/10,000 Days. My admiration for Justin Chancellor grew tenfold after this... Everyone knows he's a brilliant bassist, but seeing him pull it off flawlessly (complete with zeppelin style sitting) was just plain cool. The middle section of Schism, a sped up version of the original, was very dramatic, and flowed nicely into the original. Also, the end of Right in Two was brilliant. Lateralus was epic...a very nice treat for first timers like ourselves... At the end of this, The four just sat down for about 5 minutes, next to eachother. One of them (I could not tell who) held up a lighter, which of course incited the whole crowd to light up the arena with their own peripherals...a sight to be held! they saved the best for last though... Aenema blew me away...moved me to tears even. I couldn't think of a more appropriate song to end such a glorious night with, especially in the heart of Los Angeles itself.

We were in "limited view" seating, although I think it was probably the best seating i could have asked for with $45. Maynard was on our side the whole time, so i enjoyed his usual antics. Seen him with APC a couple times, but this was much better. For the first few songs, the stage looked like a dance floor, a pretty white. Then the lights and cinematics kicked in and livened the appearance of everything.

My only complaints concern the numerous teeny boppers behind me bursting my ear drums with their cat-like screeching during the most inappropriate of times (ie when the band played soft). I almost wanted to shoot myself when one girl said "i don't know why people get out their lighters and cell phones, but i just do it when they do!!" and laughed at herself in irony. ARGH.

But nothing hampered us from having a good time. I will definitely catch Tool in the future. Not tonight though, sadly; I haven't the money. But I am in no position to complain, having heard 10,000 days, Lateralus, and Aenema.