My first TOOL show, and I had incredibly high expectations. They did NOT disappoint. I missed the first few seconds of Jambi (fuckin beer line) but made it to my seat in time to see that Jambi is an incredible opener. The crowd was totally into it from the get-go.

I wasn't at all surprised by Flood. It has been played almost regularly for a couple weeks now. I am, however, glad I spent the time to listen to it a few times and learn the lyrics. Knowing ALL the lyrics throughout the show definitely made the entire night more enjoyable.

Thanks to Mike from Cedar Rapids for enhancing the TOOL experience for me. I met him in line waiting for beer. He told me if I bought him a beer, he would split a joint with me. 2 joints later, I was having a GREAAAAAAT time. Thanks a lot bro. Plus he was as into the show as much as I was, which is saying a lot. Send me a private message on here if you see this, it would be awesome to hang out some time.

Wings/10,000 days- I usually skip these songs when listening at home or in my car, but DAMN. Probably my favorite part of the show (apart from Lateralus which I will talk about in a second). The buildup was amazing. The energy and emotion of the song was intoxicating. The crowd was very respectful, which surprised me. There were quite a few moshers right before this part, and I was afraid they would be douchebags and keep on keepin on during these songs, but I was Wrong!! Thank god. The entire place jammed and was totally into the moment. And the place erupted in applause afterwards, commending the band on their surely emotionally exhausting performance of it.

Lateralus- FUCKIN WOW!! The first part ROCKED as I expected it to. Then, I told my friend, this is where a couple amateur jackasses from Melt Banana try to play with the best band in the world. Boy was I wrong. The drum solo between Danny and the Melt Banana drummer was TOTALLY INSANE!!! They fed off each other and the crowd and took turns BLOWING MINDS!! Definitely the best 2 minutes of drums I will EVER hear in my life. The bassist from MB was also surprisingly good, played differently but very good nonetheless.

Overall, by far the best concert I have ever been to in my life. My only other real concert experience is from "Band Camp" in Madison, WI, which is an excellent show. An entire day of KICKASS bands is hard to beat, but TOOL did it. I was totally enthralled the entire time. Standing up, bangin my head up and down, near tears more than a couple times. I found myself laughing out loud just looking around at the crowd and band totally in awe of how fuckin awesome the entire feeling of the show was. Thank you Cedar Rapids and all of you awesome fans. And Thank You TOOL for totally blowing my fuckin mind. I was anticipating nothing less than the best show in the world, and left totally satisfied, yet wanting more.

(I too saw the shoes and hats tossed on the stage, but it seemed to me that they were being thrown sort of like flowers to an Olympic skater, aimed at the center of the stage, so as not to hit anybody, but as a gift to the band, for their incredible performance. I could be wrong, but I'm an idealist, and it seemed totally alright to me.)

Rock on TOOLIES!! and Sweet Dreams, I know I will have some.