SunKing

This was my 6th time to see TOOL, and I’m sorry to say it was the worst performance of them all. I’m not here to bash the band – I’m a HUGE TOOL FAN - but I left very disappointed last night. To start things off, it just wasn't as loud as I expected (or as loud as other recent concerts). Most importantly, Maynard was obviously not feeling well – he just seemed really tired. As most here have said already, he didn’t sing many of the lyrics, and those he did…well…it just wasn’t a powerful performance in any way.

Adding to the night’s frustration – they stopped selling beer at about 9:30 – just 15 minutes after TOOL hit the stage. OH - I think the setlist posted above is mostly correct - EXCEPT I remember Schism came before 46&2. Why do I remember this? Because Schism isn’t my favorite song and I took that opportunity to run down and get another beer. ….NO BEER FOR YOU!! …and then, about 10 minutes after that they shut down EVERYTHING. You couldn’t even buy a bottle of water if you wanted to. …WTF?!? I’ve been to several concerts at Cynthia Woods recently (Buzzfest, Family Values, Godsmack) and for those shows concessions stayed open until about 15 or 20 minutes before the end of the show. OK, I know you don’t go see TOOL just to drink beer….but I just irked me that they shut down the entire concessions – yet the day before Blaire posts all about the nice catering (and cold beer) the band gets to enjoy. ..so yeah, it felt just a little like I was getting screwed.

To be honest, I don’t know if I will be spending $80 for a TOOL ticket again anytime soon. OK, well – I hate to leave on a negative note – so let me say that the visuals were pretty cool - I liked the lasers. I also really enjoyed Stinkfist, Jambi was cool, the 46&2 instrumental was nice, Lateralus was also a highlight, and it was cool to see all the lighters on the hill .

Overall: 2 stars out of 5.