well well. my
21st tool show. (that's over 13 yrs now, though, so it's not as crazy as it sounds). it was really great in some ways, and a little strange in some other ways.
thanks to traffic, i managed to get there half an hour late for the meetup. sorry to anyone who was waiting around. tomorrow hopefully we can work it out. at least i managed to miss isis =)
we were near the back of the floor section, on those risers, so we had an unobstructed view of the stage, though we were sort of distant. true enough, as has been reported, the reward to people who are "stuck" on the higher levels is that they can see video projections on the FLOOR of the stage, which are totally impossible to see from the floor. it's an interesting way to make things more fair for people, if anything.
the video screen at staples was actually just the basketball stadium scoreboard above center court. this meant that if you were on the floor, you could not see it without looking up (or behind you and up). but, the back wall of the set was also rigged for video projection, so you could sort of see what was going on.
as the show was about to begin, i got a tip that tonight was going to be the debut of Wings for Marie / 10,000 Days, and that it was added in without displacing any other songs (though "Sober", a setlist mainstay this whole tour, quietly disappeared from tonight's show). after the show i met blair for the first time; he told me he had posted a cryptic message alerting people of the Wings addition, though i didn't see one when i looked just now. i told my pal lauren (of the band Rocket) that tonight was the night, and the guy in front of me turned around and asked "are you kabir?" he then acknowledged that he had heard me and knew what i meant ... and smiled =)
there were some interesting variations in tonight's performances, many which have been discussed here already.
* the "Right!" in "stinkfist" went from a one-note word to an angry protracted scream, which was a nice touch. they did perform this song with its extended live middle section (once known on setlists as "(O.T.R.M.)" which we now think means "on the road mix").
* the first line of "the pot", maynard stopped at "finger" and the rest of the crowd finished the line, before he continued it himself.
* "jambi" still shreds live.
* i have never been a big fan of "schism", but the new fast section in the middle certainly was welcome. it comes where the quiet middle part starts - they just play the whole instrumental part double speed, then finish it, and play it normal speed. i dug it.
* "rosetta stoned" was interesting. all of the 'spoken word' bits, maynard read through them all too quickly, and was left to hang around while the rest of the song caught up before the singing sections (notably, 'holy fucking shit!' was over for him two measures before it should have been). but the end was amazing. the back five minutes of this song blow my mind, and they all nailed it.
* "right in two", my first time hearing it ... man, i am reminded of what we used to say after tool shows in the early 90s: "how the hell are they able to play it live and have it sound perfect?!?!"
and then, Wings for Marie ("Wings 1+2" on the setlist). you could sense their excitement and nerves about playing it live. justin sat down for the whole thing, actually, which i've never seen him do. so did danny, but ... oh never mind. that gongy-keyboardy sound at the beginning was played live by mjk on his little keyboard. part 1 was stellar. part 2 ... is where it got a little strange. after the first few lines, maynard abruptly walked off stage entirely.
i had been watching but at first i wondered if someone had thrown something at him. i felt as though he had messed up the order of the first few stanzas, but i can't speculate on if he was frustrated with himself or overcome with emotion or what. adam turned around shortly afterwards and there was sort of a moment on stage where you sensed that they were entirely unsure what to do.
they continued, and i was very impressed that they managed to keep their places in the song and still add their flourishes without the reference of lyrics to tell them where they were in the song. but sure enough, a minute later mjk returned, and picked up with 'ignorant fibbers in the congregation.' it was pretty unusual. but the rest of the song was amazing - the visuals of the clouds in the sky amplified the feeling. glad i was there for the first performance. later i was handed (by someone who must remain anonymous) a setlist of this unique performance.
the rest of the show as very strong, but the night was sort of peppered with mistakes. i heard that the horizontal video LED screens around the venue were supposed to light up with some animation also, but for technical reasons they did not. i imagine that tomorrow's show will be much tighter.
one interesting thing - NO songs played tonight from "undertow" or "opiate."
despite these snafus, tool is still WAAAY better on a bad day than most bands at their best. i was very happy to see this show, i am looking forward to another helping of tool live tomorrow ......
ps - here's the details (
http://toolnavy.com/showthread.php?p...58#post1380958) on an attempted t.d.n meetup at the show tomorrow. come by, have a drink, say hello.