dmochow

Everyone was greeted to signs displaying "no moshing, no crowd surfing, ..."
The venue is "partially covered", meaning it's outdoors, yet smoking of any kind was prohibited. Staff walked up and down the aisles with flashlights in an effort to catch any smokers. The level of crowd-control was ridiculous, particularly for a Tool show. Thank the Conservative Party of Canada.

Acoustically, from where I was, Sec. 201, row 0, the vocals and lead guitars were (as usual) only partially audible. I thought that ISIS's set was actually better mixed. Sonically, the band was coherent and Justin's performance stands out in my mind. The visuals got better as the show went on, and the laser show that began during Wings was nice for the audience.

The crowd was most engaged during Aenema, and I personally though that Jambi and Vicarious were the most effective tracks played. Disappointingly, Wings part 1 did not work --> perhaps it was the people in my vicinity who talked persistently through it, but it just seemed acoustically flat / empty, and the tone of the song was lost to the poor atmosphere at the venue.

Maynard seemed to be in good health and spirits, talking to the crowd more than he apparently has the past few shows, and he was quite animated in his stage maneuvering. Maynard got the crowd to join him in singing happy birthday to "Carol", who is apparently celebrating her 16th birthday... not quite sure who this "Carol" person is. He started the show with "Look out, look out, here we come...", and after Stinkfist, he mentioned that the latter was a reference to how they come from the States with a slumping dollar, and he wants Canada to buy the U.S. before it's too late. There was no references to jacking off to internet porn (?) - probably due to the lack of adult material in Toronto hotels implemented by the Conservative Party of Canada.