Quote:
Originally Posted by Arcantus
Well, the band members must think it's pretty funny when you walk around with a $40.00 shirt that says "Tool" on it. Hence why aside from the occasional band shirt I wear clothing without words or phrases: it classifies you, typifies you, and discredits your humanity.
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It makes you a walking billboard whose role you've paid 50.00 to play. You are an advertisement. And don’t wear the shirt of the band you are going to see. Don’t be that guy. :-)
The show was killer. This was my sixth time seeing TOOL and hands down the best time I've ever had at their concert. The new material sounded way better than it did at Coachella, with Adam nailing the Jambi solo and not missing the change into the riffage that precedes it. Danny was a machine, but that is standard. Justin really seems to be taking a more forward role and this is a great thing. Maynard's rooster dance during Rosetta Stoned was hilarious. I was in section 106, row A, and, from here, everything was a sight to behold. I was especially blown away by the crowd response. I have been to probably 300 various concerts/shows over the course of the last ten years and this was the most impressive crowd I've ever been a part of, with the obvious exception of a few individual cells that are ever present. "Pittsburg was louder?" I don't think that is even possible. To the wasted high school dudes who moseyed down to the front of the aisle for Vicarious and Aenema: I'm not sure if anyone told you this or not but you guy's reeked of vomit. I'm really glad I didn't have to ride home with anyone smelling like my freshmen college dorm on a Friday night. Wisdom > Intelligence.
The highlight of the event, however, didn't even happen at the concert. My friends and I arrived in the Chinatown area around 1:30 that afternoon to have a few beers, celebrate seeing the people we want to see more but just don't have the time, and to watch the Va Tech game (only downer of the day but after what happened it really didn't matter). We park under the Verizon Center and are walking to RFD's and I'm wondering if the band is already in town or not. We cross the street and as we turn right upon reaching the sidewalk I realize that Adam Jones is standing on the sidewalk waiting for someone (Camella?) inside one of the stores. Adam Jones. Hanging out. On the sidewalk. I walk a foot away from him, staring like an idiot, I'm sure, and continue on my merry way. I wait until we are probably 30 feet up the street and I let my companions in on the secret. At first they don't believe me but he turns around and sure enough, they are made believers. They want me to go back down there are say something but seeing as how I appreciate and respect their desire for privacy and him not exactly "being on the clock, yet (he is just hanging out after all)," I refuse and keep on trucking. Trust me in saying that this was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. At that moment I wanted nothing more than to walk back down there, open my mouth, and tell him that since discovering TOOL in early 1994 they have been an integral part of my development from adolescence, through puberty, and into adulthood. That they have been with me through heartache and angst and loss, love and hate, self destruction and self discovery, addiction and release, depression and elation. I wanted more than anything to thank him for this gift but inside I felt the words would have been unnecessary. The four people that make up this collective know that they strike a deep chord with certain people and that we appreciate their work. Our heroes, whether they are rock stars or teachers or parents or soldiers or activists, whether they are real or fictional, are however, ultimately individuals just like us. We are the ones who elevate their status. Aldous Huxley once said that "all gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours." Walking past Mr. Jones on the street, just like I would any other normal human being, did more for my Self than going up and being "the fan" I so desired to be because I saw one of my heroes as they really are. I saw him as another human being on a crowded street with the entire relative pretense that we subscribe to our own gods stripped away. It was awesome and I am changed for the better and once again, TOOL has managed to alter my perception in a way that is both beneficial and bittersweet. I could have been selfish and intrusive and been able to post on my MySpace that I met Adam Jones. In doing so, however, I would have only succeeded in cementing his feet into a pedestal and ensuring my inability to ever see him or the rest of the band as human beings like I am and like you are, and the epiphany would have been missed with the moment.
He's really starting to go grey by the way . . .