TOOL:
I loved the entire set, I think opening with Jambi was perfect, and I loved everyone all in white except maynard in his state trooper uniform, aviators and mohawk. except for a few slips during Aenima, maynard was on que, and really into it the whole time. Lots of monkey dancing and posing and meditation movements and energy. And yeah a lot of talking. I was in front of a mud pit near Justin, so I was probably close to someone who posted not long ago. I felt I was too far from Adam, but I still heard everything really well which was nice, because when I was at a much smaller venue for Meshuggah, I was in the same possition and couldn't hear Thordendal except when everyone else paused. I know how possition can effect sound. Everything was solid and loud enough to shake my ribcage like it should, but not loud enough to make me go deaf or get muddy. Great stuf.

The fans... I was naive as a Tool fan and assumed that sice Tool is an intelligent, and somewhat dense and difficult band, that their music would self-weed out complete morons, but I've found that hordes of Tool fans are just, well, Tools. And I was surrounded by them. The people who won't stop yelling out bad impressions of old Maynardisms, the people who spend three hours bending in everyone's way to meticulously and compulsively pack, light, adjust and relight their hashpipes, the people who throw their arms in every direction, the people who push their way through like assholes only to talk through the whole thing, the people who flail around until they fall and distract me right as Rosetta Stoned hits its peak... damnit. But they couldn't ruin it for me anyway.

My Bloody Valentine
I thought they were good but too muddy... and then they went into the ten minutes of one chord. I understood it after they unexpectedly burst back into real music which was kind of cool, but maybe 1 minute of noise would have sufficed for that effect, ten was just abuse. I don't agree with the people throwing up their middle fingers, but I did find myself throwing up the "wrap it up" hand signal around minute 8.

All Ponts West in general:
I came for Tool and Trail of dead, and both were absolutely amazing. Another highlight for me was Neko Case who I'd only learned about when researching the night before to decide who to make time for at the show. Arctic monkeys weren't exactly my bag but they were thoroughly enjoyable as a live band, but I was extremely close to them and they are responsible for most of my next-day stuffiness of hearing. Tim & Eric are always hit or miss for me, and they missed this time. Electric Touch performed pretty well, I had never heard of them before, but not bad. Good old fashioned brit rock.

Oh and it was muddy but who cares, I am always in biker boots, no problems to report.