this was my 5th TooL show and i say, possibly with a slight bias, that the two best i've seen were in birmingham. how can you beat seeing TooL play 'aenima' in the pouring rain? (besides seeing TooL play 'flood' in the rain). well, you can see them not play it at all, and play, instead, 'wings for marie'/ '10,000 days' and 'pushit' in perfect weather. i agree, maynard was talkative, but not nearly as talkative as the last time they were here. although having great seats, i could barely make out the price is right bit. i thought he said that because the crowd ,from my vantage point, was rabid, not because he was introducing a guest (who did a great job on lateralus, by the way). after seeing them on the warm up tour in dallas i thought that this show was much tighter. the set list was great, too, although i would've loved to hear 'right in two'. and to the writer who thought the didn't play it because they were in the south i don't know what to say. i saw TooL in biloxi, ms years back and they played 'opiate', so i would think the region the band's playing in doesn't affect the setlist. anyway, the band sounded great. i paid a hefty fee to ticketmaster for 16th row seats but my kind friend and my brother allowed my girlfriend and me to stand with them in the 2nd row in front of adam, which was nice. some a-hole stole my $43 shirt so i had to buy a new one (thanks, jerk). so all in all, after paying $400 for four tickets, $56 for alcohol, and approximately $120 for three cotton t-shirts it was a priceless evening. i was thrilled to hear 'rosetta stoned' for the second time. that's just as good as hearing 'third eye' live (which i've never seen them play) in my opinion. well if if's and but's... you know the rest. i hope TooL enjoys playing in birmingham because it's much easier on me to drive to oak mountain than to say, biloxi, pensacola, or dallas. i feel like the crowd is always great here (with the exception of the tard who stole my shirt). i talked to a lot of people from all over and hope they enjoyed birmingham as well. anyway, although the new songs are freaking great and the setlist was fantastic, for me, i would say, pushit was the highlight of the show. great show. and i hope anyone who hears 'right in two' on the rest of the tour burns in hell. kidding. there's no such thing.