i dunno if maybe someone was doing something suspicious behind me or what, but at one point i was rockin out in the aisle on the far right balcony along the wall and some older usher (who obviously was not digging the music AT ALL) came up to me and shined a flashlight at me, as if that's wrong....
honestly, i was just trying to inject a little life into the crowd. that said, though, people around were definitely into it, the older (than me, i'm 25) guy next to me was there with his wife (i guess) and he was way cool and definitely just as into it as i was. nobody gave me any shit for flailing my arms around except for that one usher.
i mean, i know i was trippin' on shrooms, but still, i wasn't THAT out of control, damn.
I'm still trying to find all the right words to describe just how amazing this show was. I've never seen so much respect and admiration for a band in my life. I realize it was a lot of fan club people, but still. And of course the band itself just sounded fucking incredible. This is officially the best show I've ever been to, and I've been to about 98 shows from various bands. Tool wins.
Two more things, did anyone notice a lyric changed in one of the songs to have something to do with "philadelphia"? I can't remember what song it was, but it was towards the end. But I was also pretty high.
Which is the second thing - some dude in row JJ with me smoked me up right before Sober. If by chance you post on here, thanks man. He also pointed at the stage and said "I love this shit better than life itself" Since I like to believe that when I die I would come back as some crazy ass ghost, and still be able to go to shows, I'd have to say I totally agree with him.
I could tell mjk was feeling a little out of it because he wasn't doing his usual "spider dance". but maybe that stance goes better with his "cowboy cop" look now. his singing was fine, tho. just by hearing his voice, you wouldn't have known he was ill.
thanks, maynard, for going thru with this gig.
adam does seem to be the point man for the playing. his attention to detail shows in the sounds he's able to pull out of his guitar on stage. being close enough (abt 10 rows from front) really allowed me to watch how well he plays along with all the loops and effects. as a budding guitarist myself, i have nothing but respect for that ability. that and playing crisply while doing the vocoder was impressive.
justin looked and sounded great, too. he was moving around a lot and really getting his body into his playing. he was a v good bassist before but now he's really dialed it up another notch.
dan is... DAN. friggin monster. insane. getting to see him play the break in 46&2 from close-up was one of the highlights of the evening. (and the hug later was deeply appreciated and humbling for this lil fan)
Rosetta Stoned was even better live than i'd imagined. the sound was blowing me away, almost forcibly pushing my body around.
hint to people: the sound is much better when you wear earplugs. earplugs let you hear the whole gamut and layering of sound. your eardrums don't get raped by the bass, but you can still feel it all over. this is why the musicians i know generally wear earplugs to shows.
lateralus live was the transcendent experience i remember. i think i had my eyes closed for most of that song, just getting lost in the moment. usually, this is a big mosh song and i was grateful that there was no moshing at this show to bring in aggro actions to detract from the vibe of that song.
the new, more driving extension to schism? HOT! i think i heard the crowd audibly gasp.
thank you, TOOL. i look forward to spending time again with you in the late summer/early fall when you swing thru here again.
My first TOOL show and hopefully not my last. AMAZING show. My wife and I saw Maynard get off the tour bus and walk in the venue. He was all incognito with his Postal Service hat on carrying a box.
Tyson, I think you were close to where I was because I told my buddy I felt bad for whoever was behind the 450 lb land monster that couldn't even fit in the chair.
Pregame on the roof of the parking garage was fun, especially the crackhead selling fake shirts that freaked when security told him to stop and punched out a van window. Thanks to Alex for bringing the plastic beer cups. Nice to meet some ppl.
The show was great, second time seeing them and I enjoyed it more than lollapalooza. The ride home sucked. 6 hrs down, 7 hrs home.
Wanted to hear 4 more songs- the pot, pushit or eulogy, undertow and thepatient or thegrudge. Other than that the set was awesome. Accoustics seemed great from where I was.
Over all had a great time, damn good show.
__________________ The world respects a city on a hill for its liberties and virtues, not because the hill is the best ground to shell the rest from.
For about a week or two, I had a really bad feeling about this show. I'm not sure why. I think it was just because of how hard it was to actually get tickets, and what a special venue they were playing. We didn't actually have the tickets in our hands, my fan club member friend was just instructed to bring his id, money, and pick them up at the window. Top that off with Maynard being sick, and I just had a funny feeling that either they weren't going to play, or we somehow wouldn't get in. I even had a dream the night before, where I somehow lost track of time and didn't leave the house until 9 o clock, with the show starting at 8. It didn't make me feel much better driving down there either. Upper Darby appears just as shitty as Camden. Which is like the shittiest, most dangerous city in the country. On the way down, there was seriously a drug deal right in front of me. This guy stopped his car right in the middle of traffic, and this guy walked up and reached his hand in the car real quick. They definitely weren't just giving each other pounds. And I couldn't go around them because at the same time some ignorant little girl was just taking her good old time walking through the other lanes. And to my right, there was an eldery man with a walker that I swore I was going to run over. Once the car finally moved though, it was smooth sailing from there. Parking was easy. There was a bar right across the street from the venue with a bunch of online nuts and fan club members hanging out. This one chick that actually offered my friend 2 New York tickets just for his one extra philly ticket was there. She got a ticket, but kept busting his balls about taking me. She said "You must have one big cock, because it beat these!" I looked down and stared at her breasts for a good couple minutes. They weren't even that big, but then again neither is my cock. But she doesn't know that, so it's all good. A couple girls ran outside of the bar going "Adam's outside!" I went out real quick, with my beer in hand, which was probably a dumb idea but I didn't care. I didn't see him. I think he just jumped on the bus real quick. When I was out there we seen one of our friends, who was just walking around looking for a ticket. He looked really sad. It made me feel really bad, but reminded me again how lucky I was just to be there. I doubt he got a ticket.
So now it's 7:30 which is the time the window opens. My buddy goes up to the window to get his reserved tickets, gives his name, and the lady just hands them to him. He goes "Umm okay.." and walks away. He turns to me and says "you fucking owe me one." The tickets turned out to be free. FREE FUCKING TOOL. Are you kidding me? It makes sense though since he payed like a hundred bucks to be in the fan club. The only thing that sucked was the security outside rushed us right in as soon as the tickets were in our hands. They said we had to go in. I guess it was to try and cut back on scalpers and everything. That would have really sucked though if we had a ticket for a friend who wasn't down there yet. Not sure how that would have worked, but regardless, we were in.
This was only the third time I was ever at this venue. I've seen Motley Crue there, and also the Deftones with Incubus. I noticed since then, they have seats bolted down now. No general admission whatsoever. I think doing away with any kind of moshing made this an even specialer show. Yes, that's a word. So we start walking towards our row which was JJ. I figured the double letters would have been farther back, but we just kept walking and walking. I think with every step, my penis released a little bit of jizzum from it's head. The double letters actually started in the front. I was now 10th row on the floor for fucking Tool. For free. I was so close I could have had a perfect football catch with Adam, and he probably throws like a girl. But it would have worked. Since it was free, I decided to buy my friend beers. I also decided to buy myself Rum & Cokes instead of beer. At this point I'm getting pretty drunk. The time on the ticket said 8:30. Tool didn't start until 9. I thank you very much Tool for allowing me to have another drink, and to also piss 2 more times. It was much appreciated. I get back to my seat right as the lights go down, and some intro noise starts playing.
Justin was the first man to take the stage. The crowd erupting uncontrolably. He fiddles around on his bass. A minute or so later, Adam enters stage left. Lost Keys begins to take its form. The slow, simple guitar riff was a great build up for things to come. Just looking at them, I knew something very out of this world was about to go down. Danny then comes out and sits down at his throne. The crowd even louder then before. Danny was the only one in that place sitting. After more teasing guitar build up, Maynard and his cowboy hat, and belt buckle that made him look like the Chameleon from the Spider-Man cartoons, arrive just in time to "tell us everything..."
Rosetta Stoned, the angry little brother of Third Eye, kicked in with authority. It almost knocked me down into my seat, but somehow my legs found the strength, and I communicated with the rest of my body that everything was going to be okay. Despite not knowing the majority of the lyrics in the beginning of this song, I enjoyed the way it was delivered. The band sounded excellent jamming on this. Real tight and very heavy. They had about 4 screens behind them, all showing the same visuals. A lot of Tool animation that you would normally expect. The whole song was pretty spot on, but Maynard, I guess cause of his sickness, didn't do the little scream towards the end. That didn't bother too much though. He did what he could, and he still sounded pretty good through most of the show. He knew how to work with whatever condition his vocal chords were in. Pretty respectable. And man, when that Undertowish guitar riff at the end of the song kicked in, it really stepped everything up a notch. GOD DAMN, SHIT THE BED. Just in time to get Stinkfisted. Maynard commented on how he was sick, but said "We just had to come to philly." Once this song kicked in, I felt for a minute that everything was right in the world. I knew it was a lie, but that was the way it was making me feel, so I went with it. They had the video going for the whole song. Probably my favorite Tool video. They did the live jam in the middle that they always do, right before the "I'll keep digging" part. Once again, they fooled a ton of people, but not me. And they call themselves hardcore fans. Please. After Stinkfist, they jammed out a nice little intro that led into 46 & 2. This is one I tend to get tired of sometimes. It sounded fucking great though. Especially Justin. He came in loud and clear. And that headbanging ending never ceases to leave me in pain. Shirtless, Cowboy Maynard then said "We have a new album....and with new albums come new songs....this is one of them." Jambi sounded phenominal. The breakdown heavy part in the middle was awesome. For a moment I felt like I was at a Pantera show. Many heads banging away in perfect unity. Adam sounded great on the talk box too. I had a lot of fun singing along to the solo. After this song, I decided it was the best song of the night so far. It would later be defeated, but not by any of the other new ones. They really fucking nailed this song. Next up was Schism. I believe the video was rolling for this song too. I wasn't that excited at first, but again it sounded great. They also added this jam to the middle of it which was fucking sick. Danny was just being a fucking monster. I kept taking turns watching everyone in the band, but this guy caught my attention the most. He's so good it doesn't even make sense. It made me feel slightly retarded actually. Next up was Right In Two. It had this little intro that sounded like parts of Intension. Tool's intros are the best. You're never really quite sure what they're going to play next. Right In Two sounded pretty damn good. I think they flubbed it a little towards the end, but that's allright. They're only human after all. I think. The thing was, anytime they did seem to loose their place a little bit, they'd just kind of look at each other and maybe Danny would smack the hell out of drum, and they'd be right back on track in no time. If these are warm up shows, I can't imagine what the fuck they're going to sound like during the tour, when Maynards not sick and they work out the kinks (which really wasn't that many). I'm still trying to wrap my head around how good they at this show. Also, the tabla solo in Right In Two was really cool. All the other members were just watching in awe, just like everyone else in the building. Maynard was standing there by his keyboard just lightly tapping his fingers to the beat on the side of his leg. I really got the impression at that point that they're just as big a fans of their music as we are. So, all night I was catching these lovely smelling waves of some quality mary jane. I kept hoping that someone would offer me some and finally I turned around and this guy reached out to me with this tiny little bowl. Meanwhile the band is fucking around with some other jam I couln't recognize. I was finally hearing Maynards keyboard a little bit better. I ducked down to avoid security and took a real big hit. Right after I let it out, the old familiar bass line of Sober kicked in. I shook the guys hand, and he just pointed at the stage and said "I love this shit more than life itself" Even though I guess you technically have to be alive to see Tool, I agreed with him. It's the thought that counts. That one hit got me pretty damn high too. Sober sounded incredible. I was worried about how this would be on Maynard's vocals, but he pulled it off. He didn't yell the "I want what I want" part at the end, but I know he's been known to not do that sometimes anyway. The ending of Sober really kicked ass. Danny added a lot more fills and rolls and whatnot at the end instead of just bashing it away with the double hits. It brought that shit to a whole new level of awesomeness. Then a bunch of glowing eyes appeared on the screen, and it was time for the mother of all epic songs LATERALUS. The build up for this song was unreal. I think I actually left my body at one point, floated to the stage, and became one with the band and the song. When this beast finally kicked in it was probably the heaviest thing I've ever heard in my life. It actually makes the studio version somewhat suck now. I tried to listen to it the day after the show, and it just wasn't the same. Nomatter how much I turned it up, it just didn't have that proper OOMPH. I want to say this was the song of the night....it's really close. They could have ended the show right there and I would have been damn happy. I think they left the stage for a second after the song, but then they came right back out. They all sat down together in a row at the very edge of the stage, with their legs hanging over. They didn't say a word, just sat there looking out at the crowd, smiling away. For as mysterious as this band usually is, it was really something to be witnessing. I've never seen them look so human. So down to earth. And I've never, EVER heard a louder crowd, for a longer period of time in my life. Never have I seen, and felt, so much RESPECT and ADMIRATION for a band in my entire concert going career. They just sat there for a good ten minutes just soaking it all in. Occasionaly Adam would throw his fist up in the air, or Danny would clap along for a second. Which got us even louder. Anytime our volume would start to decrease just a little, we'd rile ourselves right back up again and get louder and louder. That moment right there might have been better than some of the songs they played. I've just never experienced anything quite on that emotional level at other shows I've been to. Not even a Pearl Jam show. Just typing it right now, it's digging up those emotions again and it's just..wow. It's just insane. I thought we were going to be screaming and applauding for a half hour, but finally they got up and grabbed their weapons once again. I now have a new appreciaton for Vicarious. After another interesting intro, they launched into a pretty tight version of the single. Lot of cool spiraly shit going on on the screens. I could hear Maynard's keyboard a WHOLE lot better on this song. He was basically playing along to the main riff, but it was cool nonetheless. Then the solo...fuck. I thought it was Adam on the record (and maybe it is) but Justin did the solo on the bass, and it was fucking badass. It was all distorted and shit. Fucking shades of Cliff Burton. I loved it. I think I got a little wet downstairs. They nailed the ending to this song brilliantly. Maynard said "I hope I didn't sound TOO bad...........see you in the summer"
Then came the all too familiar, soft chilling chants of "Hey....hey.....hey.....hey...hey..." Everyone was singing along to this and it gave me goosebumps. A lot of people were pumping their fist in the air too, which added a good visual. The Aenema video was on the screen. Thoughts of Bill Hicks running through my head. Thoughts of how much I hate the world. Thoughts of how much I love the world. Adam slicing my brain open like a pineapple. Danny going apeshit. Justin being British. Maynard still has the cowboy hat on. And then "I'm praying for raaain...." My eyes started to swell up. I thought I was going to lose it. Have to be a man. Have to keep my cool. Ok, I'm good. I wanna see it go down. Suck it down. FLUSH IT DOWWWWWNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This song ended with a fury I didn't think was possible. It somehow, maybe even by a nose, beat Lateralus. Hands down the perfect show closer. My jaw was on the floor. Maynard threw out some water, and seemed to leave the stage right away. Maybe he went to go throw up. The other guys joined arms in the middle of the stage to thunderous applause. Danny was throwing sticks and cymbals. He tried throwing one up to the balcony, but it didn't quite make it, hit the wall and fall down into the hands of some lucky fan on the floor. It was funny as hell though. I think Adam actually threw one and got it up there. Guess he doesn't throw like a girl after all. I turned to my friend and the only immediate thing I could say was "That was fucking ownership." In my book, Tool are the new World Heavyweight Champions. For quite some time now, Metallica in the parking lot was the reigning champion. Recently NIN has come close. As well as Billy Joel, Pearl Jam, and them crazy Ukranian bastards - Gogol Bordello. But this was just something beyond any of that. It was only an hour and a half, but it felt like so much more. Even just the last 4 songs easily knocked out most shows I've been to. We went back to the bar after the show, and we just kind of sat there. There wasn't much we could say. So I had a couple more beers, and smoked a ***. We were getting ready to leave, I was coming out of the pisser, and my friend is calling me on my cell phone. I pick up and he goes "get out here right now." I thought something was wrong. Like there was a fight or something, the way he sounded. I start rushing out, and I seen this big line of people all standing by the buses getting autographs. Fucking sweet man. Didn't expect Tool to do that. I got out there and unfortunately missed Adam and Justin, but I got to see Danny. Everyone was getting their tickets signed, and since I really don't care too much about autographs, I just jumped up in there and threw out my hand and said "I just wanna shake the hand of the fucking man" Which by the way, Danny has some big ass hands. It's kind of funny, because I actually shook his hand before at a Pigmy show. I would have liked to say hi to the other guys, but oh well. Like I said he's the fucking man. We decided that either Maynard wouldn't come out, or it would be way later, so we just left. And that's about it. I couldn't really sleep when I got home. I had another beer and listened to 10,000 Days on my headphones. For what it's worth, I guess it wasn't just Tool ( though they did play the biggest part), it did have a lot to do with the seating. It was a perfect view. And the fans were awesome too. I seen no trouble, no assholes whatsoever. But I can honestly say out of the 96 shows I've been too (and that's just through ticketmaster events) this was the greatest show I have ever witnessed. Thank you Tool.
this show rocked...well worth the drive and $$$...i enjoyed the set list, segues, intros etc. and look forward to seeing them sat. night...hope mjk's feeling better
__________________ You are now responsible for my impending suicide. -- BeLIEve
Well pretty much all of the positive comments said all that I have to say, really great show. My only real beef was that it seemed way to short, but hell they did play for at least an hour and a half, that's gotta be exhausting to anyone especially a sick singer. I honestly wouldn't have even known Maynard was sick until he mentioned it.
I was third row from the back on the lower level right in the middle. Sounded damn good to me from where I was sitting.
To all you naysayers out there .....keep in mind, this was just a warm up show!!! All of these early shows are all just warm up shows for their summer in Europe and their full Summer/Fall North America tour. Tyson mentioned something about the visuals on the screens being shitty...well honestly I didn't even expect anything like that. I figured that (this being one of the "warm up" shows) they wouldn't even have anything besides lighting. I was plesantly surprised by any visuals!
oh I lied....I have one more beef...I was a little upset that they dind't play Eulogy (probably my favorite) or anything off of Opiate. oh yeah and the price of the tickets was a little much for a small venue show, but understandable.
All in all I was extremely glad that I got to go as this was only my 1st and a half show. I saw them at Ozzfest in Camden a few years back, but I don't count that one really. I can't wait till they come back in the fall, maybe they'll play more of the songs that I wanted to hear.
Wow, cool to see some people for VA/DC. Pretty good show, just because of the small venue. They sure do evolve each tour, this time they seemed very open and happy to be where they are, enjoying there fame. Some guy traded me his floor ticket, row A, for my upper balcony so he could sit with friends. Not bad. It defintley was worth it for the drive and subsequent $80 dollar speeding ticket.
As a side note, to those that were upset that Maynard blew it, wasn't in our faces or was lack luster, I have this suggestion. Although he was sick, Tool has always used him more as an instrument than a lyricist, by him standing in the back, wearing disguise, bodypaint etc., it forces us to listen to the music as a whole. Although that strategy usually fails and we worship him/them even more and some of us lose our individuality and freedom of thought. But, what do I know this is my first post, I am a newbie. But like a few others, tool popped my cherry at Lollapalooza on the 2nd stage during opiate/undertow years.
Here we go, $66.66 ($77.26 or something w/ tax and B.S. fees) L/C Orc Row AA Seat 102,the isle. It certainly had it's up's and down's. What I want to know, is why they created 3 additional rows in front of Row AAA making me the 4th row as opposed to the 2nd row back which the seating chart indicated. I didnt get my hopes up any way so the seat was even better than I expected. But what made the people in those 3 "portable" rows so goddamn special? Furthermore,they probably paid nothing for their seats. I am not one to complain of such trivial things normaly,however,I know many people paid top dollar out of love for this band, while others seemed to have no TRUE appreciation for what these four men, and what they create, does for some of us. So I guess my only complaint would be towards maybe 50% of the individuals in attendace. The band, the venue, the visuals, the chest-pounding bass and drums, amazing vocals (Considering the show went on as planned,Maynard's illness only proves his vocal excellence) and the inspirational guitar work by Mr. Jones, made this show everything a Tool show should be...TOOL! You were there, and the band was there,thats what you paid for! So please,those of you who fill up space with complaints about "fuck-ups" and "screw-ups" and "second rate visuals",on the next go'round, save your money, and save some seats for those who will appreciate it. I'm aware this post may seem hipocritical so dont bother pointing that out.
Kay?...Kay
I paid 350 for a single ticket and it was worth every penny. I have a new understanding of Tool's music and a deep understand of the lyrics. Tool's fanbase is a large family. Everyone there was shaking hands, giving hugs, dancing, smoking. Everyone had a good time, including myself.
Generally a great show. Sadly, I got a bit lost on the way there (trying to take a short-cut to avoid some construction) and didn't get there until around 715, and by that time there was no way I was gonna make it to the parking garage so I just parked in the SEPTA lot, cracked open a few cold ones and smoked a stogie. Great show though. Better than great actually.
My evening started at 3:30 when I hit Philly. I had made arrangements to meet several of the Tool Army members there. The first person I found was reg. We got in touch with Diane (xavier) & got up with her. After a while, there ended up being about 15 of us there from TA. Here's the list of the people I remember. xavier & her husband Charlie (can't remember his TA name), reg, bill462, tjr, nothing1, dragongrl, muffy. There were a lot more. I just can't remember them all. We went over to a bar across from the Tower named the Waterford & just sat around talking about the show & other Tool topics. A little later we went outside & checked out the buses. While we were out there Adam came out to one of the buses. reg went over & talked to him for a few minutes. The rest of us kept our distance. We didn't want to bum rush the man.
We make our way into the Tower & headed for our seats. Unfortunately none of us were sitting together. I was in the loge so I had a bird's eye view of the whole stage. The curtain rises on the stage & an eerie, but beautiful blue light appears behind the 4 screens on the stage. Justin is the first one to appear, followed by Adam. Is it just me or is Justin actually Jesus reincarnated? I swear he looks just like every picture I've ever seen of Jesus & his initials are JC. Coincidence? Adam & Justin start the music for Lost Keys (no speaking parts just the music). Danny comes out, gets himself situated upon his throne. The crowd goes wild. Maynard takes the stage & everyone loses it. He's wearing his trademark cowboy hat,no shirt, the best looking jeans I've seen on a man in a long time ... lol ... & a very large belt buckle that was almost as big as he is.
Lost Keys then goes into Rosetta Stoned. Maynard sounded awesome even though he was still feeling a little under the weather. He even apologized. After Rosetta Stoned they went into Stinkfist. This was an extended version of it & Adam & Justin rocked it out hard & heavy. They did an extended version of Schism too. They aslo played Jambi, Schism, Forty Six & 2, Sober, & Lateralus, but I can't remember the order. Unfortunately they didn't play The Pot, but they did do Right in Two so that made up for it. About half way through the show the guys went & sat on Maynard's platform. Guess they were taking a coffee break ... lol They tossed out a few picks, drum sticks & towels & then went back to playing. The show ended with Vicarious & Aenima.
The show was absolutely amazing. I don't think I've ever heard the guys sound as great as they did last night.getting to meet the other TA members made it that much more memorable. This was a show that will live in my memory forever.
First things first, what a great show/experience it was to see Tool play in such a small venue. Well worth the 4 1/2 hour drive.
Danny was outstanding as I expected.
Last, for all the people who dissect the shows way to much and pick out all the tiny little flaws: I understand its been 4 years, and ticket prices were astronomical, but give the band a break! Maynard was clearly feeling like ass, and he COULD have cancelled the whole show, but saw his way through and did the best he could. Be appreciative and show just a little respect. And for the band making a couple mistakes, big deal. Like I said, its been 4 years and its not like that are playing simple music like Nickelback, Staind, Trapt, or any of the other crap plaguing the airwaves and peoples tastes nowadays, that is why this is a WARMUP tour. If you saw them on this tour and the most you got out of it was 3% of the notes were played wrong, or at the wrong time, and have to come on here and bitch, or complain about a singer not running around like Mick Jagger or something because he is ill, then skip the next Tool show and let someone who would appreciate the opportunity to see an out-of-this-world band live.
I'm glad to see someone else from Richmond. I was on the upper deck–Row K (Little skinny blonde girl wearing a hat) The stairs were in front of my seat, saw the entire stage. Don't worry pushit–RVA I was rocking out hardcore! drive was long, hate Beltway traffic(originally from NO. VA). Would do it again. This was a great bday/ graduation gift. I can't wait until they play again in North america, hopefully closer to Richmond like last tour.
Thanks to TOOL for coming to PA!! This was my 10th TOOL show.
Read below, you won't believe this shit!
My buddies and I were at the Tower at 8a.m hoping to get re-released tickets like some other fortunate people got from other venues on the tour. We had no tickets and none of us were sure really how to get them or where so obviously we started to ask around. The event staff people do not know shit! Don't ever believe a word they say, you'll see why in a minute.
After numerous Tower staff members assured us that "ALL" tickets were gone our hopes were fading away. We decided to walk up the side street right next to venue where the entire band's crew was unloading all the stage equipment. It was only me and my buddy T.J who went up to the crew. Pat stayed behind to watch our sandwiches and hold our place in line (even know it was early as hell and there was no one else even close to waiting for any tickets let alone TOOL tickets).
T.J, with his "were getting fucking tickets" mentality, struck-up a conversation with some truck driver guy and this other guy who had a TOOL laminate and was directing all the equipment into the venue. Our observation led us to believe this guy to be either the crew or stage manager, real cool guy with white long hair. For the purpose of this post, we will just go ahead and call him "stage manager" for easy reference. Anyways, we were asking them if they knew if they were going to re-release tickets. Truck driver dude said "I'm just a truck driver dude" and proceeded to help crew members take the bands coolers off his truck (apparently Maynard likes to have 2 bottled waters, 2 Gatorades, and 2 Red Bulls amongst other random drinks. Each band member had their own cooler with their name labeled on the top.) Stage manager keeps shooting the shit with us which was fucking wild because we are standing right in the midst of all the bands equipment and the side entrance door and still we were not being thrown out of the street. T.J and I were giving him the story of how badly we wanted to see this show. After a few minutes of chit-chatter about nothing else really, (stage manager obviously was pre-occupied with setting up the band's equipment rather than listen to our sob story of how bad we want tickets and we have been there since 8a.m), we must have struck a nerve with this guy because he turns to T.J and very quietly says "hold on a second, wait right here".
Hopes started to rise again. My cell phone rings and its Pat who is still sitting out front of the venue watching our spots. "What's up man" I say and Pat says "dude what the fuck are you guys doing? I got people on the street out here eyeballin’ our fucking hoagies". I thought that was funny as hell considering that we already have been hit-up for change and cigarettes numerous times so I guess it would be only a matter of time before someone would want a bite of our Wawa made sandwiches. I told Pat to come back down the side street to stand with us. I thought for a minute that stage manager was going to bring us out tickets so I wanted to make sure Pat got one too for all the hard work he was doing talking on his cell phone and staring at our food. Stage manger comes out finally and quietly says to us “it is a good possibility that they are going to re-release tickets. Go to the font window and make sure you are first in line.”
Now we were pumped. We were thinking now that we were definitely good to go with getting tickets all we have to do is wait-it-out. And that is what we did. At this point it is around 10:30 or so. These guys showed up from Tennessee without tickets and were trying to do what we were doing. There were cool guys but I couldn’t believe they would drive that far on a whim. So these guys were now chilling with us and we all had one of the box office windows blocked so we would be the first people to get the tickets. After about an hour and a half, our buddie the stage manager come walking to the front of the venue where we are waiting. He come straight up to T.J. and I and says “they are definitely releasing some tickets, stay here”. This is the moments were Pat, T.J and I knew we were somehow going to pull off this miracle. We were very surprised that stage manager would go out of his way to come find us and tell only us. He was an awesome dude and we thanked him for all that he did for us. I guess, if anything else, he and the rest of the entire road-crew and event staff pretty much knew us three since we’ve been there since 8.
Ticket window finally opened up at about 1:30 and we were right fucking on it. Pat, being right in front of the window, became our representative and pretty much had no idea what to say to this woman. So after a stutter Pat says “can I get tickets”, and she says “sure what show”, Pat says “tonight’s show”. She tells us that it is sold out. Like we didn’t know that shit already. I ask her “well are you going to re-release tickets” she says “well if we do it won’t be until 4 or 5 if you guys wanna wait”. We told here we have been there since 8 so we were not going anywhere. About 20 minutes pass and she says to us “guys my boss (A.K.A “stage manager”) said I can sell you tickets”. We fuckin flipped. Bought 3 tickets at face value in Row F right on the right-hand-side of the soundboard. The guys from Tennessee also got tickets. Mission accomplished!
Lesson # 1 – Shows are never “sold out”! Fuck scalpers!!!
Now that we have tickets to the promise land, the three of us decide to go find a bar and maybe try and get a glimpse of the band as they come out of their buses for sound-check. I had my ticket now and started to bug-out about my car because I wanted to move it. We walked around to that shitty parking deck behind the venue to pull my car to the ground level where we would be parked for free and get no ticket. There was a wall right across the street from where we wound up parking that was about 6 feet high or so. We knew that, over this wall, you could see the alleyway behind the venue where the band members were going inside. Pat helped hoist me up onto the wall and immediately, to my surprise, I am staring at Adam Jones who is also looking straight at me. I yelled down to him “YOOO Adam!!” and threw up the horns. He acknowledged me and threw up the horns right back. At this point we encountered this guy and his girlfriend (sorry I don’t remember your names but you know who you are) who just happened to walk by and I told them what I have just seen. So they jumped up, Pat and T.J jumped up. We all got to see him.
This is when we thought it couldn’t get any better. We decided to go to the bar on which was on the same side of the street as Maynard’s tour bus. Pat was on his phone again and T.J was talking to our two new friends when suddenly, as I am minding my own business smoking a cigarette, this short guy about 5’6’’ had a postal hat on and was carrying a box. It took only an instant for me to positively identify this guy as Maynard who was about 10 feet away from us. I tapped T.J who was in the midst of telling some story and said “dude that’s Maynard right there”. This brought the attention off the rest of our group. I shouted “Yeahhh Maynard!”, or something to that affect, and he gave me a smile and head-nod and proceeded to go inside the venue. Holy shit this was fucking nuts. I couldn’t believe I just saw this guy in a setting other than on stage. I can’t really describe how I felt but anyone reading this who has ever met any of the band members can surely relate.
Lesson # 2 – Band members are people too and there is a good chance you can see them behind the venues.
We waited in line for about an hour or so. All day long we saw this girl who, to protect her identity, we will call “Jen”, walking into the venue and onto the tour busses. I saw her all day and saw her again when I was in line. She gave me a sticker from Maynard’s project “Pusifer”. She was very cool and was talking to a lot of people in line. Finally about 20 minutes later we were let into the venue. Pat, T.J and I decided to smoke a cigarette once we got inside. They actually would not let us out again because they said we had to wait about 30 minutes so they could let everyone in.
We thought it was fun to fuck around with the event staff at the smoking door for a few minutes when all of the sudden “Jen” came up and was talking to us. We introduced ourselves and asked her what she did since I saw her on the busses and shit all day long. She said she was Maynard’s personal assistant and was from L.A. Pat, who is planning on moving to San Diego, began to talk about his move with her. She said “wow, that’s awesome, you should call me up when you’re out there and we can chill”. Pat was like “hell yeah that would be great”. Right after this I decided, as tacky as it may be, to ask her if there was any way she could get me an autograph. (I know what your thinking but you would have too fucker) Of course she said “no sorry I can’t do that”. I understood and wasn’t bummed about it, but you gotta try you know what I’m sayin. Pat got a kick out of it and saw a perfect opportunity to break my balls in front of her about asking and get a cheep laugh. But oh well. I talked to her for another couple of minutes when she had to go. We said our “thanks” and “goodbyes” and kept trying to get a quick cig in before the show started. T.J went and got a poster then we decided to go gets some beers and head in.
Ready for this????????
I am standing in line and I feel someone tap my shoulder. I turn around and to my surprise it is “Jen”. She extends her hand in a gesture to hand me something. She puts something in my hand which I didn’t look at right away and says “you didn’t get this from me”. I said thanks before I even knew what it was. Honestly I thought she had gotten me an autograph. Pat and T.J are like “what is it, what is it”? I look in my hand and sadly it was an autograph…….it was a MOTHERFUCKIN BACK-STAGE PASS!!!!
I was fuckin going crazy and at the same time trying not to bring attention to myself. I didn’t have to because Pat and T.J immediately blew-up my spot. But in reference to Pat breaking my balls earlier “Who’s laughing now??”.
The show was phenomenal. Set was great. Band was great. Visuals were tight. I was loving every minute of it. “Jen” stopped by during Sober to say hello to me again knowing that she will see me later.
After the show was over I walked over to the V.I.P area. They would not let Pat and T.J stay inside so they had to leave. I was all alone and was about to encounter something that I don’t think anyone could fathom. There were about 20 of us. We were let backstage about 30 minutes after the show had ended. “Jen” was there too. I expressed my utmost gratitude for getting me where I was. We were offered food and drinks while we were sitting in this waiting room with the Phillies game on the big screen. In walks Danny, who sat down right next to me. I talked to him for about 25 minutes about his drum-kit, the tour, and when would they be back around PA. He said to me that they will be back around September and will probably be at the Wachovia Spectrum. I shook his hand, he signed my poster (with a purple pen of course) as well as T.J’s (since I brought it back there with me to get it signed for him). Danny was the nicest guy I think I’ve ever met. He was fuckin cool as hell. This night couldn’t get better. Or could it?
I walked out the bands exit in the back of the venue and saw all these people from the show trying to get autographs. I was thinking to myself that I just had a fuckin sit-down with the greatest drummer on the fucking planet and had a grin from ear to ear. Up and running comes T.J “tell me you got it, tell me you got it fucker” he screams. I hand him his poster and told him to take a look and he went bonkers. Pat was no where to be found. Apparently he got back into the venue somehow and was walking around. He also met Danny. Here comes Adam Jones walking up to his bus. Everyone went nuts. He came right over to us and signed my poster as well as my ticket stub. He was cool as hell. Then came Danny who signed some shit. I talked to him again and shook his hand and then they both went into their busses. Apparently Maynard and Justin bounced out quick so no one saw them. They were not back-stage at all after the show. Everything worked out perfect because Pat and T.J and our buddy Jeff got autographs too. We all had an unbelievable day and could not even imagine it was going to turn out they way it did. I would think I would have had a better chance of hitting the lottery jackpot. I guess though, in a way that is much better, I DID! WHAT A FUCKING NIGHT! BEST OF MY LIFE!!
Lesson # 3 – It pays to be patient. Jen is my hero!!!!
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
My boy T.J – To think we were actually contemplating giving up on the show is fuckin crazy. You convinced us to stay and you know I would not have had this experience if it wasn’t for your persistency. For that I thank you very much and that was definitely the greatest show ever. No more disputes now. I’ll take all 99 of your wrongs for this 1 right! It was all worth it!
“Stage Manager” – couldn’t have been there without your help. It is greatly appreciated.
“Jen” – I don’t know if you read these posts but I am sure you remember who I am. You rock! I want to thank you for granting a wish I have had since first listening to the amazing music of TOOL. You are my hero and I want you to know that you made someone very happy to which words do not justify. Shit like this never in a million years happens to me. You put the faith back in me that there are nice people out there that will try and help someone out. You came through and I didn’t even ask. That is amazing! There is no way I can repay you for what you did for me. I will promise you that I will never forget you and what you did for me. I will cherish this moment for the rest of my life. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!
Here we go, $66.66 ($77.26 or something w/ tax and B.S. fees) L/C Orc Row AA Seat 102,the isle. It certainly had it's up's and down's. What I want to know, is why they created 3 additional rows in front of Row AAA making me the 4th row as opposed to the 2nd row back which the seating chart indicated. I didnt get my hopes up any way so the seat was even better than I expected. But what made the people in those 3 "portable" rows so goddamn special? Furthermore,they probably paid nothing for their seats. I am not one to complain of such trivial things normaly,however,I know many people paid top dollar out of love for this band, while others seemed to have no TRUE appreciation for what these four men, and what they create, does for some of us. Kay?...Kay
I was in row CCC which was the last row of bolted down seats in the front. There were only 2 rows in front of me and they were folding chairs zip-tied together. I won my tickets from a radio station in Baltimore. They gave away 5 pairs of tickets in that contest. The radio station said the tickets were provided by the record company execs. A group of guys in front of us said they got their tickets for free through a friend of someone who works for the venue. So yeah it looks like most people up that close paid nothing for their tickets unless they were scalped. It seemed like they were trying hard to prevent scalping though as I was not able to pick up my tickets until the Friday before the show. I actually thought they were going to be at the Will-Call box office but I got the call from the radio station Friday that they were in and I picked them up Monday. I would not have scalped mine for any amount of money though even though I already had purchased tickets to the New York show. Both shows were great. It was a great week that's just going to make the wait for the full US tour seem so far away.
Lesson # 1 – Shows are never “sold out”! Fuck scalpers!!!
Now that we have tickets to the promise land, the three of us decide to go find a bar and maybe try and get a glimpse of the band as they come out of their buses for sound-check. I had my ticket now and started to bug-out about my car because I wanted to move it. We walked around to that shitty parking deck behind the venue to pull my car to the ground level where we would be parked for free and get no ticket. There was a wall right across the street from where we wound up parking that was about 6 feet high or so. We knew that, over this wall, you could see the alleyway behind the venue where the band members were going inside. Pat helped hoist me up onto the wall and immediately, to my surprise, I am staring at Adam Jones who is also looking straight at me. I yelled down to him “YOOO Adam!!” and threw up the horns. He acknowledged me and threw up the horns right back. At this point we encountered this guy and his girlfriend (sorry I don’t remember your names but you know who you are) who just happened to walk by and I told them what I have just seen. So they jumped up, Pat and T.J jumped up. We all got to see him.
This is when we thought it couldn’t get any better. We decided to go to the bar on which was on the same side of the street as Maynard’s tour bus. Pat was on his phone again and T.J was talking to our two new friends when suddenly, as I am minding my own business smoking a cigarette, this short guy about 5’6’’ had a postal hat on and was carrying a box. It took only an instant for me to positively identify this guy as Maynard who was about 10 feet away from us. I tapped T.J who was in the midst of telling some story and said “dude that’s Maynard right there”. This brought the attention off the rest of our group. I shouted “Yeahhh Maynard!”, or something to that affect, and he gave me a smile and head-nod and proceeded to go inside the venue. Holy shit this was fucking nuts. I couldn’t believe I just saw this guy in a setting other than on stage. I can’t really describe how I felt but anyone reading this who has ever met any of the band members can surely relate.
Lesson # 2 – Band members are people too and there is a good chance you can see them behind the venues.
dude- me and jaymz207 were with u!! we saw Maynard get off the bus!!! we should have ran when i saw u jumping up that wall, i knew u wouldnt have stayed up there for no reason- wow - u did have a backstage pass!!!!!! Totally amazing- that rocks sooo much!! Great show! Fun times-- Maybe well see u when they come back on the tour!!!!!!!!
I had a great time as well, at Philly and NYC shows, also met Danny and saw Adam in NYC after the Sat. nite show. This is like, the best miracle Tool story from this tour I've heard so far.
__________________ (*aka* kozmicprincess)
"It's become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity. When I look at you, I think that one day - our humanity might actually surpass our technology."
