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kanaduh
03-04-2014, 09:59 AM
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HOOKER
VICARIOUS
SCHISM (new jam intro)
PUSHIT
INTENSION
LATERALUS
___________________ (light on intermission)

DC DRUM SOLO
JAMBI
46+2
AENEMA
STINKFIST (extended)
__________________
.

Last edited by kanaduh; 03-10-2014 at 12:00 PM..
Old 03-04-2014, 09:59 AM   #1
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March 4th 2014 - Spokane, WA

HOOKER
VICARIOUS
SCHISM (new jam intro)
PUSHIT
INTENSION
LATERALUS
___________________ (light on intermission)

DC DRUM SOLO
JAMBI
46+2
AENEMA
STINKFIST (extended)
__________________
.

Last edited by kanaduh; 03-10-2014 at 12:00 PM..
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kanaduh
03-10-2014, 12:10 PM
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TOOL 2014
Day #1/#2

Left Toronto super early on Monday morning to head out to Spokane. Connecting flight was through Denver, CO. Unfortunately the layover time was only 45 minutes, so I did not have time to head into Denver and check out one of those new marijuana cafes (and supposedly the laws in Washington State do not take effect for another few months).

Unrelated random note: I found it comical that both male flight attendants (United Airlines) from Toronto to Denver were extremely flamingly gay. Now, don’t take this the wrong way – I’m from a super gay-friendly city and I fully support equality/gay marriage, etc. However I remember sitting there thinking to myself, “Kanaduh, you’re flying on a US-based airline with two gay flight attendants, and are about to land in a State with legalized marijuana!? WTF happened!? I’m proud of you, ‘MERICA!”

I then continued onto the next plane that would take me to the first TOOL show – Spokane, WA. Upon landing I met up with “jwb” from the toolshed forums who I arranged to split up hotel/tickets with. This would be our 4th time meeting up in a different city since the first time we met in the 2009 tour.

Our first night in Spokane was spent trying to find a bar that would play the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL game. With the 3 hour time difference it was a 4:00 PM start local time. We found a bar downtown that had the channel, but jwb was reluctant to go inside because it “seemed like a biker bar” and “very dangerous”. Oh, the irony.

The first sign of this “biker bar” was the couple of guys beside us at the bar singing Miley Cyrus and One Direction at the top of their lungs. This would be a sign of things to come. It was amusing watching jwb react as the realization slowly sunk in: his “dangerous biker bar” was in fact a gay bar. I proceeded to get drunk and watch my Leafs lose, as we were surrounded by a few dozen gay couples (and surely nobody attending TOOL the next day).

After crashing at the hotel and recovering from a hangover as a result of drinking away my hockey related sorrows, jwb and I had an entire day to kill in downtown Spokane before the TOOL show. The geography/nature of this city is actually incredible – the river and rapids/waterfalls that run through downtown are absolutely beautiful. I do have to say though that sometimes it’s annoying when TOOL decides to play in random small cities – especially when Seattle seems like it would have been a much more logical option. Although with that being said, I surely would never be visiting Spokane in my life if it wasn’t for this tour.

YOB
For starters, it’s pronounced “Y. O. B”. jwb laughed at me every time I pronounced it “yob” as a word. I have said this before, but it’s highly unfair to be an opening band for TOOL. Usually the crowd is pretty hostile and the larger venues are not ideal for these smaller bands. I was overall impressed with YOB, and will check them out in the future – very atmospheric and longer progressive sounds. Probably my favourite opening band for TOOL since Isis in 2006.

TOOL
The first thing I immediately noticed when I walked into the arena was the stage setup. It’s almost like cheating – but you can start deducting/adding songs to the setlist based on the equipment that is setup on stage. Adam’s talk box device – Jambi. Massive gong behind DC – Lateralus. I also noticed a brand new device/lighting rig set up in the direct centre of the arena on top of the lighting/sound area – 4 lights along with what looked a massive oval disco-ball type contraption. I was super excited to see what they would do with this.

As the lights went out, the nerves kicked in and I was absolutely stoked to be at my 34th TOOL show!

Disclaimer: I am not one to be overly negative and bitch about setlists. I went to every show in 2009 which was widely criticized and considered to be less than ideal. I still had a blast and thought all of the shows were outstanding.

Just before the show started, I repeatedly kept thinking to myself: “Please open with anything but Hooker. Please open with anything but Hooker. Please open with ANYTHING but Hooker!”
Hooker with a Penis. God damnit. Oh well, it’s still a solid opener, even though they did the same thing the last time around as well.

Vicarious. Did not like this as a second song, but that’s just personal opinion/taste.

Schism was next. I started getting worried at this point. Probably the worst first 3 songs of any TOOL show, ever.

Pushit. This was the highlight of the show for me and they nailed it.

Intension. Once again, played all of last tour and no Right in Two to follow unfortunately.

Lateralus. As always this was a fucking brilliant song and the best live experience possible. The combination of lasers/lights/visuals were fantastic.

Intermission. What – what? Yes, intermission. The lights came back on in the venue. A 12 minute countdown started on the back screen. This is a new thing for TOOL. I guess they are getting old? I was not a fan of this at all. Massive buzz kill, and just ruined the flow of the show. They always take an intermission, but before they would use those 10-12 minutes to play ambient sounds, visuals, lasers, and it was sometimes one of the more memorable part of the concert experience. On top of this, the venue stopped serving alcohol before this intermission.

So there I was thinking to myself waiting for the lights to come back on: “Kanaduh, they’ve played all songs from the last tour, and now this weird new intermission thing. I guess the second half will have something new in store for us…. But that talk box is still there so Jambi is coming… Stinkfist and Aenema are solid picks, and then probably 46 and 2…. That leaves room for one or two more songs. I hope we get just 1 surprise of something not played recently.”

The lights come back on, and Danny does a full 4-5 minute drum solo with nobody else on stage. This is a first for Tool and I believe something they haven’t done before. This was one of the best parts of the concert for me. Danny Carrey is a monster.

Jambi starts. Probably one of the best versions of Jambi I’ve seen using the full capabilities of the stage setup (previous tours they played it as first or second song so they didn’t use full stage/visuals that early in show).

46 & 2. Great song, and as usual DC absolutely nailed the drum solo at the end. Similar to Jambi the visuals were ridiculous using the full wall/background of screens.

Aenema. Nailed it.

Stinkfist. Such a high-energy and fun song live and the crowd was more aggressive for this as expected. Extended version which I am glad they brought back. At the end of Stinkfist they blew a bunch of confetti or something into the air which actually had a cool effect with the lighting.
…and then the lights came on. Wait a minute, WHAT? Was that it? Even for TOOL, surely that could not have been the end of the show? 10:48 PM was the time. They started at 9:00 PM on the dot. That’s 1 hour and 48 minutes. Minus 12 minutes for the intermission. Minus the time at start of show, around intermission, and in between songs… and overall I’m not sure if this concert was even an hour and a half long. This is a very similar setlist to the last tour I saw them, but WITHOUT parabola! 10 songs. And to top it all off that really shitty intermission buzz kill.

Listen, I’m not one of those cynical anti-maynard tool fans that criticizes Puscifer/APC/Wine/Setlists/etc. every chance I get. I fucking love Puscifer and travel to see them as well. TOOL are getting older and obviously the passion isn’t the same as it was in the earlier days or tours.
However, last night was just disappointing. I left the venue with a huge emptiness in my stomach that I have never felt after 33 previous TOOL shows. Maybe it’s just me? Are my expectations too high? I really don’t feel like I am being unreasonable here.
I am going to chalk this experience up to being the first show. Hopefully they add a song or two in Portland. The big test for me will be San Francisco. If they play this exact same setlist on both nights back to back nights, then I will definitely have lost my faith in this band.

LIGHTING/VISUAL COMMENTS
I did not mention it enough in the review above – but they somehow managed to improve the visual experience. Despite the setlist, the existing songs looked better than ever aesthetically. Massive props to every single one of you crew people – and remember that 99% of people attending the show had the time of their lives last night. Don’t take setlist criticism personally.
Anywhere, I’m off to Portland now to become a hippie.

Recap: If you’ve never seen TOOL before or only a few times, you are going to have an incredible experience and you need to attend this tour, for the visuals alone. However, if you’ve seen them recently or you expect anything new or surprising, you will go home disappointed.
Off to the airport now. Later, Spokane.
__________________
.

Last edited by kanaduh; 03-10-2014 at 12:12 PM..
Old 03-10-2014, 12:10 PM   #2
Level 9 - Obstreperous
 
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 1,420
Bincount™: 45
Re: March 4th 2014 - Spokane, WA

TOOL 2014
Day #1/#2

Left Toronto super early on Monday morning to head out to Spokane. Connecting flight was through Denver, CO. Unfortunately the layover time was only 45 minutes, so I did not have time to head into Denver and check out one of those new marijuana cafes (and supposedly the laws in Washington State do not take effect for another few months).

Unrelated random note: I found it comical that both male flight attendants (United Airlines) from Toronto to Denver were extremely flamingly gay. Now, don’t take this the wrong way – I’m from a super gay-friendly city and I fully support equality/gay marriage, etc. However I remember sitting there thinking to myself, “Kanaduh, you’re flying on a US-based airline with two gay flight attendants, and are about to land in a State with legalized marijuana!? WTF happened!? I’m proud of you, ‘MERICA!”

I then continued onto the next plane that would take me to the first TOOL show – Spokane, WA. Upon landing I met up with “jwb” from the toolshed forums who I arranged to split up hotel/tickets with. This would be our 4th time meeting up in a different city since the first time we met in the 2009 tour.

Our first night in Spokane was spent trying to find a bar that would play the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL game. With the 3 hour time difference it was a 4:00 PM start local time. We found a bar downtown that had the channel, but jwb was reluctant to go inside because it “seemed like a biker bar” and “very dangerous”. Oh, the irony.

The first sign of this “biker bar” was the couple of guys beside us at the bar singing Miley Cyrus and One Direction at the top of their lungs. This would be a sign of things to come. It was amusing watching jwb react as the realization slowly sunk in: his “dangerous biker bar” was in fact a gay bar. I proceeded to get drunk and watch my Leafs lose, as we were surrounded by a few dozen gay couples (and surely nobody attending TOOL the next day).

After crashing at the hotel and recovering from a hangover as a result of drinking away my hockey related sorrows, jwb and I had an entire day to kill in downtown Spokane before the TOOL show. The geography/nature of this city is actually incredible – the river and rapids/waterfalls that run through downtown are absolutely beautiful. I do have to say though that sometimes it’s annoying when TOOL decides to play in random small cities – especially when Seattle seems like it would have been a much more logical option. Although with that being said, I surely would never be visiting Spokane in my life if it wasn’t for this tour.

YOB
For starters, it’s pronounced “Y. O. B”. jwb laughed at me every time I pronounced it “yob” as a word. I have said this before, but it’s highly unfair to be an opening band for TOOL. Usually the crowd is pretty hostile and the larger venues are not ideal for these smaller bands. I was overall impressed with YOB, and will check them out in the future – very atmospheric and longer progressive sounds. Probably my favourite opening band for TOOL since Isis in 2006.

TOOL
The first thing I immediately noticed when I walked into the arena was the stage setup. It’s almost like cheating – but you can start deducting/adding songs to the setlist based on the equipment that is setup on stage. Adam’s talk box device – Jambi. Massive gong behind DC – Lateralus. I also noticed a brand new device/lighting rig set up in the direct centre of the arena on top of the lighting/sound area – 4 lights along with what looked a massive oval disco-ball type contraption. I was super excited to see what they would do with this.

As the lights went out, the nerves kicked in and I was absolutely stoked to be at my 34th TOOL show!

Disclaimer: I am not one to be overly negative and bitch about setlists. I went to every show in 2009 which was widely criticized and considered to be less than ideal. I still had a blast and thought all of the shows were outstanding.

Just before the show started, I repeatedly kept thinking to myself: “Please open with anything but Hooker. Please open with anything but Hooker. Please open with ANYTHING but Hooker!”
Hooker with a Penis. God damnit. Oh well, it’s still a solid opener, even though they did the same thing the last time around as well.

Vicarious. Did not like this as a second song, but that’s just personal opinion/taste.

Schism was next. I started getting worried at this point. Probably the worst first 3 songs of any TOOL show, ever.

Pushit. This was the highlight of the show for me and they nailed it.

Intension. Once again, played all of last tour and no Right in Two to follow unfortunately.

Lateralus. As always this was a fucking brilliant song and the best live experience possible. The combination of lasers/lights/visuals were fantastic.

Intermission. What – what? Yes, intermission. The lights came back on in the venue. A 12 minute countdown started on the back screen. This is a new thing for TOOL. I guess they are getting old? I was not a fan of this at all. Massive buzz kill, and just ruined the flow of the show. They always take an intermission, but before they would use those 10-12 minutes to play ambient sounds, visuals, lasers, and it was sometimes one of the more memorable part of the concert experience. On top of this, the venue stopped serving alcohol before this intermission.

So there I was thinking to myself waiting for the lights to come back on: “Kanaduh, they’ve played all songs from the last tour, and now this weird new intermission thing. I guess the second half will have something new in store for us…. But that talk box is still there so Jambi is coming… Stinkfist and Aenema are solid picks, and then probably 46 and 2…. That leaves room for one or two more songs. I hope we get just 1 surprise of something not played recently.”

The lights come back on, and Danny does a full 4-5 minute drum solo with nobody else on stage. This is a first for Tool and I believe something they haven’t done before. This was one of the best parts of the concert for me. Danny Carrey is a monster.

Jambi starts. Probably one of the best versions of Jambi I’ve seen using the full capabilities of the stage setup (previous tours they played it as first or second song so they didn’t use full stage/visuals that early in show).

46 & 2. Great song, and as usual DC absolutely nailed the drum solo at the end. Similar to Jambi the visuals were ridiculous using the full wall/background of screens.

Aenema. Nailed it.

Stinkfist. Such a high-energy and fun song live and the crowd was more aggressive for this as expected. Extended version which I am glad they brought back. At the end of Stinkfist they blew a bunch of confetti or something into the air which actually had a cool effect with the lighting.
…and then the lights came on. Wait a minute, WHAT? Was that it? Even for TOOL, surely that could not have been the end of the show? 10:48 PM was the time. They started at 9:00 PM on the dot. That’s 1 hour and 48 minutes. Minus 12 minutes for the intermission. Minus the time at start of show, around intermission, and in between songs… and overall I’m not sure if this concert was even an hour and a half long. This is a very similar setlist to the last tour I saw them, but WITHOUT parabola! 10 songs. And to top it all off that really shitty intermission buzz kill.

Listen, I’m not one of those cynical anti-maynard tool fans that criticizes Puscifer/APC/Wine/Setlists/etc. every chance I get. I fucking love Puscifer and travel to see them as well. TOOL are getting older and obviously the passion isn’t the same as it was in the earlier days or tours.
However, last night was just disappointing. I left the venue with a huge emptiness in my stomach that I have never felt after 33 previous TOOL shows. Maybe it’s just me? Are my expectations too high? I really don’t feel like I am being unreasonable here.
I am going to chalk this experience up to being the first show. Hopefully they add a song or two in Portland. The big test for me will be San Francisco. If they play this exact same setlist on both nights back to back nights, then I will definitely have lost my faith in this band.

LIGHTING/VISUAL COMMENTS
I did not mention it enough in the review above – but they somehow managed to improve the visual experience. Despite the setlist, the existing songs looked better than ever aesthetically. Massive props to every single one of you crew people – and remember that 99% of people attending the show had the time of their lives last night. Don’t take setlist criticism personally.
Anywhere, I’m off to Portland now to become a hippie.

Recap: If you’ve never seen TOOL before or only a few times, you are going to have an incredible experience and you need to attend this tour, for the visuals alone. However, if you’ve seen them recently or you expect anything new or surprising, you will go home disappointed.
Off to the airport now. Later, Spokane.
__________________
.

Last edited by kanaduh; 03-10-2014 at 12:12 PM..
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23 and 1
03-12-2014, 08:00 PM
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Great show. Late posting due to busy life and website down. Did VIP, that was awesome. Band did not disappoint either. My 7th show.
Old 03-12-2014, 08:00 PM   #3
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Join Date: May 2007
Location: Twin Cities
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Re: March 4th 2014 - Spokane, WA

Great show. Late posting due to busy life and website down. Did VIP, that was awesome. Band did not disappoint either. My 7th show.
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