Global Domination | Witnessed

Recent updates

Recent discussions

Witnessed

Tool, 2007-05-05

16/05/07 || Global Domination

This report was written by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Naja.

Pan American Center, Las Cruces, New Mexico, U.S.

Tool is a band that I have always had the utmost respect for. Quite simply, they have never ceased to amaze me with their studio output (though last year’s “10,000 Days” was a little lackluster), and having seen them live twice before on the “Lateralus” tour in 2002, I’ve been absolutely dying to see them live again for the last year since they commenced touring. Unfortunately, I didn’t quite get what I expected.

Opening band Kinski was an absolute waste of time. Their set consisted of 5 or 6 post-rock songs that weren’t all that bad except for the fact that they were inexplicably all instrumentals. This isn’t a crime in itself, but the music simply lacked the variability and dynamics that instrumental music (especially instrumental rock music) requires to sustain interest in the listener. I think my friend said it best when he said “They play video-game music”. Their set, while relatively short, was just plain fucking boring. Besides, when you have 8,000 people rabidly waiting for a band like Tool to come on, it doesn’t help when the opening band is a dozer.

Finally their set was over, and the crew began clearing the stage for Tool. The band entered the stage to a thunderous welcome from the fans, and kicked right into their set. Opener “Jambi” was energetic and a decent choice for an opener, and Adam Jones’ talk-box solo on the song was a highlight. The band proceeded to pound their way through favorites “Stinkfist”,“46 & 2”, and “Schism” before playing no less than 4 songs from “10,000 Days” in a row. This may seem like a minor complaint, but these 4 songs (“Lost Keys”/”Rosetta Stoned”, “Right In Two”, “Wings For Marie”/”10,000 Days”) took up a whopping 45 minutes or so of the set. This was my major issue with the show…the band played almost all of the “10,000 Days” album, skipping over the “Opiate” and “Undertow” albums completely, which is heresy. “Wings For Marie”/”10,000 Days”, while good songs, killed the energy of the show, and sadly, I found myself getting fairly bored during this part of the set. I say “sadly”, because Tool is certainly not a band someone should be getting bored with, especially in a live setting. Next up was “Lateralus”, which was the highlight of the night for me, followed by “Vicarious” (yet another “10,000 Days” song), and closer “Ænema”. It was only during these last two songs that the crowd even showed signs of being at a rock show, with some moshing and crowd surfing.

There were a few issues I had with this show. One was the safe, and highly predictable setlist. The band has been playing this same setlist, with very minor variations, for over a year now. C’mon guys…change it up a bit. Secondly, the stage production wasn’t nearly as good as it was five years ago on the “Lateralus” tour. This wouldn’t have been all that bad if ticket prices weren’t nearly twice as much as they were five years ago. I understand gas prices are high and whatnot, but I was expecting a significantly better production for the $60 everyone had to dish out for tickets. Third, and this is a big one…the band simply did not seem to be into the show. This could be forgivable if it were just one show, but this has been a common complaint with fans for the entire “10,000 Days” tour. Guitarist Adam Jones has always been a stoic statue, so that wasn’t a surprise at all, but Keenan just seemed like he was going through the motions. To their credit, drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor seemed to be enjoying themselves. However, the overall energy of the band seems to be gone. Absolutely unforgivable when you are charging an arm and a leg for tickets. And finally…40 fucking dollars for a t-shirt is goddamn ridiculous. There is absolutely NOTHING one can say to justify that price for a piece of silk-screened cotton. Seems a bit suspicious from a band that used to claim they were all about the art.

This was my third time seeing Tool, and unless at least some of my complaints are addressed in the future, it will be my last. Don’t get me wrong…the band put on a good show. But “good” never used to be good enough for Tool. Perhaps I was spoiled by seeing them before, in their heyday. There are plenty of reviews on fansites singing the praises of this tour, but most of them are by fans who’d never witnessed them before. I can’t imagine how anyone who’d seen this band on previous tours could be satisfied by them this time around.

Message to Tool: Revitalize the setlist, learn to enjoy playing your music again, and perhaps I’ll consider paying a small fortune to see you guys live again.

7 overpriced concert tickets out of 10.

Witnessed