If you’ve never witnessed Tool in the live environment, it’s everything you would and wouldn’t predict from the alternative superstars. The visual aspect of tonight could not be more aesthetically correct if it tried. For the vast majority of tonight’s show the band are merely dark figures, backing the huge screens behind them that throws out psychedelic images that steal your attention away from the guys doing all the work and staying perfectly in-tune with their ‘Music first, Personality second’ stance. That’s not to say Tool are bad performers, they’re just a little different to anyone else you’ve seen. Maynard is at his enigmatic best this evening, adjusting into many unplausible rubber-like shapes and dances, while the rest of his black-clad cohorts are content to just stand rooted and play their instruments. As with all things Tool connected, the music is simply allowed to do the talking with only the enormo-screen to take your focuses elsewhere. And by god, the music tonight is note perfect. With an eclectic set-list pinpointing the highlights from all 3 studio albums, Tool also decide to throw us a few surprises, none more so than when the band lunge head first into ‘Eulogy’. They also play ‘The Mantra’ from this year’s ‘Lateralus’ masterpiece for the very first time anywhere on Planet Earth, not that you’d know such is the preciseness of the delivery.
If there is one quarrel tonight, it’s that Tool leave way too long between songs for just pointless sound effects. While it only sounds like a minor quibble, the impact is huge as it does stop Tool from hitting the full tilt they reached at Ozzfest, where they simply rattled off their songs one after another to maximum effect. Just goes to show that an average night for Tool is still a great night for their audience.
