Like Muse the night before, this was my first time seeing Tool play live in the flesh. Having listened to their albums for years, and hearing about their live show second hand, my expectations were fairly high. I’d heard the last time they played Melbourne, for the Lateralus tour, they were on stage for close to 3 hours with a 10 minute break/intermission.
That was roughly 5 years ago now, and based on last nights performance, things must have changed. The opening act was Shapeshifter, a drum and bass outfit from New Zealand. They weren’t too bad actually. Far better than Ground Components in any case. They were on and off stage before the sun had set.
The weather was near perfect and the outdoor venue far nicer than Festival Hall. Tool hit the stage at 9pm on the dot. Kicking out Stinkfist it was immediately clear that the band were preaching to the converted. They quickly followed up with 46&2 by which point they had the crowd eating out of the palm of their collective hand. Jambi and Schism had things rocking along nicely. Maynard James Keenan was set back on the stage, and from where I was, I could hardly see him. The trippy visuals and light show made up for the general lack of activity onstage.
At times the vocals sounded like they were set a little too low in the mix, but in general the sound was excellent, particularly for a wide open outdoor venue. After Schism, things slowed down a notch. For me Lost Keys and Rosetta Stoned are not two of the highlights from 10,000 Days, and they were given a little to much airtime. Sections of the crowd seemed to get a little restless, bogans started taking calls on their mobile phones talking up the show to their mates. “Oh mate, it’s going off, they’ve been playing for like two hours”. Ummm… someone perhaps needed to point out that the band had only been playing for some 45mins at this stage but anyway I digress.
It was probably at around this point in the show that some clown decided it would be a great idea to scale the Myer Music Bowl roof. He was up there for 10 mins or so, playing up to the crowd, but for some reason he decided to climb back down. Probably not a wise move given that a tonne of police and security were waiting at the bottom, ready to cart him off, and end his night.
The show ramped up again by the time the band busted out Lateralus. Vicarious was the highlight for the night, it really stood out from everything else, and proved that it was as good a song as anything else Tool has released.
The night ended with Aenima, and a suggestion by Maynard that the band will be back in the summer, adding fuel to the rumor they’ll be touring Australia again in November later this year.
Then, that was it, it was over. An 11 song set that spanned roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes. No encore. No 3 hour epic performance. As good as the band was, I couldn’t help but feel a little short changed. They’d sold out the Myer Music Bowl, at $100 per ticket, and they hadn’t even hit the rumored 11pm Music Bowl curfew. The band was tight, the songs they played hit the mark, but you’ll have to forgive me, I wanted more! The other thing I noticed was that there were quite a few dip shits that thought the middle of a Tool concert would be a great time to have a conversation on their mobile phones.
There were three things that really stood out for me after seeing Tool live.
1. Danny Carey is a phenomenal drummer. He was hitting the skins hard and the shifting time signatures could not be easy to pull off live, but he never missed a beat. I now see why he’s the poster boy for all the bedroom drummers out there.
2. Tool are not the most active band I’ve seen on stage. They make up for it with an amazing light show (which included laser lights), but at the same time, the general lack of activity or crowd interaction could give the impression that they aren’t really happy to be there. In that regard, it’s perhaps understandable why some people right them off as a wank rock shoe gazer band. In terms of stage performance, I’d have to say Muse, from the night before, set a very high bar.
3. The band has been around for a good 15+ years and has built up a strong back catalogue of songs. That’s why an 11 song set that only just crawled past the hour and a half mark (on the back of a feedback filled defacto band break?) didn’t seem quite fair.
All in all, Tool are a class live act, and definitely one I’m glad to have seen. Their performance was faultless, I just wonder if I have missed seeing them in their prime?
Again, for the rock nerds, here is the set list from last night show. It may or may not be accurate so corrections are welcome.
Stinkfist
46&2
Jambi
Schism
Lost Keys
Rosetta Stoned
Wings for Marie
10,000 Days
Lateralus
Vicarious
Aenima