Tool, KC review, 10.21.01 by: sydburnz

TooL, Kansas City MO 10.21.01

Ok first of all I must say I didnt know what to expect of TooL, all I knew was that they are very good visually and musically during the live experience. Well, they didnt let me down at all! I was shocked and rather confused by the images I had seen. TooL are definitely art rock to the maximum degree! They’re not your typical art rock band though, seeing that most of the people at this show were dressed in gothic attire, thrashing their heads, and making asses out of themselves trying to mosh to this music. I guess you can mosh to Aenima and Stinkfist, but the rest of the show was just for the audience to look and listen in total amusement. I can see where this band drew alot of influence from art/prog rockers King Crimson, Pink Floyd, and Rush.

When I got to Kemper Arena, I had to pick up my tickets at will call, since I only purchased my tickets about 4 days prior. I waited in line to pick up my tickets, and while I was there, I noticed this 60 year old man wearing a TooL tshirt. I thought to myself, man TooL is not your typical alternative/goth/heavy metal band. I knew I would be in for a treat tonite. My seats were up in section 219, upper deck, right along the side of the stage. I was worried when I purchased these tickets that I wouldnt be able to see anything. Well, after I sat down, I noticed that these were probably the best seats in the house, not including those on the floor. The floor seats were standing room only, and I knew that there would be plenty of bloody noses and gashes on the floor.

It was rather cool, later when this dude who was from Rochester NY sat right next to me. He said, “Man, did you see Iron Maiden in concert during their last tour?” He noticed that I was wearing a Maiden tee for the gig. He was disappointed, because he had tickets for the show in upstate NY and didnt get to make it due to business. He was a huge Maiden fan who had last seen them during the Seventh Son tour of 88. The other dude that was with him was from Birmingham, AL and I found out that he had seen Floyd three times in 94. It was pretty nice to sit down with a couple of cool dudes to pass the time away before the show.

Tricky opened up this gig with the lights shut completely off. The first number had no effects whatsoever, and I heard people booing during the first number. The second number, though, was very upbeat with some amazing visual effects with the vari*lights. Actually, Tricky and his band were very good considering I didn’t know what they had performed. I was actually shocked!! The music was basically what you call trip-hop, but it infused many different styles such as rap, jazz, soul, R&B, rock, reggae, and african rhythms. I could feel the energy of Tricky’s music, and I was never bored throughout the performance. I must say though, that the drummer for Tricky (I found out later that his name is Perry) was very quick on the drums. I never had seen anyone beat the skins that fast live before, I was impressed!

Enough of the opening act, in comes the heavy/art rockers Tool. I mentioned before that I could see everything on the stage for Tricky, I could also see everything for Tool. I could look right down into Danny Carey’s drumkit which had a nice golden shimmer to it. I could also see the guitarist and bass player perfectly, and their pedal set up. Maynard had a podeum which he stood on the whole evening with a video screen behind him. There were two huge screens in the back, and three vari*light rigs.

The concert started out with a number from the new album, “The Grudge” which Im not all that familiar with, the next number was a snippet from Aenima called Ions. The imagery on the screens featured an eye looking thru a keyhole, and the skin surrounding the eye was red. TooL then performed a number which I was familiar with from the Aenima album, Stinkfist. I must say that this song is better live, full of energy! I noticed the floor was swaying with the music and when it got heavy heads were thrashing and bodies were moshing. I enjoyed looking down at the floor to see the energy flowing much like water during the songs intense, and not so intense, moments. The video screens had projected snippets of the Stinkfist video (or as MTV likes to call it, track #1). The video was looped on several occasions just making cutting movements as it would go back to play that snippet over. I just remember the part where the oriental woman sticks her finger in the blue guys eye socket, pulling out his eye… Like I said, the imagery was hard to take in, and you’ll probably notice how cloudy my memory is on the descriptions of the videos.

The title track from Undertow was next. I was shocked that this was the only song from Undertow that was played all night. The video during this song showed the red rib cage in an animated sequence. Schism was next, which also featured the video you see in rotation on MTV and Vh1 occasionally. Again I find these videos to be very disturbing for me, but I couldn’t help but watch the videos as Maynard was screaming and sporadically swaying around to the music.

Pushit followed later. Im not too familiar with this track, I knew it was from Aenima though. I would say that this was a highlight for me. There were slower, artsy parts, and then faster beats that just make yer heart race! Danny was shining during this number like all others. I noticed he lost a drumstick around this time. I don’t recall if it was during this song, but I remember it flying in the air, almost swiping the bass player as it landed. Danny still played like he didnt miss a beat while he got another drumstick. This guy is like Neil Peart guys!! Very fast drumrolls. This dude is amazing, a must see live!! The studio albums dont showcase his talent enough.

Three numbers from Lateralus followed, which were Parabol/Parabola, Disposition, and Reflection. I wasn’t at all familiar with these, but the visuals during these songs just blew my mind!! During this time, there were two people, a naked woman and man covered with silver paint who walked out onto the stage on all fours. They were like animals walking with their feet and palms planted on the stage. Their heads were bobbing up and down the whole time. I thought this was one of the weirdest things I had seen all night, and yeah their orifices were shining right up in my sections face half the time. Also, during these songs there were tons of feedback, and experimental noise with the effects and pedals by both the guitarist and bassist. Also, during reflection, I believe, Danny was messing around with an early type synthesizer. It could have been a Moog, or a VCS3, or something to that effect. The visuals that were shown throughout these three songs were of these weird rodent like creatures in a room with small round peg heads which were looped in a sequence. There were also two naked women walking around a mannequin, and three naked people (two women and man) submerged in water. I was shocked to see the guy’s TOOL in plain view, and a woman’s beaver in plain view as well. This is considered art though, not pornography. At the end of reflection, there was a long period where the guitarist was playing this same riff over and over, it would never end. And during this time I remember seeing a motionless guy with a decapitated head with one arm up in the air. There was a throne or a chair behind him. During the guitar riff, it would get slower every passing minute and the same image would go across the video screen.. That was the most disturbing moment for me. Very horrific and lots of tension, because I knew something was going to happen after the guitar solo. There was a cable which was brought down from the rafters.

After the guitarist finished his reoccuring riff, weird noises were displayed. The naked silver coloured people climbed up the cables and hung upside down for a long period of time!! It sucked where I was sitting though, because the red spotlight was right in my face the whole time. I could catch a glimpse of what was happening whenever the woman would sway in front of the light. I was told later by some people that they hugged each other for a little bit, but most of the time they hung upside down. Some people in front were disgusted by seeing the dudes silver testicles… LOL Now I know why the band called themselves TOOL!

The two people hung upside down during the next number which featured a drum solo by Danny(!!!) and Perry from Trickys band. I was just sitting there gape-mouthed while these two drummers were pounding away at the drums!! They went into Triad then. After that number, Maynard thanked Perry for joining them on stage. He also mentioned that Perry is the world record holder in Kansas for women’s shot put. LOL The Patient followed, which showcased some great musicianship again!

Finally they performed Aenima with the crowd just going crazy singing along with Maynard and thrashing their heads!! I just lost it by this time!! After Aenima was thru, Maynard thanked everyone for stopping by this evening and wished us a safe trip home. He also stated “I hope you take this energy that you have felt tonite, and make it into something positive in the next couple of weeks”. Maynard is a rather sincere type of dude. I never would have noticed that behind his thrashing, sporadic movements on stage. I just wish he would wear some more clothing though!! He was out there wearing only speedos. Lateralus was the last number of the night. The ending number was kinda shitty, but overall this was a superb concert! Ive seen some great musicianship the whole night. Again, Danny shone for me. I had seen him lose two drumsticks and never lose a beat.

The highlights of the show had to be Stinkfist, Pushit, and Aenima. Also, the trippy, experimental part right before the intermission. It was very reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s Saucerful of Secrets during live in Pompeii with some moments of On the Run mixed in. The visuals were a big plus!! One complaint from me though, there was too much to take in!! Very surreal and bizarre imagery to say the least. And I dont know what half of the things meant!! The person who came up with these visuals must be very dimented indeed. I wish they did play two other numbers from Aenima though such as Eulogy or Fourtysix and two. Great concert!!! Id definitely pay money to see TooL again!

The set list was as follows….

Mantra
The Grudge
(-)ions
Stinkfist
Undertow
Schism
Pushit [much like Salival] Parabola
Disposition
Reflection
-really trippy/artsy part-
Triad
The Patient
Ænima
Lateralus