Finally saw TOOL live last night in Houston (setlist spoilers!!)

red mos

Well after years and years of reading endless reviews and hearing from friends that have gone before me to tell tell me how awesome they are- I decided to check it out.

The opening band Trans Am was pretty unique- kind of a heavy metal riff band with electronica voices and sounds vocally that remind me of the beginning of Mr. Roboto from Styx- that's the sounds anyway vocally on some of the songs. I couldn't really understand the vocals though, but could have just been the mix.

Tool was a good show, but I'll be honest, I'm a casual fan but since I have Aenima and 10,000 days I know where most of the material came from. So the set was familiar.
The musicians in Tool are phenominal- they recreate their sound to a near perfect representation of what is played on the album. Their stage is pretty cool as far as visual effects, but I honestly don't see what the huge hype is- maybe I have to be stoned to get it- I really don't know. LOL.
The one thing about Tool that I don't understand, and I knew about this before hand is why Maynard chooses to remain a silhouetted figure on stage at the side or near the back on a platform? Sorry, that just seems rather strange to me and always has. His vocals were crisp and clear though, and I'm sure the majority of the Houston crowd thought this shows a huge improvement over their September 2006 show where Maynard realized too late he was far too ill to perform.
The member I had the clearest and most visible view of was Danny Carey. I have to say that every thing people have said about him is true. (the man has a PHD in Music which I just recently found out). Awesome drum fills and spectacular percussion arrangements.
The highlights were "stinkfist" "Scism", "Lateralus", "wings for Marie and Flood".
I wish they had played "Aenima" though, that's my favorite Tool song and hearing that live I'm sure would have been mindblowing.

I had a good time, but can't really say I was blown away. Maybe it's just cause I'm a casual fan, but I really enjoyed their unique set up and stage presentation- it was done very well.

catefrances

maynard stays silhouetted up the back cause it's about the music,man. tis not about maynard or the others as individuals. no one part is more important than another. together they are a unit. and that unit is called TOOL.
and no you don't have to be stoned to appreciate TOOL.

xscorcho

i was the opposite of you... i saw tool as a casual fan and was blown away and now they are one of my favorite bands. i love everything about their live performance (and btw.... never been high at one of their shows!)

man, i wish they were coming around me!

Jeremy1012

It's just Maynard's stage act. The mercurial, elusive lizardman rocking back and forth at the back of the stage

Love Tool but never seen them live.

TheGossman

red mos wrote:

Well after years and years of reading endless reviews and hearing from friends that have gone before me to tell tell me how awesome they are- I decided to check it out.

The opening band Trans Am was pretty unique- kind of a heavy metal riff band with electronica voices and sounds vocally that remind me of the beginning of Mr. Roboto from Styx- that's the sounds anyway vocally on some of the songs. I couldn't really understand the vocals though, but could have just been the mix.

Tool was a good show, but I'll be honest, I'm a casual fan but since I have Aenima and 10,000 days I know where most of the material came from. So the set was familiar.
The musicians in Tool are phenominal- they recreate their sound to a near perfect representation of what is played on the album. Their stage is pretty cool as far as visual effects, but I honestly don't see what the huge hype is- maybe I have to be stoned to get it- I really don't know. LOL.
The one thing about Tool that I don't understand, and I knew about this before hand is why Maynard chooses to remain a silhouetted figure on stage at the side or near the back on a platform? Sorry, that just seems rather strange to me and always has. His vocals were crisp and clear though, and I'm sure the majority of the Houston crowd thought this shows a huge improvement over their September 2006 show where Maynard realized too late he was far too ill to perform.
The member I had the clearest and most visible view of was Danny Carey. I have to say that every thing people have said about him is true. (the man has a PHD in Music which I just recently found out). Awesome drum fills and spectacular percussion arrangements.
The highlights were "stinkfist" "Scism", "Lateralus", "wings for Marie and Flood".
I wish they had played "Aenima" though, that's my favorite Tool song and hearing that live I'm sure would have been mindblowing.

I had a good time, but can't really say I was blown away. Maybe it's just cause I'm a casual fan, but I really enjoyed their unique set up and stage presentation- it was done very well.

I'm in the same boat as you, I have seen them and while I will admit, they are great musicians, there just isn't much diversity in their music and they have no stage presence, they bore the hell out of me live, no energy at all except maynard, and I could barely see him, just not my cup of tea

Anon

i kind of agree w/ most of the posts here. Tool are amazing musicians, we know this, but get me looking at my watch live.

i saw them in Hershey on the Laturalus tour and was bored out of my mind.

nowadays i listen to Isis.

nuzpaper

Tool does recreate the albums which can be sorta boring when watching other bands but it works for them

allforcarrie

i saw them in 06 in Luxembourg, good stuff.

drew0

i wanna see them but jsut cant like what the fuck

come tpo pittsburgh cleveland go ddamnit then ill see them.

maybe? iodk i worship maynard. he the fuckning man..yeah.

JamnPearl

Watching Danny Carey is well worth the price of admission x 10.

Eraserhead

I've seen Tool 3 times and they've been amazing everytime. The last show was about 12 months ago in an indoor arena with an uber-cool light show that would put Pink Floyd to shame.

rhcpjam1029

hey did you see my aunt there?

TheGossman

Eraserhead wrote:

I've seen Tool 3 times and they've been amazing everytime. The last show was about 12 months ago in an indoor arena with an uber-cool light show that would put Pink Floyd to shame.

hahaha!