"Sober pt. 2" 2002-07-22 - 1:02 a.m.

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allright, here's my bloody concert review that I've been promising. I suppose it's not so much a review but hey, I have to call it something, and I don't feel like thinking that hard about what I'm calling it. Anyway, after Tomahawk finally had the decensy to leave, and the roadies did their job of setting up the stage, Tool took their sweet time in getting to the stage. It was really great showmanship though. First some eery music came on, and everyone started cheering, then nothing happened for a while, so people calmed down. Then the lights went out, once again: everyone cheers, nothing happens, everyone calms down. Then the viewscreens came on with a cgi picture of a decayed-looking head. Cheering, nothing, calm. Then a hand with a scalpel comes in from the side of the viewscreens, and slices a hole in the forehead of the well, head, opening a third eye; the camera zooms in on the pupil of the third eye until it's completely dark, then it pulls out from the open mouth of the head(sans third eye), mouth closes, loop track. Same thing, each time the crowd cheering longer, getting more and more anxious. Then the stage lights come on, and the crowd is worked into a frenzy. Then: Duh-duh... duh-duh (yeah, shut up) Sober starts. It was so great. It was even better than I had expected. Just thinking about it gives me chills. The viewscreens changed to something else for the song, and for each subsequent song; and I would just like to say that whoever comes up with the stuff for that is a genius. With the exception of Stinkfist and Parabola(which they played the music videos for) it was all really unique and disturbing stuff. Like Jacob's Ladder or Silent Hill type stuff. It was great. Anyway, the actual stage setup changed a few times over the course of the concert, with what sticks out in my mind the most being the Lateralus-esque banners and background around the end of the set. But the positions of the band members was interesting. Maynard, painted blue and in his usual naked-except-for-black-briefs, stood on an elevated platform in the back next to Danny's drums, while Adam and Justin stood out in the front. The exact set list I don't remember, mainly because they mostly played stuff off Lateralus and I'm not as familiar with that one yet. Suffice to say they started with Sober and ended with Lateralus, didn't play anything off of Opiate, the only song off Undertow was Sober(no Prison-Sex!), off Aenima they did: Stinkfist, Forty Six & 2, Aenima, and (-) Ions. It was funny before Aenima, Maynard said: "Raise your hand if-"(before he finished lots of people raised their hands)"you live in California." Some people put their hands down, but most kept them up, they were just doing the rock on sign anyway. Then he said: "Sucks for you" and they launched into Aenima, it was hilarious. Anyway, they didn't do anything off Salival, off of Lateralus they did: The Grudge, The Patient, Schism, Parabola, one other song I'm not sure of, and Lateralus. And possibly another one I didn't know. None of that's in order, but those are the songs. I suppose since they were touring for Lateralus it's only right they do mostly songs on that, but I'm just dissapointed I didn't get to hear Prison-Sex and Pushit. But on the other hand I did get to hear Sober, and none of their songs are anything short of f'ing amazing. If there was ever any doubt in my mind that they weren't the greatest band ever, it has been wiped away. I also used to think that the only person who could give Maynard any competition for best singer ever was Layne Staley, of good old Alice In Chains, but now I know that even though Layne is head and shoulders above most everyone else, he's still nowhere close to Maynard. Sorry Layne. But everything about that concert was superb. If I could change one thing ...well, it would be Tomahawk. But if I could change two things, I wish I would've gone with Stephanie. I'm really starting to miss her, and the only way that concert could've been better would've been to share it with her. Of course now that I think about it, I didn't have a seat by her, but it wouldn't've mattered, the security guards for the upper rows didn't care. On my way back from a trip to the bathroom I actually heard one of them say: "The only way I'm gonna stop anything is if-" and hey, I was going back to my seat, I wasn't going to stand around and eavesdrop on security guards. But either way the vibe was that they didn't care. But yeah, I loved that concert, and can't wait 'till the next time they're in town.

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