With a mixture of old and new songs, Tool rocked Rabobank Arena on Sept. 5. In support of their new album 10,000 Days, Tool played along opening act ISIS, another Los Angeles band.
Being my first Tool concert, I went in with mixed thoughts on how the show was going to be. When I first walked in the opening band was on stage, ISIS. Those guys did well, though I did not care much for their music or stage show. People cheered for them, but the whole feeling was very unenthusiastic, and it seemed as if everyone was waiting for Tool to take stage. People were standing around in circles talking among themselves while ISIS was on stage.
After the opening band, ISIS left the stage. The roadies started to prepare the stage for Tool. When the roadies unveiled Danny Carey’s drum set, the whole audience started to cheer. Then what seemed like an eternity after the roadies set up the band’s equipment, Tool decided to take the stage.
Tool started with an older song and combined it into a medley with a song off the new album. They played all the singles from the new album and a couple of others that I really wanted to hear: “Rosetta Stone” and “Right in Two.”
In “Rosetta Stone,” which is my personal favorite off the new album, Maynard pulled out a bullhorn to achieve the sound in the album; it was very nice. Then I heard some of the song parts that I thought the guitarist played; actually it was the bassist.
The stage show was awesome, but you couldn’t really grasp the complete visual stimulation that went along with the show from the floor and that was where I was at the concert for. All you could really see was the backdrop, some lights and the screens over head.
It was when Tool left the stage and returned for the encore when the real light show began. A laser show, which was timed out perfectly with the music, began with movies playing over the audience and band, and from what I was told, under the feet of the band. I didn’t get the chance to see that, but I can only imagine what that looked like.
Then Tool ended with my favorite Tool song of all, “Aenima.”
On an endnote, in between songs, Maynard mentioned something about coming back next year, but he didn’t give any specific details about why, when, or where. If you do go to the next show be sure to have ear protection because you will have people yelling in your ears on all sides, and make sure you wear something that isn’t very valuable.