[Live Review] TOOL

Allphones Arena, Sydney
Friday May 3, 2013 :

There’s not too many bands in this world that can deliver only 10 songs from their vast back catalog to an expansive room of $100+ ticket paying punters, and each one of them leave feeling that they have just witnessed one of the best shows that they have ever seen.

Too much for an opening… most probably, but each time I have seen Tool live, this is how I have felt.

As I found my seat a good 15 minutes prior, the smoke machines had already created a fine mist within the arena. I was also pleased to see the GA floor of Allphones already full. It was clear that the need to be as close as possible to what was about to unfold had drawn fans in early.

Nobody is doing visual lighting and effects like Tool do, and that’s even with vocalist, Maynard, in darkness up the back with the drummer, silhouetted in front of video screens. And it was very satisfying to hear a show like this LOUD, even though I felt Maynard got list in the mix. I’ll put that down to where I sat.

Opening with Ænima’s ‘Third Eye’, the 10 song, two hour set focused on Lateralus, 10,000 Days and the aforementioned Ænima, with Undertow and Opiate being passed over. Even though I would have loved to have heard Undertow’s, ‘Sober’, as they did the following night in Sydney, a set list that includes ‘Pushit’, ‘Lateralus’, ‘Forty-Six & 2’, and closing with ‘Stinkfist’, well, is going to please.

As mentioned previously, this show was exactly how loud a performance like this needs to be. Considering some of the shows I have seen recently, this overwhelming wave of sound was more than welcome. With the vocalist, Maynard, at the back of the stage, megaphone at his hip and his silhouette rolling with the band, his vocals simply becoming a fourth element within the music. Where Maynard might have been in the shadows, the rest of the stage was well lit with drummer, Danny Carey, becoming the focus not only due to the lighting, but also his performance. He is truly an amazing drummer. The instinctive feel and drive of this band is built around the imagination of Carey, and his performance was a major highlight of the night.

Guitarist Adam Jones and bassist Justin Chancellor stood at opposing corners front of stage. Jones, in pigtails mind you, wandered his stage delivering a sound so big, so sharp and caustic. A sound that can wash over you while the rest of the band pound away at you midsections – namely, Chancellor’s bass. The bass drop in ‘Stinkfist’ was stomach clenching. Enjoying his time on stage, I watched the bassist stand for a good 30 seconds facing his on-stage monitors which were standing to his side. Ignoring the crowd, he focused. Turning his back to the crowd, he had Carey in his sights. Again, for 30 seconds, he performed directly with the drummer. The same thing happened while facing the guitarist, Jones. After a couple of minutes ignoring the 20 thousand people in the arena, Chancellor stepped forward, and he was on the money for the remaining eight minutes of the song.

As a visual experience, it was an eye-windening spectacle. Somebody in this band has realised that there is no limit to their lighting imagination, nothing is off limits. The stage was surrounded by video screens that displayed the most imaginative graphics work by guitarist, Adam Jones. There were too many lighting cans to count, lasers, strobes, confetti, and one big-arse mirrorball. Nothing was left on the ‘maybe’ list when lighting was considered here.

With the distinct risk of a show that would become overwhelmed by its visual excess, the lighting direction was done so that it pulsed and moved with the music. With stage lighting in tune with the music, the remaining ‘bells and whistles’ were only used sparingly but in conjunction with one another. During ‘Intension’, confetti descended from the roof – catching in the lights, they resembled fireflies. From the sound desk, lasers lit up the upper edges of the arena filling the roof with a green glow. A mirrorball the size of a small car descended from the roof, bathing the arena in glitter. It was a night where more was never enough.

It was a truly special night spending two hours with Tool. One where I should have purchased Saturday night tickets as I was leaving. In 10 years time, I do get the feeling though that most of those who were here tonight will remember it for the lighting. That being said, the comment I made on my way out was in relation to Pink Floyd. I’ll leave it at that.

Reviewer: Kevin Bull
Photographer: David Youdell

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