Thursday night Aaron and I met up for a Tool show at Staples Center.
I felt really old waiting in line next to a bunch of chain smoking goth kids with tattoos and piercings. “Studded” belts were not allowed in the building, and by the time I made it to the metal detectors each security guard had their own personal belt collection. Way to be unique children, way to be different.
We actually ended up having great seats about 50 feet from the left side of the stage. Perfect view of everything (albeit from the side).
The only problem was the set list. The set was heavily dominated by songs from the recent release 10,000 Days. The reviews (and my own friends’ opinions) of this release are so low that the album has been out for four months now and I still have not bothered to pick it up. Now, most of you know what a rabid Tool fan I am – so that should tell you something. And it should also tell you how disappointed I was in the show. They even changed the set list from the Bakersfield show – removing Sober in favor of yet another “new” song. In fact, they didn’t play anything older than the Aenima release. The only songs played not on the new album were Stinkfist (extended version), 46&2, AEnima, Schism (with new “fast” bridge part), and Lateralus. I have to admit the visuals for the show were very good. The actual footage wasn’t that great (they haven’t really had any new ideas for the video footage since the Lateralus tour), but the presentation was interesting. The entire stage was coated in white and even the stage hands had to wear white lab-coats. This enabled the band to project imagery across the entire stage – to the benefit of those in the nosebleed seats who couldn’t see the five-foot high projected video screens that spanned the back of the stage. This same video footage was also showed on the four-sided jumbotron hanging from the ceiling. For the last four songs a giant grid of LEDs was raised behind the band. The lights would sometimes resemble the video footage and other times simply pulse rhythmically. There were also three “UFO” lighting rigs that raised and lowered and tipped in various directions throughout the show. The last element they added was a Floydesque laser light show complete with fog machines to increase visibility and perfectly placed mirrors on the stage floor to redirect the beams when called for.
The presentation worked perfectly for the performance of Lateralus. The video footage for this was the same as in the actual video for the song – which is a CG reinterpretation of a few Alex Gray paintings.
Maynard was sporting black bubble-eye sunglasses, jeans, a Mohawk, and no shirt. Our seats were close enough this time to get a good look at that infamous tattoo. I spent most of the time watching Danny Carey’s hands (still a blur even at close range).
