On November 18, 2019 I had the privilege of seeing Tool perform at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. It had been just over 25 years since I last saw the band perform live at 328 Performance Hall in Nashville, TN during the spring of 1994. Before my review of the show, I have to express my overall feelings about the band. I love this band. As a full on 80s metalhead and lifelong lover of heavy music, I don’t think any band has delivered a more consistent catalog of powerful, emotionally charged, intelligent music as Tool. They are world class musicians, and true artists in every sense of the word. I consistently return to their studio albums, none of which for me are superior to another. I never cease to be amazed by their craftsmanship and am always moved by the energy of this music. So needless to say, I was pumped to see them live once again.
With that context, I have to admit that I did not experience nearly the same impact live that I typically experience while listening to Tool studio albums on a nice set of noise canceling headphones. Here are a few takeaways about the show and what I learned from it.
ONE
Tool are incredible musicians. For anyone not in the know, I’m talking about drummer Danny Carey, bassist Justin Chancellor, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Watching them recreate their music live and seeing how they play off of each other and jam together in the moment was a beautiful thing. I have always respected their abilities, but getting to experience it in a physical space took that respect to the next level. Each of their studio albums were represented through a very well balanced retrospective of three decades of awesome work.
TWO
The focus is on the art, not the people. The band stayed in the shadows for the most part and while Maynard slunk around the risers a fair bit (he doesn’t come down to the main stage during the performance), for the most part they stayed put. The visual aspect of the show centered around massive projections both behind the band and onto a translucent curtain that circled the entire stage during the first few songs and part of the encore. These projections were a mix of vividly colorful abstract visuals, dark and sometimes grisly stop motion, and animations that included elements of the band’s album covers. Some of the visuals were very cool and complimentary of the music, while others were lackluster and seemed to drag on without purpose. By shifting so much focus away from the band itself, I felt like they could have done a lot more with the video, especially with all of the new video technology that has been developed over the past decade.
THREE
Heavy music simply doesn’t translate in a hockey arena. When I was younger, just being in the same space as my favorite musicians was a magical experience. Rock concerts were loud and usually inaudible. The sound mix was secondary to the collective energy of the band and the audience. Well, I’m old now and while there are plenty of musicians whose work I truly love and respect, none of them walk on water. I need more than just being there. Now it’s all about the music and the experience. I want to hear the music and I want to be comfortable. I can’t stand in one place for two and a half hours on concrete and no matter how great the ear plugs are, they take away from the overall sound of the music being performed. While there was an improvement of the mix as the show progressed, the low end was consistently super muddy and shit got lost bouncing around that huge space. I realized that for me, if a venue is not really conducive for the music, I would prefer to hear it in a nice set of headphones in the comfort of my own living room.
FOUR
Maynard doesn’t like phones. Tool made it very clear that no use of phones to take photos or video would be tolerated on this tour. They wanted fans to be wholly present for the show and not be distracted or distract others by glowing screens. There was no way to miss the message that a violation of this rule could lead to being ejected from the show. While the puffy chested security guys who enforced the rules around us a few times with super bright flashlights and obnoxious barks were unquestionably annoying, I did really appreciate the throwback feel of a pre-smart phone concert experience. I was able to enjoy the show without being subjected to a thousand glowing specs around the arena every time a new song started. I do hope this is the beginning of a trend but my faith in humanity is a little too worn for me to believe that will be the case.
FIVE
Rock concerts are incredibly expensive. Even the cheap seats translate into hundreds of dollars per ticket when you factor in ridiculously overpriced parking and drinks, and that’s before adding any merch to the shopping cart. The result of that kind of investment is higher expectations on the product or service. Frankly, I don’t like it. I don’t want to spend a shit ton of money on a show, and then roll the dice on whether or not the experience lives up to the price tag. I don’t know what the magic number is, but I definitely know what it isn’t. It’s becoming harder and harder for me to justify the costs of these big shows, which becoming more of “once in a lifetime” events, rather than “we’ll see you next time”!
SIX
The encore could have been the whole show for me. I’m sure by now you get the sense that this wasn’t the best concert experience I’ve ever had, but I also don’t want to undersell what I witnessed or come across as a whiny little bitch. On second thought, I couldn’t give two fucks how this comes across. The show was great, it just didn’t blow my mind. With all of that said, the encore was fucking amazing. It started with drummer Danny Carey playing his synth/loop/drum solo called “Chocolate Chip Trip”, that included some of the more memorable visuals of the evening. Following that was “Invincible”, which is hands down the best track on the new album Fear Inoculum. And finally, the show wrapped up with an intense rendition of “Stinkfist”, the opening track from 1996’s Ænima. With “Invincible” clocking in at around 13 minutes, and the other two songs over 5 minutes each, the encore itself lasted nearly half an hour and left me with an overall positive feeling for the night.
It was great to see Tool live again after all of those years. It was a bucket list item for sure and a night for which I’m truly grateful.
Below are a couple videos recorded by people who really couldn’t give a shit about the “no photography or recording rule”.