Tool in Sydney

The experience of seeing Tool live was one of the best musical experiences I have ever had in my life. I had been waiting eagerly for the concert since the time I had bought tickets (I had bought tickets way back in October (I think) and the concert was in January). The build up to the concert was big as the fans in Australia had been waiting for a while to see Tool. They had been touring extensively all throughout Europe and the US before they came to Australia.

The concert was scheduled to start at 8pm, but started at around 9pm as there were so many people waiting to get inside. There was no support act so it started with Tool and ended with them. Of course there were no cameras allowed so I had to make do with my handy phone to take any pictures.

Tool started the show with a great performance of Stinkfist, which got the crowd excited and went on to perform classics like Schism, Lateralus and Aenima. Some of the performances were stand outs in my opinion, those being Jambi and Wings for Marie/10,000 days. The sound was pretty loud, although I was expecting louder as I had been warned that people ended up deaf after going to their shows.

The show overall was an amazing spectacle. Before the start of 10,000 days, they started throwing a lot of smoke in the air. It wasn’t until the song started that I realised what it was for. They started using the lasers. Man! As cheesy as they sound, they have an excellent effect on the performance. They were used sparingly and that made it even more amazing. The video projection was awesome and showed videos of songs as well as other cool stuff. The backdrop was typical Tool with Alex Greys stuff with full colour. The way they got revealed was awesome with one showing just when they came on and the other halfway through the performance of Jambi. The overall ambiance was amazing. Usually at a concert I feel the backdrops need to be good to get the overall feel of the concert. The lasers made the whole experience even better; it felt like the whole venue was involved.

Maynard was always standing at the back, which I think is really cool. Tool really show what a real band is all about by having performances from every single member of the band. The vocals are not overwhelming on the musical performances, instead every instrument is at the same level and vocals are one of them. Maynard being the kind of person he is attracts attention, but I think he makes an effort not to in Tool.

No encores to end the show, they showed their appreciation to the crowd at the end and huddled around before heading off stage.

Overall, it was an excellent show, which had more than what I had asked for and would remember it all my life.