Tool have officially left their shed.
It’s been just about a decade since they released their last album, 10,000 Days, and the excitement for Tool has yet to dissipate. They’re the kind of band who incites rabid fanaticism in fans, not unlike a latter day Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin. Though the band has been mired in legal struggles, hindering their ability to write and record new material and delaying their follow up to Days, 2015 was filled with hopeful reminders that these titans have not abandoned their flock. Images of studios teased and taunted the devoted, promising new things sometime in the near future.
Looking at the set list from last night’s show at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, fans got a little taste of what’s to come with the performance of “Descending,” a song that was first unleashed upon the world at last year’s Halloween show in Tempe, Arizona. There are links on YouTube that show that song during that performance but, if you can allow me to be “that Tool fan” for a moment, I’m not sure viewing them in that setting is the best way to be exposed to new Tool. They are, perhaps more than any other band working today, an experience to behold. As tempting as it might be to analyze grainy, poorly mixed footage of live performances, most likely shot on cell phones, I’m strictly of the opinion that it’s best to wait for the chance to hear it as Tool intended. Whether that be in album form or if you’re one of the lucky ones who snatched up a ticket in the seconds before they sold out, either of those settings is preferable than YouTube.
But, you know, it’s out there if you just can’t wait.
In analyzing the set list, we can get a decent idea of what we might expect from their tour. There were a couple of surprises, most notably the night’s opener, their cover of “No Quarter” which was last performed in 1998 prior to being dusted off last year at the Halloween show. The other big surprise was “Opiate” which has apparently been reworked, a tactic familiar to Tool who famously reworked “Pushit” to create an entirely new listening experience. (Both of these songs, I might add, were included in my list of songs that Tool probably wouldn’t play this tour.)
Aside from a drum solo—which, when you’re in a band with Danny Carey, is to be expected—there don’t seem to be many surprises from last night’s set. Outside of what’s mentioned above, the band played 10 other songs, culled more or less equally from Aenima, Lateralus, and 10,000 Days. The epic two-parter “Parabol/Parabola” from Lateralus has been somewhat absent since 2002, though it has been performed a handful of times since then. Hopefully, this means we’ll get a chance to see it more as the tour progresses, as these are songs that are absolutely transcendent in a live setting. There was also an “extended” version of “Schism” which may or may not be similar to other extended versions of the song they’ve performed in tours past.
From what I can tell just looking at the set list, the show seems to have a decent flow to it, building and breaking down at just the right moments to ensure an almost tantric momentum. This all leads to the show’s climax, the one two punch of “Vicarious” from 10,000 Days and the show closer “Stinkfist” from Aenima. Overall, it seems to serve as a tight reintroduction for the band, even despite the fact that their earlier records are for the most part ignored. That makes sense, considering the trajectory Tool have followed post-Undertow, but it’d still be nice for some old school jams to be thrown in every once in a while, perhaps even reworked as they did with “Opiate.”
Still, from all appearances, Tool seems to still be in good form and still delivering their brand of heady metal to the masses. We’ll be paying attention to their set lists night to night to offer analysis of what to expect if there are significant differences, and if you’re lucky, we might even have a show review or two thrown in as well.
If you were in attendance last night, or on any night of the tour, let us know what you thought in the comments.
