They'll be performing two shows in New Zealand this February 2020-their first shows of the country in six years. Reflecting back on the show later, what really stood out to me was the expert musicianship (and vocals in Maynard’s case) that the whole band displays.The most anticipated rock tour of 2020 is here! Frontier Touring are thrilled to announce the return of triple Grammy Award-winning Californian rockers, Tool. As for the music, “Vicarious” was absolutely ferocious and “Forty Six & 2” was pure perfection – the type of song that hits all of the right notes.Īfter a short twelve-minute break, the guys came back out to play the drum intensive “Chocolate Chip Trip” and “Invincible” from their new album as well as reaching way back for 1996’s “Stinkfist”. Maynard doesn’t verbally interact with the audience too much during a show but tonight’s one liners were hilarious: as they entered the stage – “Dallas… supposedly = sounds like Houston” and when he introduced “Part of Me” from 1992’s Opiate he opined that “If you are under 30, you weren’t even sperm when we wrote this song”. The clean, vibrant (at times solemn) sound gave way to an uprising of amped up power that blew me away.
Watching Justin Chancellor keep the rhythm going with his impeccable bass lines during “Schism” was enthralling as the rest of the guys followed along with their respective expertise. The three song mini-set of “Parabol”, “Parabola” and the new “Pneuma” took the venue on a roller coaster ride of sounds from slow and dark to fast and vibrant (and then back again). Adam Jones’ searing guitar notes coupled with Maynard’s soft/hard vocals brought the crowd to a high that only subsided when the song hit its last note. Judging by the amount of audience members screaming the next song out at the top of their lungs, “ A Enema” might have been the fan favorite of the night. “Fear” began calmly enough but Maynard James Keenan’s vocals and Danny Carey’s drum work brought it to a fever pitch fairly quickly. Their stage set, lighting, visuals and sound were top notch throughout the show. Afterwards, the stunned audience sat around wondering what they had just experienced while I wondered how many new fans he gathered up tonight.įrom the first note of their latest hit, “Fear Inoculum”, TOOL was exceptionally perfect in every way possible.
Tristan does come up with some electrifying (almost trance-inducing) sounds layered fantastically throughout songs like “Pharmacide”, “A Crude Sectioning” and finally “Terrorbird”. His brand of industrial, doom metal is all performed on his own designed and fabricated homemade machines. I have actually seen him one time before live and while I’ll admit that I didn’t really “get it” the first time, he has forged ahead doing quite well for himself. The show’s opening act, AUTHOR & PUNISHER, is actually a one-man band from California = Tristan Stone.
A sold out, packed to the top American Airlines Center was treated to a variety of smash hits from throughout their extensive history plus a few new gems. The ever-adventurous TOOL brought the Fear Inoculum Tour through Dallas Wednesday night and by all accounts it was a resounding success.