I have been a fan of Tool since I was 17, and have just had the opportunity last night to go to their concert. They are a very special band to me for various associations to people and emotions. I wished the concert could have been held at a more intimate venue, but they did a good job performing at the ACC. It was not sold out but close, about 15,000 fans showed up.

Tool started off with mostly old tracks from 1996’s Aenima, like Stinkfist, My Shadow, and a slow version of Pushit. Of course they also did a good job with some newer songs, the hard-hitting The Grudge and title track Lateralus. There were two large screens in the background portraying some loop scenes from the music videos, but got a little repetitive after a while, and a smaller screen in front of which Maynard stood so that only his silhouette was visible.

The set took a long lull in the middle where the audience seemed to be getting impatient after too slow instrumental parts. During this, two acrobats performed by climbing up ropes in front of the screens and then hanging upside down, twisting around to the music.

Towards the end, Maynard took a pause in between songs to offer some advice, “Take the feelings you are feeling right now, whether they be good, bad, or indifferent. Take them and in the following months, use them to create something that will grow and heal the world.” Perhaps an idealistic notion, interesting from his mouth just the same. They turned the slow pace around and ended with the high energy Aenima title track.

All in all, it was a great concert but I would like to see them doing harder songs, as the new album is markedly slower and more reflective than their previous ones.

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