 | | Tool |
Sitting in the back with Lateralus bass grinding in my chest and ears it was the drenaline-rush sound of the summer. Four years later, in a pumped crowd, we were justifiably champing at the bit for Tool to hit the stage. After a five-year wait for 10,000 Days and tantalisingly few tour dates, the crowd seemed ready to explode when the mowhawked silhouette of Tool’s legendary frontman, Maynard James Keenan, first appeared. Stinkfist opened a dark and brooding set, raising a sea of arms to punch the air as one of the most influential voices in rock began domination of the arena. Morphing insectoids and futuristic human figures raged and cavorted on huge video screens, echoing Keenan’s sinuous moves, but leaving the rest of the band in virtual obscurity for most of the set. Tool’s legendary status found living proof in Schism and Jambi – a whirling complex of mind-reeling time signatures, delivered with effortless precision by drummer Danny Carey. In a pre-encore break, the Tool boys lounged on the stage’s front step working the crowd into a sea of lighter-swaying adulation, quite an achievement considering Keenan hadn’t uttered a word to the fans all night. And what followed was the epic Aenama, sending the crowd into a frenzied state of gratification under a transfixing spectacle of green lasers, worked into a smoke-filled web. It was a long time coming, darkly brilliant and well worth the wait. | 
