Holy! Fucking! Shit!

Tool – Live at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, 24^th January

It's been almost five long years but finally I had another chance to see Tool in concert once more. Tickets went on sale in September so I have suffered months of anticipation leading up to it, but the day finally arrived and after the longest eight hours of work ever I shrugged off the effects of my cold and headed down to Darling Harbour for the crowning centrepiece of my week of awesomeness.

Upon reaching Haymarket it quickly became apparent that we were not the only ones to whom this concert was an 'Event' with a capital E. A huge swarm of goths, bogans and general freaks had descended on central Sydney like some black-clad biblical plague. Back in Christchurch it never seemed like a big deal to see a huge crowd of alternative people hanging around in a mob but it was genuinely unusual to see the metalheads invade sophisticated, trendy Sydney. I wish I'd taken a photo.

Unfortunately tickets to this concert sold out in less than an hour, and I refused on principle to pay six hundred dollars to a scalper for moshpit tickets, so I had a pair of seated tickets which were unfortunately not together. Investigation revealed that one seat was right in the centre, more or less the best seating available, whereas the other was right around the side against the wall where you could barely even see the backdrop screens behind the band. Basically I had one ticket for the best seat in the house and one that was almost the worst. Shrewdly I gave the good ticket to B, reasoning that if she was in the crap seat she'd miss out on the visuals and a lot of other stuff, whereas the muso in me would be more than satisfied by having the perfect vantage point to overlook Danny Carey's drumkit. I was also on Adam's side of the stage, even though it's harder to see guitar playing from so far away he is my idol so I take what I can get.

Yeah my photos suck. At least it emphasises how crappy my seat was.

The mood in the concert hall was totally amped, almost euphoric. Even though the people sitting immediately around me could be charitably described as dour and taciturn, the room as a whole was buzzing with energy and excitement, about a dozen mexican waves traversed the room before the band appeared and I've never seen so many of the black t-shirt set smiling at once.

A few general comments about the concert: the sound mix was really good. All four band members came through crystal clear but there was still enough punch to feel the heaviness in your guts. I did like sitting in the seats as a change from the moshpit as it meant that your whole attention could be focused on the performance without having to be concerned about someone crowd surfing over your head or the stinky guy next to you rubbing his armpit in your face. On the other hand the area where I was sitting was a bit subdued compared to the rest of the room, I wanted to have the whole 'shared experience' thing and sing along and wave my arms about with everyone else, but it just wasn't happening where I was. Also I was quite a long way away from the band. Better seats would have helped these problems but it still would have been no substitute for being in the crowd.

But on to the songs. The lights went out, and a low bass drone filled the room. The band walked on stage to rapturous applause and launched straight into 'Stinkfist', complete with the usual extra guitar solo before the 'I'll keep digging' part. I hung on the edge of my seat with my tongue hanging out watching Adam play it, thinking that it couldn't get any better than this, but I was wrong.

A bit of keyboard noodling from Adam introduced the second song, '46 & 2'. Both of these tracks were performed with expert musicianship and genuine energy, which is rare for a band to do with singles that they've played to death a million times before. One of the highlights of the night came when Danny played his legendary solo in the middle of this song. It was amazing in and of itself and I was almost wigging out thinking, 'This is only the second song and this concert is already blowing my mind and I'm going to get to see it again tomorrow!'. I can't describe how awesome that moment was without stringing an endless list of superlatives together so I'll just say that I nearly shit my pants out of excitement.

The aforementioned keyboard noodling.

Once they'd finished Maynard took the time to inform us that the word of the day was 'holyfuckingshit'. A phrase that was to emerge unbidden from my lips more than a few times before the concert was over. The next song turned out to be 'Jambi', a catchy, relatively accessible song from the new album and an obvious choice for inclusion in the setlist. Maynard's delivery was soulful and powerful and Adam's guitar solo was just as awesome as on the album.

Maynard Fashion Watch:

Maynard still has a mohawk. He also wore blue jeans, sunnies and an ATF jacket. The jacket disappeared pretty fast.

Next was 'Schism', with a sad little guitar intro added at the start and a new drum solo before the quiet breakdown bit, with Adam playing a fast, heavy version of the quiet riff and Danny Carey causing me to cream my pants for the second time in half an hour. I thought the '46 & 2' solo was insane enough but this one was even more unbelievable. There must be something to this sacred geometry crap because I can scarcely believe anyone can play like that without supernatural assistance. 'Holyfuckingshit!', said Jon.

This photo didn't turn out too bad, but better ones can be found here. Thank you mainstream media.

Following that song the haunting, feedback drenched 'Lost Keys' started up. I was very pleased to hear this one, as it's one of my favourite tracks off the new album and it seems to be unfairly bagged by a lot of people as 'filler'. As expected it segued right into 'Rosetta Stoned', with Maynard babbling his stream of consciousness lyrics into a megaphone. On the album the guitar solo for this song didn't do a lot for me but in this live performance Adam infused it with the emotion it lacked in the recording. Very satisfying.

'Rosetta Stoned' was followed by a bit of a random jam, with Danny playing a repetitive tribal rhythm while Adam soloed with his epilady over the top of it. Fantastic stuff.

After that it was time for the nights obligatory nostalgia trip. The only track from Undertow they played was 'Swamp Song'. One of my least favourite Tool songs to be honest, but they certainly looked like they had a blast playing it. Justin was going nuts (I guess it's more fun to play other peoples songs) and Maynard goofing around trying to psyche Danny with fake starts into the outro.

Then it was nap time. A bit of ambience started playing and the band all put down their instruments and lay down on the stage to have a rest. I guess they decided it was a bit antisocial to hide backstage for their intermission like they did on the previous tour.

Once they returned to their positions they played 'Wings for Marie/ 10,000 Days'. The light show was very impressive, with green lasers being fired across the hall. The performance was quite subdued and had a very different vibe to the rest of the show (which is no surprise really). Maynard especially was very memorable. I've been known to bag him for being a bit overrated as a singer but seeing him perform this song live will probably shut me up for good, I was really struck by the power in his voice. Ninety nine percent of the audience were respectful and obliged the band when Maynard asked for no flash photography during this song, but of course there are always a few who don't get it. I'm actually pretty impressed that they play this song at all. Maynard has a prickly reputation and it must be hard to get up and sing a really personal song about a the death of loved one while a thousand shirtless bogans wave their arms at you and scream 'Woohoo!'.

A trio of fan favourite anthems closed out the night. 'Lateralus' was probably the highlight of the concert for me, I was never a huge fan of the song on the album but live it's just amazing, with Adam playing some of the most inspired melodies and solos he's ever come up with and Danny offsetting them with sublimely inventive rhythms matched with his typical virtuosity. It gives me a huge kick that Danny sets up that huge big gong behind himself to use it just once, at the beginning of the climax of this song. The crowd knows it too; a huge cheer erupted when he hit it.

A really spacey and pretty electronic, ambient instrumental led into 'Vicarious', which appears to be a favourite of the band. After that headfuck of an opening riff, the drop into the main melody of the song could only be described as 'thunderous' and the song came off with energy even greater than that of the rest of the concert.

The night was capped off with 'Aenima'. The band made a point of hanging around on stage for a bit after the lights came on and waving to everyone, which I thought was really nice, especially for a band that supposedly hates their fans.

The hordes of goths, westies and outcasts then tumbled out on to the streets with huge dopey grins on their faces. A pair of well heeled young ladies strolled out of the hotel lobby over the road as I walked past. “Oh my God!” one of them cried with a mixture of panic and disgust, “Where did all these goths come from!?” For one glorious night Sydney took a break from shitty indie rock and boring house and let good music have its day in the sun. Or evening under the moon, as the case may be.