Over the years, when I’ve asked other concert-goers to list their favorite show of all-time, most have picked Tool. Therefore, when I saw they were coming to San Francisco, it wasn’t hard for me to rationalize dropping $80 for a ticket. From the moment I entered Bill Graham Civic Auditorium (a dated and pretty dirty-feeling venue…), a guy yelled, “hey!” to me and continued, “Are you excited? Isn’t this the best thing ever?!?” (He was cute, too. Oh, nerds + beer.) The whole crowd seemed energized just like him though.

I snatched a seat in the balcony, knowing I didn’t have the endurance to stand all night. It worked out perfectly. Great view of the whole crowd as well as the visuals and laser show. The setup was mostly LED screens, including the top of the platform housing the drummer. I thought that was awesome. With the lighting, his whole kit became part of the backdrop. Two screens above the stage rotated and moved to different positions throughout the show above each of the guitarists. Maynard stood alongside the drumkit on a dark section of the platform, leaving him as a silhouette against the screen for the entire show. I could decipher a mohawk though…and the cowboy hat he wore during the encore. The visuals were heavily focused on the human/demon form and third eye. Nearly every song featured an eye of some kind. It was both trippy and provoking.

They opened with the green talking head of Timothy Leary reciting his “How to Operate Your Brain” meditation before breaking into “Third Eye”, which conquered the first 20 minutes of the show. Everyone was on their feet, euphoric. (I may have gotten stoned…secondhand. It was on all sides of me.) What an awesome start to the show, though. I had to check the time at the close of the song just to convince myself that had just happened. Amazing. All the songs got that treatment. Though I’m no hardcore fan, the ones I knew well, I could tell had been changed up. They also played these ambient, instrumental transitions between songs, which in some cases, were parts of actual songs (which makes the setlist slightly hard to nail down).

They sounded incredible and the crowd was pretty mellow, save for all the little kids moshing on the floor. At one point, Maynard said, “Pop quiz: how many are under 21 by show of hands?”, and half the floor raised their hands. He continued, “This song was written when you were still sperm.” That statement caused everyone to go crazy, knowing we were about to get an old song. They broke into “Intolerance,” from their debut album, Undertow.

It was a great experience, and I feel better knowing I’ve seen them play. Highlight for me was “Forty Six & 2” because it’s one of my favorites and so, I knew the words well enough to singalong. Their music is so rhythmic though that rocking your head and finger drumming is just as satisfying. For a nearly 2-hour set, they didn’t play that many songs, if that’s any indication of how they transformed each one into its own kind of epic. To hear Ænima straight through would have been even more epic :) I think it was “Lateralus” which featured a lingering guitar solo in the middle. At the close, Maynard said, “Okay, my turn” and just jammed on the keys for a minute. Everyone laughed and cheered and the song continued on.

Setlist

Courtesy of setlist.fm

  1. Third Eye
  2. Jambi
  3. (-) Ions
  4. Stinkfist
  5. Vicarious
  6. Eon Blue Apocalypse
  7. The Patient
  8. Intolerance
  9. Schism
  10. Forty-Six & 2
  11. Encore:
  12. Lateralus
  13. Ænema

When looking for the setlist, I found this interesting review from a man who saw their show here 3 years ago and has seen 5 Tool shows in his time. Nice to hear how it compared and that he thought Tool to be at their best. He also goes into more details about the stage setup.

Oh, the opener was Jello Biafra & the Guantanamo School Of Medicine. There were some enjoyable songs, but it was way too blatantly political for me. I found them a little irritating to be completely honest.

Overall amazing night though! I’d definitely pay to see them again if they ever wander back this way, and I hope they do.