TOOL - 09/06/06
THE SETLIST
Rosetta Stoned
Stinkfist ('remixed' + extended)
The Pot
Forty Six & 2
Jambi
Sober
Schism
Lateralus
Vicarious
Aenema
So. Five years of waiting and all I can say about seeing Tool is that you had to be there to know what I'm talking about.
Maynard's vocals never once went out of key, the added screams to Stinkfist were top notch. His voice between songs was flawless, as was his inhuman ability to scream his fucking heart out and go straight into that heavenly singing of his without taking a breath inbetween.
Justin Chancellor, who is English and has said he's always dreamed of playing Donnington, let alone headlining, seemed fully immerged in the moment. Jambi was his highlight. Hell, Jambi was Maynard's highlight as well. I think Adam Jones' guitar playing in Jambi was all too great too. Danny Carey's finest hour, however, came in the drum outro to Schism.
I don't know where to begin trying to describe this band's effect as a live act. The music absorbs everything. The band hardly move around the stage but they don't need to, the music is there and everyone is so focused. The band, the crowd, even the guys dealing with the lights and screens need to be focused.
The 'remixed' version of Stinkfist took me a-back. All there was after Rosetta Stoned was Adam's guitar squeeling, slowly getting sharper and louder until it got to "ear-bleeding" volume, then Danny clapped his drum sticks together as a countdown and... boom... Stinkfist came blasting out. The video to it playing on-screen onstage. Even the special effects Maynard has on his voice on the CD version of Stinkfist were recreated live - the same applies to the other songs that use effects too - and there I was watching it all come together, only at the second song.
At the end of Stinkfist, Maynard played the intro to it on a nearby keyboard and that was that.
Different. Innovative. Bloody well mind-blowing.
The Pot began, as it does, with Maynard singing "who are you to wave your finger at me", only he allowed the crowd to sing the next line(s) and then re-did them himself before everything got going, eventually resulting in one of my favourites - Forty Six & 2. I cannot comprehend any coherent way of telling you about that. Just... <3
Lateralus could very well have been the pioneering point of the night. An epic 9 minute journey teaching you to reach out into infinity and to expand yourself to endless possibilities. You'd think it were created by demi-Gods.
But no.
Just four men did it.
And they didn't let up on re-telling us that again last night.
"Spiral out, keep going, spiral out, keep going!"
Vicarious and Aenema are two of my favourite all time Tool songs. I knew Vicarious was going to be played with it being the 10,000 Days tour but I never, ever, anticipated Aenema being played. After Vicarious had died out and the applause dimmed, the lights dropped and it seemed like the end. Then, slowly but surely, you could make out Maynard breathing "ey ey ey ey ey" into the microphone from the midsts of the darkened stage. Adam Jones picked up the pace with his guitar as did Justin and Danny began with the drums.
You could hear the lyrics echoing around the festival.
"Some say the end is near, some say we'll see Armageddon soon, I certainly hope we will".
And no-body let slip at the chorus. The sheer anger in Maynard's voice was perfectly honed to that of the studio version we all know and love and every fan there sang along.
Then came the pinnacle.
The desperate plea to rid the world of L.A., junkies, failed actresses and retro-anything.
"cos I'm praying for raiiiiiiin. I'm praying for tidal waves. I wanna see the ground give way, I wanna watch it all go down. Please wash it all awayyyyyyyyyyy"
Then, the main lights come up, we see Tool. Adam Jones, Justin Chancellor, Danny Carey and the man himself Maynard James Keenan - who is easily the most talented [living] vocalist of this generation - and it seems odd that they are merely mortal men like you and I.
After being so absorbed in music that can enhance you, distrurb you, change you, influence you and inspire you it seems you're at a loss that it's the end.
A truly magnificent performance.
Paired only by the response that they got.