JESUS FUCKING CHRIST IT'S COLD!

what a way to greet us. and yes, maynard, it was pretty fucking cold last night. TK and i had a really good time last night seeing Tool at Great Woods. 5 years and 8 days ago, i saw Tool for the first time there and it was an experience, and last night was even better. so bear with me as i try and spew thoughts and details out.

the good:
suprisingly well behaved crowd, Tool, no rain, Tool, discovering going in from the south is a better approach, Tool.

the bad:
parking, traffic, parking, mud, parking, the cold, parking, the fucking talkers behind us during Wings For Marie (Pts 1&2), and did i say parking?

TK and i spent nearly 3 hours in that fucking parking lot. 45 mins getting in, and then just over 2 HOURS to get out. so, we missed the opening act Isis, which i wanted to see at least some of. never heard/seen them before so i was curious. i figured once we got there, it wouldn't take so long to park, but we were dead wrong. they parked us in the middle of fucking bumblefuck. the farthest, back corner of the parking lot they could (lot 13). where it wasn't paved. and had mud. which some inexperienced girl in a black 2000 ford explorer sport managed to spin onto the passenger side of TK's car. had i known we were going 4 wheeling, i would have driven, but what the FUCK. not to mention, lighting was non-existant so as we were walking to/from, we were hoping that we wouldn't step in a mud puddle. fucking nuts. as we were driving in, we saw that Premier Parking was $35 and laughed at that idea. by the time we got to where we were parking, we both agreed that we were idiots not to do it. (that is right off the entrance, paved and would have had us on the road in far less time) it was most certainly a scam, but for $35, it would have saved us a ton of sitting. waiting. twiddling our thumbs. so we spent more time the parking lot than the entire duration of the concert.

the concert:
we had pretty good seats all told. i thought we were going to be under the pavillion, but we were a few rows back from it. oh well, but we still had a pretty decent view of the stage which was cool because they actually projected stuff onto the stage itself (it was white and we laughed at the stage guy dusting the stage with his booties on). no real backdrops, and 2 screens on either side with projections (that was also projected onto the stage)

so, at 908pm, house lights dumped and we enjoy the following:

Intro Bass Drone
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST IT'S COLD!
Stinkfist
The Pot
Forty Six & 2
Jambi
Schism
Lost Keys
Rosetta Stoned
Wings for Marie (Part 1)
10,000 Days (Wings Pt. 2)
break
Lateralus
Vicarious
Aenema

one hell of a set. it is their current standard set, so no suprises for me in what they played, but hearing it and experiencing it are two very different things. MJK's vox were pretty good which very few missed words, no breaks in his voice (he was sick 2 weeks ago, and has recovered well). Danny is a fucking madman on the drums. Justin (looking a lot like Jesus) was great. Adam was Adam - didn't move a whole lot, but what comes out of his guitar is incredible.

9:08pm

Stinkfist - had the extended bridge, MJK kicking, having a good time

The Pot - very cool live. danny's bass drum at the beginning adds some more power to the song. the crowd loved singing (out of key of course) along with this one

Forty Six & 2 - extended keyboard intro is very cool, another crowd pleaser

Jambi - goddamn the opening bass is powerful. it's a powerful song to begin with, but that opening bass is fuzzy and it just rattles your ribs. loved it.

Schism - another good one. the opening noodling had me thinking we might get Right In Two, but we didn't (and i had even heard that from the Toronto show and knew they didn't play it). i loved the overdrive breakdown in the middle of the song. another song that needs to be experienced to fully appreciate it.

Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned - to steal MJK's words again, HOLY FUCKING SHIT! people actually started to leave during Lost Keys, which is pretty much controlled feedback, so i turned to TK and told him it's going to hit like a ton of bricks. and HOLY FUCKING SHIT! it does. very intense song, loved experiencing it. love the vocal effects box MJK uses.

Wings For Marie/10,000 Days - we got lasers! beautiful. it's a very emotional song, and i just stood there soaking it in. i'm glad they are playing it, because it is a beautiful song, and one that just is. i really don't have the words. at the end, the crowd was really quiet which was amusing. blew us all away.

a brief break - a sea of lighters, and seeing it reminded me of seeing Pink Floyd in 1994 during Wish You Were Here. it was a very cool sight to see the entire place lit up with lighters. MJK then said something about pre-marital sex and finishing up. and then told us that Pittsburg was louder, so we obliged and he said that we were. we'll see on later shows if he said Pittsburg again, or says Boston/Mansfield.

Lateralus - fucking incredible. the closer last tour, but the last 3 songs could be inter-changeable as closers. loved the visuals, one of my favorite songs anyways, but it can only be described as powerful.

Vicarious - another with an extended intro, and lots of power and energy. another strong song that was very cool live.

Aenema - one of the few songs they play that can be properly used to close a show. again, great song, lots of energy, people loved it. and MJK didn't screw up the words by repeating them (fuck your tattoos) which made it even more cool.

fin. 10:58pm - lights come up, band hugs, danny tossed drum sticks and a drum head, adam tosses 2nd drum head, MJK tosses water bottles. exit stage left.

i'm pretty much out of words, but this was the best Tool concert i've seen (of the 4, so that doesn't mean much). i love all 4 shows for different reasons, but this one was really good. can't wait til they come back again. i plan to be there.

thank you Tool.