Tool

Tool 8/8/01

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This concert took place almost four years to the day that I had last seen Tool on that fateful acid fueled summer evening at the Gorge. It was my third experience at the Schnitzer and the third occasion I was lucky enough to see Tool. We were still living in a world where you had to wait in a physical line to buy a ticket instead of just purchasing one online. I was still working at Meier & Frank at the time and lucky for me our store was a Ticketmaster outlet. Over the tenure of my employment I had become chummy with the customer service staff that ran Ticketmaster but unfortunately for me the demand for this concert was so overwhelming that preferential treatment was not a possibility. I timed my break to coincide with the time the tickets went on sale but two people had still beaten me to the punch. I figured I would still be able to get decent tickets for Lucinda and I since I was only the third person back. Each person in front of me bought two tickets and when I was up only one ticket printed out. The concert had sold out after our outlet had printed a mere five tickets, which took all of about one minute! Let’s just say that there were plenty of bummed out people behind me in line. Knowing how much I loved Tool Lucinda without hesitation said that I should just go alone, which sucked because she had never experienced Tool. This was a pretty special concert for a few reasons. The first being that Lateralus was released less than three months earlier and the second being that this was only one of only nine shows on the tour that were opened by King Crimson, who are extremely admired by Tool. I didn’t really know too much about King Crimson at the time but remember they put on a very epic Pink Floyd-ish show. Tool’s show and music had evolved quite a bit in four years. Maynard had retreated to the back of the stage and their visuals became more intense. I’m almost positive they opened their set with “The Grudge.” This was the first and only time I ever saw them perform “Ticks & Leeches,” my favorite song from Lateralus. They closed out the first part of their set with an extended version of “Reflection,” which was incredible because the album version already runs over 11 minutes. Despite being by myself and not on acid I did not go home unfulfilled.

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Lollapalooza 8/12/97

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This summer was pretty uneventful with the exception of taking full advantage of our party place. There was a plentiful source of alcohol, marijuana, and girls. I didn’t take advantage of the female part because for some stupid reason I was convinced to try to do the long distance thing with Rose. This show was definitely one of the highest points of not only the summer but also my life. At the time of this writing it is my #1 favorite concert of all time and I don’t expect that to ever be surpassed. This was to be our third Lollapalooza in a row and another chance to visit the beautiful Gorge Amphitheater. It also ended up being the last Lollapalooza until 2003. The reasons we wanted to go were simple: Korn and Tool. I was lucky enough to find out about Korn right after their first album came out and we played the shit out of that album. I remember Korn played really small venues in Seattle for about $10 to support both their self-titled album and Life Is Peachy but nobody was yet old enough to drive. The curse of Korn concerts carried on as they were not at this Lollapalooza show due to a case of meningitis in Munky. My friends and I pretty much just took it easy all day on the lawn in anticipation of Tool. By a random stroke of fate we ran into Brian, a guy we had known by association of a few other people we knew. He asked us if we wanted some acid and without hesitation said “hell yes.” Normally I cannot be around anyone else that is not on acid with me so this was to be quite the experiment but I couldn’t think of any more perfect circumstances to drop. Concerts are a place where anything goes and you are in like-minded company. Snoop Dogg performed right before Tool came on and I took the acid when he first came out. The acid came on quickly and before Snoop left the stage I was laughing my ass off. He was one funny guy that night and I don’t think my acid ingestion was the only reason. Immediately after Snoop left the stage my friends and I ventured down to the floor section to stake out a spot for Tool. The acid was kicking in hard now and it was difficult to act normal in the crowd with nobody on stage to divert their attention. After what seemed like an eternity Tool finally made it to the stage and launched into “Hooker With A Penis.” Maynard came out in a woman’s wig, bra, and had his face painted white. Tool came on when it was still light outside and brought us completely into the darkness. It was a very clear night and the stars were beautiful out there in Central Washington. At one point in the show Maynard said, “Is anyone out there trippin’?” and he hit an effect to make the word “trippin’” echo. We went nuts. Were they trippin’ that night? Only they would know the answer to that. I also came away from that concert with the greatest concert souvenir anyone could ask for. My friend Ross is about six foot six and skinny as a sign post but made it to the front of the floor section. He was snapping pictures and at one point Maynard turned to him and said, “please stop, the flash is hurting my eyes.” Ross snapped a picture at that very moment and somehow managed to escape the wrath of the whole security force that was after that camera. That picture has since been blown up and resides on my wall to this very day. This was the last time I would ever see Tool with Maynard performing front and center. Sometime after this he retired to the back of the stage and though their shows have progressively got more elaborate through the years, nothing will ever compare to that moment in time at the Gorge.

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Tool 10/26/96

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Tool was one of those bands that you just knew about. Sure they had been on MTV but their real genius was in the tracks that you didn’t hear in the mainstream. You could also tell that there was something very different about this band. I was a full on fan of Opiate and Undertow by the time Aenima came out in the summer of 1996. We had the privilege of buying it the day it came out. The Salem Armory is basically an auditorium set up for basketball games. It’s not the coolest place I’ve ever seen a show but it is general admission so if you want to be on the floor you can go on the floor, and if you want to sit in a seat then you sit in a seat. Needless to say my friends and I were pretty stoked to attend this concert. I attended with Jack, Marvin, Ryno, and Jason. There was a band opening for them called The Cows. They were quite possibly the worst band I have ever seen. I don’t know if they purposely sucked or if the contrast between them and Tool was just too much but I do remember that the singer played a horn and it made me cringe. Tool came out to a stage bathed in blue light and played “Third Eye.” Maynard looked extremely menacing because he was painted with white make up and only wearing a pair of white booty shorts. This and the blue light made him look like he was naked. This was also back at a time when Maynard actually performed at the front of the stage. At the conclusion of “Third Eye” the crowd pushed over the barricade that separated the band and the crowd. Maynard kept trying to get everyone to move back but nobody would budge. Finally he said, “everyone just needs to take four granny steps back and we’ll restart the show.” This dance seemed to go on for about 25 minutes before Tool was satisfied and restarted the show. I believe the setlist also included “Forty Six & 2,” “Swamp Song,” “Eulogy,” “Jimmy,” “Hooker With a Penis,” “H.,” “Sober,” “Opiate,” and “Aenima.” The closing song was “Stinkfist.” They had two huge TV screens above the stage and they informed us that they had just finished up the video for “Stinkfist” and that we were going to be the first ones to see it. They had the video going on both screens with a mirror image effect while they played the song live.

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