Tool - Australia 2013

Anyone seen Tool on the current Australian tour yet?  Are they trotting out the same presentation and set we've seen over the last few years?

Well I saw them on Monday night here in Brisbane and they were great.  The setlist was far better this time around than the last tour.  It was a very Aenima-centric setlist:  Stinkfist, 46and2, Hooker, Push*t and Aenema were all there.  The only track from 10k Days was Jambi, which also happens to be the best track on that album.

Even Opiate was trotted out.  Don't think I've seen that live since '95.  Very much a crowd favourite too.

As for presentation, the production was pretty much the same as recent tours and Maynard is still hiding in the shadows.  That's gotten very old and tired in my opinion.  When I go to a show, I want to actually see people perform.  As a comparison, if Danny Carey was in the dark the whole night I'd be mighty pissed, so I don't see why other performers should be. 

It was an interesting change-up for maybe one tour, but this has now been going on for years.  The real shame of it is that Maynard is a great performer, and with Jones and Chancellor not offering a whole lot in terms of showmanship, he's needed up front.

But that's the only complaint.  Really, I loved the show, and have had my faith largely restored after an underwhelming performance here in 2011.

Yeh sure, each to their own, but putting on a show means more than just audio stimulation - even Tool acknowledge this, otherwise why have the 10 metre video wall?

Security was really cracking down on people taking pics/videos at the gig.  I've never seen anything like it.