Nudity is the key sign of an awesome show, although Tool as the headlining band doesn”t hurt the chances of a rocking event. Three large television displays, two naked acrobats and one of the greater bands of the last two decades provided a must needed two and a half hour break from this past week of war coverage U.S.A.
- Paul Wong
- Maynard: The man behind the Tool curtain.<br><br>JOHN PRATT/Daily
Kicking of the night with the ten minute version of the grudge, Tool played through most of their newer album Lateralus, occasionally throwing in some tracks from critically acclaimed Aenima, while surprisingly not moving more than a few inches from their set stage positions throughout the entire performance. Not that anyone really noticed the lack of movement.
Between the 53 injuries in the spirited “We”re number one, I”m going to kick your ass” mosh pit, the trademark display of slightly disturbing claymation videos, psychedelic pornography that would send any hippie straight to nirvana and all nuns who might have been in the audience screaming hysterically all the way to the American Family Association, the crowd for the most part seemed to enjoy the approach.
Letting their visual aspects and music dominate the night, Maynard remained obscured in the poorly lit back area of the stage, perhaps hoping that his camouflage face paint and hybrid of a skin tight scuba-gear/virtual reality suit would allow him to maintain his anonuminity that he holds so dearly.
As if the display of videos that even MTV limits the play of to the wee hours of the morning weren”t enough to ocularly delight any naysayers, the two contortionists from Tool”s present single “Schism” made an appearance in and only in the flesh. Starting their cameo on the stage and proceeding to be dangled by their feet atop the Palace rafters, the two hairless acrobats captured everyone”s attention in mixed reactions
Overall, Tool lived up to the $450 scalper ticket price, squeezing in every penny of entertainment and even providing the over adrenalized audience with a homework assignment. “Lets take the moment that we have shared tonight and turn it into something positive over the next ten days. Let us heal together.”