After a two-year wait that felt more like four, legendary
psychedelic prog-metal rockers, Tool, triumphantly returned Tuesday night to
Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI, one of their most frequently visited
venues in the region, to an enthusiastic capacity crowd. Singer Maynard James Keenan
once lived in the city and often makes it a point to perform there when touring
with any of his three main groups (including A Perfect Circle and Puscifer). A
few songs into the band’s 2+ hour concert, Keenan joked the crowd was not even
as loud as those in Ohio and demanded a louder reception, and the audience
obliged. Originally scheduled to perform on the same stage in May of 2020, but
cancelled like everything else due to the pandemic, it had been a long wait for
Tool’s faithful followers in attendance, especially those who opted to pass on
the band’s Detroit concert in November of 2019, shortly after the release of
their latest LP, Fear Inoculum. Thankfully, with skilled precision and decades
of professional experience, all four band members performed extremely well, and
there was little room for criticism or disappointment by the end of the night
or even from song to song.
The evening began with a 40-minute opening set from TheAcid Helps followed by a tight, 30-minute set change. Other cities on Tool’s
current tour have reported the band taking the stage about 5 minutes later than
they did in Grand Rapids, and the song selection varied slightly compared to
some of their other recent shows (some of which have featured "Opiate," "Right in Two," and "Undertow"). Whereas the late 2019/early 2020 shows
featured a blend of hits and new songs on the set list, the current tour leans
harder into the newer songs and swapped out more of the radio singles for deep
cuts, primarily from 1996’s AEnima and 2001’s Lateralus. A Tool
fan attending one of their concerts for the first time might have felt a bit
disappointed to not hear “Schism,” “Vicarious,” “AEnema,” or even “Stinkfist,”
but the lengthy journeys through emotional multi-movement songs like “Pushit,” “The
Grudge,” and “The Patient” blended even better with the dark and moody newer
songs, even if they were less familiar and harder to sing along with by
comparison. The first leg of the tour averaged only three of the six “proper”
songs from Fear Inoculum per show, but the band’s recent concerts have
included five of those six songs, sort of the opposite treatment compared to
the first few tours for the band’s previous two LPs (where the first few months
were focused on the new songs and then changed to feature other tracks in the years
following). Those lucky enough to have caught them for a show on both legs of
the tour probably got the most complete overall experience because the two
shows were so different but complemented each other very well.
The thunderous drums of Danny Carey and the rumbling bass
of Justin Chancellor thoroughly rumbled the seats and walls throughout the
night and laid the perfect foundation for the soaring guitar work of Adam Jones
and the intense vocal segments from Keenan to decorate and enhance with their own
unique styles. Longtime fans know how unique both the sound and the visual
presentation of this band can be, and it is arguably incomparable certainly to
any of their peers if even their influences, such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin,
King Crimson, and others. The abstract visual projections and carefully synchronized
lights and lasers created an atmosphere of awe for even the uninitiated concertgoer
and added another layer of emotional engagement that brought most in the
audience along for the 9 to 13-minute rides that made up each individual song.
The band continued with their tradition of atmospheric, interstitial jams and soundscapes
between many songs as well, most of which cannot be found on any of their
official recordings and may perhaps become parts of other new songs in the
future.
The other notable highlights from the night included the
performance of the band’s most-known hit, “Sober,” which at this point feels
almost like seeing Radiohead live and them just casually featuring “Creep,” and
a hard rocking take on “Hooker with a Penis” to close the main set. The lone
song to be included from 2006’s 10,000 Days, “The Pot,” also got a strong crowd
response, and while it sounded great and was very well executed, the band now
plays the song in a lower key to accommodate the difficult vocals Keenan finds
harder to pull off nearly 16 years after he recorded it, somewhat similar to
some of Stone Temple Pilots’ later tours with Scott Weiland, though Tool has
not changed the tempo of any of their songs by comparison.
The surprises continued beyond the 12-minute encore break (which included a projected countdown clock to clarify the exact time the show would continue), where Carey first dazzled with his traditional drum and synthesizer solo, “Chocolate Chip Trip,” but rather than ending with high-energy fan favorites, the band closed with two new songs, back-to-back, including “Culling Voices,” Fear Inoculum’s quietest song which was presented almost unplugged-style with stools and Carey playing bongos while all four band members met at the front and center of the stage and which also featured a slow sprinkling of darkly tinted confetti throughout. They followed this with the more dynamic, “Invincible,” rather than the hit with which they usually close, “Stinkfist,” and at twice that song’s length, bringing the overall runtime of the concert to about two hours and 15 minutes or so. Keenan also announced, prior to the beginning of the final track, that fans had permission to photograph and film it, also a standard practice following the band’s recent no phones policy during all other parts of all their shows, also seizing the opportunity to call those who quickly had their phones in hand, “crackheads,” to illustrate their addiction to them. While Keenan also explained before the final song that he was tired and old now, so they needed to wrap it up, and walked off stage before “Invincible” concluded, Jones, Carey, and Chancellor took their time exiting the stage after the final notes were played, waving to fans in the bright stage lights to a strong ovation from the audience. It continues to be clear that Tool put on one of the most engaging rock shows one can see today. The carefully timed and sequenced audio/visual experience is top notch compared to all the band’s contemporaries and places them in a higher category among the classic rock legends of the ‘70s, especially, if not all of rock history.
The Acid Helps (set list):
Killing an Animal
Disco Blanco
Idiot Vs. Moron
Sick City
Rattled
This Thing Will Not Die
All Insane
Sink Pisser
LA BREA
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Tool (set list):
Litanie contre la Peur (intro tape)
-----------------------------
Fear Inoculum
Sober
The Pot
Pushit
-------------
Pneuma
The Grudge
Eon Blue Apocalypse
The Patient
Descending
Hooker with a Penis
-----------------------------------------(encore break)-------
Chocolate Chip Trip
Culling Voices
Invincible
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