Enough of Tool 101 (mostly from Wiki) and now lets move on to the concert. Isis the opening act was a disaster. Poor vocals, music just going through the motions but on a positive note, they played only 3-4 songs before Tool took center-stage. They started off with a blistering version of Stinkfist and moved on to the more bass laden ‘The Pot’. We were pretty much way back and hence the first couple of songs just whizzed by surreally.
Coping Maynard’s poetic talents (visit his side-project…exquisite website) are band members who:
- Worked as a Set designer and make-up artist for revolutionary movies like T2 and Jurassic Park (Adam Jones-Guitarist)
- Plays percussion inspired by metaphysics and geometry (Danny Carey) and has every piece in his kit resembling a certain geometric figure.
Heavy downpour added to proceedings which coupled with the phantasmagoric music rendered the entire atmosphere an accentuated hallucination. It was only when the first guitar chords of Forty Six & 2 rammed into my eardrums did reality seep in. At this point in time, this remains my favorite Tool track and every note is correctly etched in my ever whimsical brain. The on-stage projections and the psychedelic colors and shapes on the big-screen were in plain Italiano ‘SPETTACOLARE’.
Admittedly, I’ve attended a better concert (Metallica-Norfolk), heard superior musicians live (Dream Theater-Reading) but this certainly was the best show I’ve ever attended.
Unsurprisingly, they started the Encore with probably their most ‘technical’ song – Lateralus which to me was the song of the night. As Maynard vocals ‘spiraled’ over the dark clouds, the on-stage projections changed from black to white and then subsequently to Red and yellow lasers took over to match the songs lyrics. It was an absolute thrill to watch especially if you knew the song verbatim (and of course if you had a better IQ that Forrest). The back-stage was was brightly decorated with small white bulbs which sprang to life when Maynard screamed “Over thinking, over analyzing separates the body from the mind” a-cheesy-la Ganpati decorations but fit in perfectly with the song like a glove. The current radio favorite ‘Vicarious’ immediately followed Lateralus which like the previous song was a master-class rendition. The band summed up the evening by rounding off with the crowd favourite Ænema where everyone just threw their hands up in the air when Maynard went: ‘I’m praying for rain’. It was truly a memorable sight. An exceptional night laced with a majestic performance, lighting and some terrific artwork.
Blighted with guilt, I confess; I don’t think I say this enough but Tool to me is the most intelligent band that you could possibly listen to. Their songs range from spirituality to prison sex, from Jungian psychology to religion, from philosophy to golden ratios. Tool is a very different band in the sense that they never appear on telly, rarely give interviews and never release the real meanings to any of their songs.
Aboard the plush shimmering silvery Acura after leaving the Tweeter center on a wet Thursday night, with a parched larynx, sore heels and a contented heart, I decided to break the blog’s hiatus and my indisposition to write concert reviews (even though I’ve many) as this Tool concert was certainly one of a kind.
Maynard was hitting every note to perfection and his voiced soared above Danny’s thunderous pounding, Adam’s mesmerizing solos and Justin’s rumbling bass. Jambi was up next…powerful, angry, sad and dark at the same time. Before you could take a deep breath, Justin started pounding on his bass with Schism. The beauty of all Tool songs is the brilliant melody upfront; typified by the cult classic Schism. Every note was right on the money till they hit what people term as the ‘bridge’ where Danny suddenly went INSANE and pounded his kit at supersonic speed. I stared blankly at Aup with a ‘wtf is he doing’ expression…which was duly reciprocated. Keenan then slowly moved towards the keyboards to play Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned which was extremely good but the weakest link of the entire setlist (I would’ve gladly done with Parabola or better still…Right in Two). And then came the best part of the show, with Wings for Marie/10,000 Days started the stupendous LASER show. The song itself is capable of elevating you to a trance…the Lasers just added to the feeling. It did seem that the show had almost reached the pinnacle and it was the right time to take a break before the Encore.
(This blog is heavily inspired from the theme of Lateralus where syllables go according to Fibonacci series. Here the paragraphs are all jumbled and the correct order follows the Fibonacci series. The start of every paragraph is a ‘Fibonacci letter’ in BOLD . Just put those in the right order and you would get the correct flow of the blog. Hint - 1(A) 1(A) 2(B) etc....
You don’t enjoy a Tool song on the first go…you need atleast a couple of listens. That is what I’ve tried to capture here. You need to read the blog atleast twice to understand it correctly.
A blog on Tool has to be twisted else there is no meaning to it, and if you cant decipher this then you are not worth reading the blog, leave alone listening to Tool.)
14 comments:
Exceptionally written blog.Intense..is just an understatement. Its for all Freaks to live "VICARIOUS"ly through our Tool experience. The Fibonnacci theme is brilliant (So, the first thing I did was read the footnote and then follow the blog accordingly). You must have been "SO HIGH" that it was just too difficult to write a "SOBER" blog.
havent read the blog yet, but hats off to genius on your part. intense stuff :)
and now i finally finished reading it ;) ..
first hour spent finding the fibonacci series and the mapping to alphabets.
next hour googling about tool ... :).
good blog !
"kanti"esque blog ... absolute stunner ...
kisi ne sach hi kahaa hai ki ...
baap pe poot ...
pitaa pe ghodaa ...
kuch nahi to thodaa-thodaa ...
Since Bhaiyya is not providing the blog with 'running around the bush' logic I thought that I must step up to bore the hell out of many of you for the most part of the comment and then finally pull the thin and feeble lines of logic together. Sorry bhaiyya!
(1) As most of you know, I (and now KK) dedicatedly read a Japanese comic book called 'Naruto'. It is about a boy growing up in a wold of Ninjas. Ninjas, fight through three primary methods, (a) Taijutsu - Hand to Hand combat
(b) Genjutsu - Hallucination techniques.
(c) Ninjutsu - Ninja techniques (vertbatim)
(2) Genjutsu - is when the opponent is locked into a hallucination. All around them all they can see is the world that the ninja displays to him/her.
(3) Connection: Thats what the blog did. I must say that for many of Ball's blogs - since they are very very very very long - my attention is diverted, and many a time I have read the same in either blocks, or over a couple of times.
In this case however, I did what Aup said, I read the footnote first - since that has been a prerequisite of his last few blogs. I was definitely happy that I did so. Thanks to GW BASIC and a WAP question in tenth standard - i knew what the Fibonacci letters were beforehand - and did not need to google.
I was completely engrossed in the blog and read it slowly just to absorb the atmosphere.
Thanks balls, it was like almost being there - only much worse - because I wasnt.
P.S. - PLEASE CONTINUE TO POST SUCH AMAZING CONCERT BLOGS.
P.P.S. - AUP I hope I can expect one just as engrossing for the Maiden Concert that you will go to (or have gone to).
The Fibonacci arrangement was a cool idea!
I saw them in D.C. on Saturday so I won't add or discuss about what the concert offered me - It's nicely put by Balls anyway.
One little thing though - you said you've heard superior musicians in the form of Dream Theater. What do you mean by the term "superior" in this context? I agree DT consists of a tight unit of musicians blessed with rich musical virtuosity, but is that what makes a musician better than someone who might not run crazy licks and riffs on a guitar or might not display scintillating speed on drums or might not finger tap a bass guitar?
After all music, to me, is about feeding the audience with emotions and feelings. I'm sure Balls, you love Metallica or Pantera or Megadeth probably 'cause they give you an adrenaline rush or a source to vent out your angst. I'm sure Tool hits a lot of different nerves that are responsible for evoking a wide spectrum of experiences ranging from anger, melancholy, darkness, reflection, mysticism, and so on.
Tool is technically very sound, maybe in a different way than DT, but not many listeners realize it! Reason - We can't help but get enraptured by the waves of feelings we experience thru a Tool number and this draws attention away from their technical wizardry.
Dream Theater is more like jazz. With DT, even a rookie would understand there's a lot of technical stuff thrown in there on purpose. That definitely brings out an exhilarating "WOW!! You could do that stuff with a guitar/drums/bass/keyboards??" but honestly, does it serve the higher purpose of music? Which leads me to wonder, are they superior musicians?
P.S. And let's not even compare vocal skills of Tool and DT :)
Going by ur whole arguement on DT it does appear to me that ur undermining their musical genius. You do agree as u rightly said that "DT consists of a tight unit of musicians blessed with rich musical virtuosity" and then in the concluding para u ask if it serves the "higher purpose of music?" The statement was never about comparing the two bands. They have their own legendary status according to me. When Petrucci or Jordan or Mike play at break neck speed it sure does leave u agape...but y do u think that it doesnt serve the higher purpose of music?
Tool is a band which is unbelievable collectively. The way DT structure their music is around the technical genius of each band member. They have ample opportunity to exhibit their GOD given talents...which the repeatedly do. The arguement is about individual talent as a musician not the 'collective music' of the band as a whole. And btw vocals is def a Lets not go thyair!
I was comparing Tool and DT because your statement in the 2nd (when arranged in the correct sequence) paragraph very much had comparitive semantics - "superior musicians (DT-Reading)". My argument would still have been the same had I compared DT with some other phenomenal band say, Pink Floyd.
I'm not denying (and nobody dare can deny) the virtuosic genius of individual members of DT. I'm just wondering if they could be called superior musicians simply by virtue of their individual technical skills. I'm talking about their contribution to the music they create!
An apt (and a controversial one for fanatics) analogy would be comparing SRT with Steve Waugh when you talk about "Who's the superior/better cricketer amongst the two?" Sachin is by far the best batsman the cricketing world has ever seen but I'm talking about something higher than individual abilities. Very few objective cricket fans would deny Steve Waugh is a better cricketer and I don't need to state the reasons for this claim.
I'm talking about the game being larger than individual abilities and likewise, music being above individual virtuoso.
I'm viewing the term "musician" in precisely this holistic light.
Hence, the predicament.
Taking a cue from ur example of SRT or Waugh...ur looking at the whole picture of who is a better batsman for the 'team' (here the band) whereas I took up a point of the best pure bred batsman (individual musician).
I whole-heartedly agree that the 'team' is more important that the 'individual'. But u've mis understood the usage in this context. My statement that :even though I've seen better 'individual' musicians on show, accentuates the final verdict that 'this was the best show i had attended'.
Whatever it is, I couldn't agree more on your opinion that this is the best show people like you and I could ever attend!
One item yet to check in the list of "Things to do before I can die in peace" - watch Metallica live :)
Pact yaad rakh...next tour mein wherever we are jaana hai...hopefully Philly firse jaate hain for yet another concert :-)
Babaji ke aashirwad se sab musicians 'sahi sa' bajate hain :-)
If Metallica do come to Philly again I will be seeing them for the 4th time..Metallica would just be like a musical Niagara for me. Been there done that..so many times. Also speaking of individual genius and collective performance..Metallica is right up there..but post 1989..lets not even go thyair !
Pact to "j"aroor yaad rahega.
Philly mein rehna chahiye...Baba ke saath "Devi" mein dabaake phir Met show....hai re!!
Devi gaya to Kateem pakka chahiye saath mein b4 the concert....
"I think a person shud eat only 75%of his capacity" :-)
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