Music of the Night

No, I'm not going to write about Phantom of the Opera, although I'm a huge fan of that musical. But I have difficulty coming up with catchy titles...so there you have it!

I went to the Tool concert at the Excel center on tuesday. I should really start by saying I love Tool. Maynard and his band are musical gods. They have some of the most thoughtful and thought provoking lyrics of any group I have ever heard. I love Tool. So needless to say, this concert was a big deal for me. spent way too much money, but it was worth it. My seats were decent, rather far back but I could still see everything.

The stage itself was a set up of big screen TVs, showing parts of their music videos and general images relating to their music. Maynard came on the stage with his trademark cowboy hat, boots and his hunter orange hoodie. He was rockin a small mowhawk from what I could see. I won't go through the entire concert, song for song or anything cause that would get boring...but they played some amazing songs. Schism, Jambi, Lateralus, 10,000 days and Wings for Mary etc. I was sad that they didn't play Sober, but I really can't complain. They did a similar lightshow for 10,000 days and Wings for Mary as they did at the last concert (which makes sense since it was technically the same tour). but I noticed a couple huge differences this time around.

1. less band audience interaction, basically all he ever said to the audience was "Hey Minnesota, nice to see you all again" and at the end he said something to the effect of "We'd love to stay and chat but we have a lot of very important internet porn to get back to". Everyone cheered, or at least every single guy did, I'll admit, I did as well. But I seem to remember there being more interaction last September when they were at Target Center. 2. The set was a lot smaller. I remember the stage being Televisions floor to wall, this time it was just wall. The set at Target Center continuously got bigger and bigger as the show went on, something growing from below almost every song. This time there were only wall Televisions. small difference I guess, but different and made the concert slightly less impressive. and 3. a bit too much instrumental work. I was excited to hear that they'd have a 2 hour set, but when they use 5-10-15 minutes for an intro...that kinda kills it.

I have to say though, I was in love with 10,000 days and Wings for Mary, I could deal with the ridiculously long intro and instrumental work because I knew what the songs ment or at least part of the story. The songs are dedicated to his mother (Mary) who died just before the album was released last year. If you listen to the lyrics you can really feel how much he misses her. They may not have always gotten along, but things change when someone close to you dies. I got lost in the emotion and the lightshow, I almost wanted to cry at the bittersweet beauty of it all. I was probably the most active person in my section. I seriously wanted to just start dancing there in the stands. I was singing, swaying, and raising my fists and just letting go. whereas people around me stood, arms crossed, too cool to get into it...oh well, their loss. The girl next to me got progressively more and more drunk as the night went on. Sick of the instrumental work, she kept leaving her area to get something more to drink and eventually was so drunk she passed our row entirely, I flagged her down cause her friends didn't seem to notice. But she was overall pretty awesome, I'm glad I was next to her.

I really don't blame them for toning it down this time around. The tour has been going on for well over a year and I'm sure Maynard wants to get back to his vineyard. I still had a great time. I did a lot of people watching since my friends were on the other side of the center and I did my best to make friends with the people in my area. didn't really work, but that's okay. again...their loss!

well, I don't imagine this article is particularly interesting, even if you like Tool...but that's okay. just wanted to rant about my experience! :-P