Tool - Glasgow Secc Live Review

Tool - Glasgow SECC- 25.11.2006

Tonight ladies and gentlemen, metal royalty visit...Okay, so the ungrateful venue manager doesn’t roll out the red carpet, anxious looking secret agents aren’t prowling around in every dark corner of the venue and Tool don’t fly in on a helicopter - but they bloody well should have! For the defining talent which stands Tool out as the jewel in the crown of modern metal is finally being recognised in the UK; with a headline slot on the island’s biggest rock festival and enough demand to book their first ever arena tour in 2006 after more than a decade of genre shaping progression. However, before delving into a barrel of superlatives to describe Tool live, there’s the small matter of the mighty support act; Mastodon. They are excellent. They don’t play Blood & Thunder or March of the Fire Ants. Delight and disappointment fills the hall like sex with no orgasm; fair enough, it could have been Trivium after all.

The unnecessarily huge stage is cleared, four screens are put in place behind Danny Carey’s majestic time machine come drum kit and the anticipation of what’s to come keeps the side stage bars satisfyingly quiet. And with the opening, hypnotic intro to Stinkfist, Tool arrive… transfixing several thousand nodding Lemmings for the next absorbing 90 minutes. LSD inspired artwork and imagery seamlessly blends into the stage set up, casting a silhouette of Maynard James Keenan’s frame as he jolts about snake-like to every precise chord and drum beat of Tool’s mesmerising sound. With a style which refuses to be pigeon holed the preening art-rockers mix the most soothing progressive melodies with jarring vitriolic fury and with Jambi, Schism and The Pot the quartet again prove that they’re tighter than a fat man’s watch live. Arguably, not the chattiest guy on the planet, Keenan only addresses the masses on a couple of occasions, firstly to ask everyone not to smoke to save his "pretty little voice" (Jack McConnell beat you to that one eight months ago buddy) and to say it’s been a pleasure. Otherwise it’s all about the music, and with an embarrassment of riches in the back catalogue, they can leave out Forty Six & 2, Ticks & Leeches and Right In Two - slices of genius most bands would sell their drummer for - without anyone grumbling.

By the time the combo of Wings For Marie / 10,000 Days is strolled through the cavernous SECC hall is pierced by a jaw-dropping laser show which is stunning enough to draw attention away from the stage. A final awe-inspiring flourish of Lateralus, Vicarious and AEnima seal the night and the Keenan, Carey, Justin Chancellor and Adam Jones exit the stage without fuss, leaving the UK again with Prince Harry and his bent brother for a monarchy… until next year.

G. Mcinally

http://www.toolband.com