A Complete Explanation Of Everything

Tool: 22/11/06 @ The Point, Dublin

It was an effort to get up and get going last Wednesday evening. The previous weekend's trip taking it's toll probably. The rain she was also pissing down, so by the time I had located the temporary car park for The Point on the quays (a good 10 min walk away) and taken my seat, I was moist and slightly disgruntled. Plus, I was driving, so no alcohol.

There were however compensations. First off, the seat! Somehow, I had lucked out with the front row of the balcony and even better, the first seat of the front row. A nigh on perfect position to enjoy a night of thinking man's metal from California's finest purveyors of the genre.

Then, orange hoodie and all, Maynard Keenan took the stage and launching straight into "Stinkfist", we were off. It was clear early on, the sort of a groove Tool are on right now. Going straight for the back catalogue and arguably their most well known and popular song, well it's the sort of move that alot of other contemporaries would eschew. Purely on the basis that well, it's a bit obvious. It's that kind of inverse snobbery that sort of becomes de facto, a staple of the music industry alongside the three encore ridiculousness.

But this was not the case of a simple early concession to a potentially hostile crowd, this was more of a salute to a night where a band full of confidence and on a high... I first heard the record they are touring, 10000 Days, as I was speeding across the Nevada desert... The lead track, "Vicarious", with it's cold refrain...

"I need to watch things die,
From a good safe distance..."

An obvious commentary on both TV culture, a constant theme of Maynard Keenan's lyricisms but also a pointed critique of the US in Iraq... The strength of the new material was born out by this performance, up alongside the back catalogue, the new songs are merely a function of the band's energies fused as one cohesive whole.

This was verily one of the few occasions that I've been impressed by the sound in the Point and all of the instrumentation, including Keenan's voice (which I'd personally launch up there alongside Cornell as one of the best rock vocalists of all time) were all suitably showcased. There was some laser light show, nothing too ostentatious, just perfect for the atmospherics really.

Tool's sound would probably come's across as aggressive to the mainstream and they stereotype the kids and the fans accordingly. This narrow-minded caricature resulted probably in the snaking queue for the security search that was endured in the monsoon rain prior to the gig, that doesn't happen at other gigs.

I'm sorry that we need to go out and wear black and listen to loud music, that is artful that expresses emotion and the human condition, that tries to reach deeper and investigate why the fuck we're here, sometimes.

The music of Tool is that of a purely cathartic experience and the liveshow in the Point delivered on every level.

"It's not enough.
I need more.
Nothing seems to satisfy.
I don't want it.
I just need it.
To breathe, to feel, to know I'm alive."