In the Pacific Northwest anytime Tool come to town you can guarantee the massive fans here are are gonna sell out the venue. What I've loved about the last two Tool tours is they've been both held at the behemoth of local venues the Tacoma Dome. Depending on event setups they can hold well over 22k and the sound, parking, staff and amenities are awesome here.
If you've never been to a Tool concert you are truly missing out in a concert experience unlike most other bands of any genre. Tool's quirky alt-prog-metal "musicians band" art-rock style leads perfectly into creating a visual and near spiritual experience live. So much so, the band asks the crowd not to use their cell phones to photo/video the show and for a surprising result, it was awesome to experience watching the show without a bunch of cell phone screens in the crowd. They didn't completely shut the fans off, they were allowed to do (per Maynard) whatever on the last song of the set this night with "Stinkfist". Check out this great video on YouTube from the show {Click Here}.
The opening 10 minute song "Fear Inoculum" was my 1 song allowed to photo in the pit. Visually dark, moody and a challenge to shoot, it's a shame I couldn't capture another song from the soundboard. When the light director opened up that rig with full lights and lasers it was MINDBLOWING!!! I found myself watchin the roof of the Tacoma Dome from my seat in section 106 lots of times for the crazy laser patterns etc. This last song "Invincible" video at the Spokane, WA 10.15.23 show gives ya a sample of what I'm talking about. FANTASTIC visuals and lights. {Click Here}
Lead singer Maynard looked and sounded great. Known to lurk in the back of the stage singing from the dark muddy shadows, I felt he was a little more comfortable up there this night and a tad more lit up from when I shot the last tour. Besides just wanting to be out of the limelight, I'm betting his goal is probably not to take away any spotlight from the incredible band he has in front of him with Justin Chancellor on bass, Adam Jones on guitar and the incredible time keeper himself Danny Carey on drums. Danny is right there with that upper echelon of rock drummers like Mike Portnoy (ex-Dream Theater), Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree) and Neil Peart (RIP Rush) in the mastering of odd time signatures behind the drum kit. This trio is really the backbone of what makes Maynard, the music and mystique of Tool work.
When ya say a band played well over 2 hours ya expect to see this huge 16-20 song setlist, but in Tool's world it's not when ya got songs ranging from 8-15 minutes, so it was 12.
Fear Inoculum / Jambi / The Pot / Rosetta Stoned / Pneuma / Descending / Intolerance / The Grudge / {12min band Intermission then 4 song encore} / Chocolate Chip Trip / Culling Voices / Invincible / Stinkfist
What was rad was for the Tacoma Dome fans we got the tour debut of "Intolerance" - for us older fans this was a treat as it's the first song off the 1993 debut "Undertow" album. 30 years ago this year! Stinks of the 3 times the band has played the Tacoma Dome over the years we've NEVER gotten their biggest hit "Sober" live. Last time that was even played in the Seattle area (minus the Gorge of the same year) was 5.2.06 - 17 years ago!!! I don't know about you, but that hurts me ha!
The remaining dates you can check Tool live in the U.S. and Canada in 2023:
October 22 Kelowna, BC Prospera Place Arena
October 23 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
October 25 Edmonton, AB Rogers Place
October 27 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
October 29 Winnipeg, MB Canada Life Center
October 31 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
November 1 Milwaukee, WI Fiserv Forum
November 3 Knoxville, TN Thompson-Boiling Arena
November 4 Charleston, WV Charleston Coliseum
November 6 Rochester, NY Blue Cross Arena
November 7 Allentown, PA PPL Center
November 10 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
November 13 Manchester, NH SNHU Arena
November 15 Boston, MA TD Garden
November 16 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
November 19 Montreal, QC Bell Center
November 20 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
November 21 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
The band recently announced at https://www.toolband.com a continuation of this tour in the U.S. for 2024 before heading back in the studio to record a new album. The U.S. cities are as follows:
Jan. 10 - Baltimore, MD CFG Bank Arena
Jan.12 - New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Jan.13 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
Jan. 18 Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood
Jan. 19 Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood
Jan. 21 Charlotte, NC Spectrum Center
Jan. 23 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
Jan. 24 Atlanta, GA State Farm Arena
Jan. 26 Birmingham, AL The Legacy Arena at The BJCC
Jan. 27 Biloxi, MS Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Jan. 31 Austin, TX Moody Center
Feb. 2 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
Feb. 3 Oklahoma City, OK Paycom Center
Feb. 5 Denver, CO Ball Arena
Feb. 9 Phoenix, AZ Footprint Center
Feb. 12 Fresno, CA Save Mart Center
Feb. 14 Los Angeles, CA Crypto.com Arena
Feb. 15 Los Angeles, CA Crypto.com Arena
Feb. 17 Ontario, CA Toyota Arena
Feb. 18 Las Vegas, NV T-Mobile Arena
Opening the Tool show was our very own Pacific Northwest one-man band from Everett, Washington Steel Beans. Jeremy DeBardi (aka Steel Beans) is a one man band playing the drums, guitar and keyboards while singing! Kind of if ya took The White Stripes threw them in a blender with some blues, the 60s/70s rock scene with the entertainment fashion of Ron Jeremy, David Bowie and on this night some Johnny Carson as Carnac the Magnificent! HA HA!
In the last year his video for the song "Molotov Cocktail Lounge" {Click Here} has gone viral on Tik Tok, YouTube and even garnered attention from the great (singer of The Darkness) Justin Hawkins Rides Again YouTube channel {Click Here} - Steel Beans is definitely like watching a musical circus where most musicians have a hard time just playing the instrument they focus on HA HA!
Check him out at: https://steelbeans.com
For a few more Tool and Steel Beans photos from this show please visit: https://www.facebook.com/SavoiaPhotographyLive/photos_albums