First off, this concert was everything my first show wasn't. That one had awful
sound and a horrendous crowd, which really dampened the band's performance for
me. Last night had brilliant sound in a classy venue (padded seats in the
deeply sloped balcony? I loves ya, Academy!), with great fans who were really
into the music (ALL of the songs, not just the "hits") without being obnoxious.

The support for this tour are Pablo, and were much better than I expected, but
then again, I expected the worst after enduring Fantomas at my earlier,
infamous gig. They sounded a bit like Core-era Stone Temple Pilots, which isn't
half bad.

Tool's set was a dream, especially since a lot of the songs were different from
their earlier concerts' setlists. I was incredibly pleased to hear 4 degrees
and jimmy, and Disposition sounded so much better live than on the cd, so I'm
going to go back and re-discover that one.

Instead of the terribly cliched act of going offstage, waiting for applause,
and coming back on for an encore, Tool instead put the new video for
Parabol/Parabola on the big screens when they took their break. With any other
band, I would've felt cheated, but with videos are interesting as this, I was
incredibly pleased. Oh, and disturbed. :)

Then they came back on, minus Maynard, plus the drummer from Pablo and another
shadowy guitarist hidden behind Maynard's screen and did Triad, which I was 
equally shocked and excited to hear. The extra drumming really added to the
sound, and yet again, it's another one I'm going to go back and pay more
attention to. And they, of course, wrapped it up very neatly with Lateralus,
quite possibly my favourite off the new album.

Going back and reading this review, I'm realising that my illness has affected
my writing, and I apologise for this fragmented mess of thoughts. Seeing Tool
whilst mildly delirious made the performance even more exciting. heh heh. There
were moments last night where I felt that clapping and scraming just weren't
enough to express my appreciation and joy at the sound hitting my ears.

The setlist:
-----------
Ticks and Leeches
The Grudge
Stinkfist (extended)
(bits of) negative ions
Parabola
4 degrees
Schism (extended)
jimmy
Disposition
Reflection

Parabol/Parabola video

Triad (w/ Pablo drummer on percussion)
Aenema
Lateralus

melissa, wishing she could see them again tonight... d'oh.