The Grudge (WARNING: 26 years to #6?)

[ilikecheese]

^interesting spelling.
Does that rhyme with a certain kind of long, slender, hard bread?

[Ettan]

[Ettan]

Ok so the VIP experience must be amazing when you're there yourself, but when listening to it on a computer? Meh.. The part when he talks about guitar stuff was so damn boring to me, but that's probably because I don't play it myself. Guitar freaks must love that shit. I wish he could play some other tune instead of Jambi, it's just shugga shugga shugga all the time. Right In Two would be perfect.

Not so many questions either. I did learn some new stuff though like how uhm, uh.. like uhm, he, uh, uhm, well you know uhm, like that Maynard chooses the setlist every night and he's the one I should blame for this repetitive setlist. Did not like this at all. But as I said, it must be amazing when you're standing right next to him.

[ncast2523]

I didi VIP in Spokane and just finished listening to this one. And it is amazing. I also enjoyed listening to this one. Certain elements were the same but a bunch of it was quite different
especially the small little facts that come out just naturally in the flow of conversation. Adam is truly humble and I'm sure no one that has attended would feel that they wasted their money. If i could make another show on this tour id do it again.

[iloveposters]

I didi VIP in Spokane and just finished listening to this one. And it is amazing. I also enjoyed listening to this one. Certain elements were the same but a bunch of it was quite different
especially the small little facts that come out just naturally in the flow of conversation. Adam is truly humble and I'm sure no one that has attended would feel that they wasted their money. If i could make another show on this tour id do it again.

Could you please give us some insight on what the differences were? What sort of questions were asked? Did you learn anything?

[basejumper]

I did learn some new stuff though like how uhm, uh.. like uhm, he, uh, uhm, well you know uhm, like that Maynard chooses the setlist every night and he's the one I should blame for this repetitive setlist. Did not like this at all.

And you should blame Danny's dog for the 12 minute intermission.

[Ettan]

I did learn some new stuff though like how uhm, uh.. like uhm, he, uh, uhm, well you know uhm, like that Maynard chooses the setlist every night and he's the one I should blame for this repetitive setlist. Did not like this at all.

And you should blame Danny's dog for the 12 minute intermission.

Yeah.. "We're playing for a long time so we need a break". They play around 90 minutes, plus at least 20 minutes of that is either extended versions or random interludes between the songs. I saw Rush a few years ago, they played a 3 hours set with a break after 1/2 hours. Adam also blamed that they are old, well the boys in Rush has been playing since the 70s and are still going, better than ever. The countdown intermission is the worst thing they've come up with in a long time.

[xZ1mM3r]

I did learn some new stuff though like how uhm, uh.. like uhm, he, uh, uhm, well you know uhm, like that Maynard chooses the setlist every night and he's the one I should blame for this repetitive setlist. Did not like this at all.

And you should blame Danny's dog for the 12 minute intermission.

Yeah.. "We're playing for a long time so we need a break". They play around 90 minutes, plus at least 20 minutes of that is either extended versions or random interludes between the songs. I saw Rush a few years ago, they played a 3 hours set with a break after 1/2 hours. Adam also blamed that they are old, well the boys in Rush has been playing since the 70s and are still going, better than ever. The countdown intermission is the worst thing they've come up with in a long time.

it was my first Tool show, and to be honest it didnt bother me that much... gave me a bit to chat with friends about what the fuck ive just experienced, let it all soak in, take a piss, and then MORE TOOL!!

[The Boss]

I didi VIP in Spokane and just finished listening to this one. And it is amazing. I also enjoyed listening to this one. Certain elements were the same but a bunch of it was quite different
especially the small little facts that come out just naturally in the flow of conversation. Adam is truly humble and I'm sure no one that has attended would feel that they wasted their money. If i could make another show on this tour id do it again.

You all must have very well-paying jobs, because $500 to sit in a room with a bunch of other people listening to some dude talk about guitars seems an awful lot to me.

[hellboy]

I didi VIP in Spokane and just finished listening to this one. And it is amazing. I also enjoyed listening to this one. Certain elements were the same but a bunch of it was quite different
especially the small little facts that come out just naturally in the flow of conversation. Adam is truly humble and I'm sure no one that has attended would feel that they wasted their money. If i could make another show on this tour id do it again.

You all must have very well-paying jobs, because $500 to sit in a room with a bunch of other people listening to some dude talk about guitars seems an awful lot to me.

You can argue whether or not it's good value, but for most 30-something Tool fans I doubt dropping $500 for something like this is a huge financial burden.

[Bill Hilly]

I go to quite a few shows at Red Rocks each summer. I've seen quite a few "older" bands, with some artists well into their 70s. Not one of these bands plays for only 90 minutes. Actually, most of these bands I'm talking about play 2 90 minute sets. Using Tool's age as an excuse for these short and sweet greatest hits sets is a joke.

Has anyone ever used their age as an excuse? I can't say I have. The only ones I've ever seen blame it on age are the Grudge fucks.

I did learn some new stuff though like how uhm, uh.. like uhm, he, uh, uhm, well you know uhm, like that Maynard chooses the setlist every night and he's the one I should blame for this repetitive setlist. Did not like this at all.

And you should blame Danny's dog for the 12 minute intermission.

Yeah.. "We're playing for a long time so we need a break". They play around 90 minutes, plus at least 20 minutes of that is either extended versions or random interludes between the songs. I saw Rush a few years ago, they played a 3 hours set with a break after 1/2 hours. Adam also blamed that they are old, well the boys in Rush has been playing since the 70s and are still going, better than ever. The countdown intermission is the worst thing they've come up with in a long time.

[The Boss]

It's almost as if they WANT us to hate them.

[Bill Hilly]

You love us. Smile. Air raid!

[lipanconjuring]

These setlists are so fucking stale. When was the last show they didn't play Lateralus, Jambi, Aenema, 46&2, Schism, or Stinkfist all in the same night? Talk about a greatest hits act. Ticks & Leeches and Hooker were a big surprise when they started playing them again a few years ago, but it's like every successive year the pool of songs keeps shrinking and now it's come to a head where it can't contract anymore. Don't the guys get bored of playing the same shit so much?

I was stoked to hear Adam riffing on 4 Degrees and Eulogy in that Q&A recording. The guy can clearly still play these songs and I bet they would be pumped to rock out to them live. If the onus is on Maynard here and he really is the sole authority on the setlists every night then that's just fucking lame. I'm sorry, the light shows and the visuals are cool as fuck but when they keep getting crazier and more exorbitant every tour while the song rotation keeps getting smaller and more predictable it doesn't come off as anything else than compensating. I would take a return to a small club or theatre gig with a minimal light show over more PEPSI STADIUM blowouts with UFO lights up the asshole if it meant I got to hear something fresh. I'm sure Adam, Justin & Danny would do it but this band is Maynard's vineyard expansion fund and Puscifer cross-merchandising opportunity now, so a little bit of tasteful minimalism will never win out if it means not packing another hockey arena for one night.

Fucking look at Chris Cornell, Soundgarden just played Superunknown at SXSW and that dude ripped the whole way through. They took a TWELVE YEAR break and came back playing music all the way back to Screaming Life & Louder than Love. I Awake, Beyond the Wheel, you name it. Cornell's the same age as Maynard and he's been a much more fucking interesting and unpredictable performer to watch these last few years. I don't buy the age excuse, at least not to the extent that it's pushed Maynard so far to his limits that the only selections in their catalogue that he will still play can be counted on two hands. What I do buy is that the dude probably drinks so much of his goddamn wine that he's dried his throat to shit.

[Kittaan]

Wow, that's rough dude. And I really can't argue with one single point you made up to the very last line. Listen to the recordings of the SF gigs this week. His voice sounds pretty damn good to me, even in the upper register. I know he uses a ton of vocal effects, but you do need to have the raw material and if your shit is cracking and out of tune, it will still be evident. There are at least portions of songs where it's obvious to me that his true voice is coming through and it sounds quite strong.

When Adam was playing in the Q&A, he whipped out riffs from at least 5 tunes they haven't played in years and mentioned that he missed playing them. He said that he, DC and Justin could (and would love to) whip out a bunch of old tracks but gave the same talk you heard on the recording about MJK being the limiting factor. I honestly don't get how Mayneard can work out making Hooker, T&L, Third Eye and Opiate work for his vocal limitations (granted, these are sub par vocally to what he used to deliver due to all the effects) but he can't work out some OTHER tracks the same way? There has to be some other aspect we're not hearing about. Especially after all these fucking years touring on 10,000 Days... I think it may have something to do with the subject matter, but I can't imagine that applies to more than a few tracks.

Honestly, if they had added another block of old school Tool tracks this round, it would have appeased most of us and I can't believe that wasn't possible. I don't understand, but unfortunately Adam does not seem to want to give up the goods on this story.

PS - I've seen Cornell 3 times since the SG reunion and his vocals were killing. Overall sound at the last two gigs in Oakland was abysmal, but the performance was amazing. I know he can be hit or miss live (going back to his early days), but I totally agree, his voice has aged damn well...

[lipanconjuring]

Well that's just what I don't get either, that he can make tweaks to these few songs to bring them back into the fold and accommodate himself vocally but not to so many others in their catalogue. It would be fucking EASY for him to sing a song like Disposition again, and Reflection's not much harder. Then he doesn't have to do shit on Triad, so there's several minutes where he can just sit on the mic cabinet and guzzle some juice. Right there you have an awesome trio of songs that you can play in sequence and make a killer show for a ton of fans. No man, we need that time for our extended Schism jam. lol.

[Ettan]

If he can sing Pushit, he can sing H, Jimmy, The Patient, Right In Two, Rosetta, Parabola, Swamp Song, you get it. If they can play Intension, they can play Triad instead or whatever tune they can think of, Intension this year with Justin's poor mixed bass is just absolutely horrendous. I can't stand listening to it.


New album this year?





April 2015.

[trilobite]

A++

[lipanconjuring]

I LOVE Intension on the album but the live versions of it have been lacking something. They sound muddy on the low end and the

Wow, that's rough dude. And I really can't argue with one single point you made up to the very last line. Listen to the recordings of the SF gigs this week. His voice sounds pretty damn good to me, even in the upper register. I know he uses a ton of vocal effects, but you do need to have the raw material and if your shit is cracking and out of tune, it will still be evident. There are at least portions of songs where it's obvious to me that his true voice is coming through and it sounds quite strong.

When Adam was playing in the Q&A, he whipped out riffs from at least 5 tunes they haven't played in years and mentioned that he missed playing them. He said that he, DC and Justin could (and would love to) whip out a bunch of old tracks but gave the same talk you heard on the recording about MJK being the limiting factor. I honestly don't get how Mayneard can work out making Hooker, T&L, Third Eye and Opiate work for his vocal limitations (granted, these are sub par vocally to what he used to deliver due to all the effects) but he can't work out some OTHER tracks the same way? There has to be some other aspect we're not hearing about. Especially after all these fucking years touring on 10,000 Days... I think it may have something to do with the subject matter, but I can't imagine that applies to more than a few tracks.

Honestly, if they had added another block of old school Tool tracks this round, it would have appeased most of us and I can't believe that wasn't possible. I don't understand, but unfortunately Adam does not seem to want to give up the goods on this story.

PS - I've seen Cornell 3 times since the SG reunion and his vocals were killing. Overall sound at the last two gigs in Oakland was abysmal, but the performance was amazing. I know he can be hit or miss live (going back to his early days), but I totally agree, his voice has aged damn well...

Check out the SXSW iTunes Festival show if you haven't yet dude, they fucking murdered it the whole way through. And I agree, Cornell can still be hit or miss but it's obvious that they definitely put the rehearsal time in for this last show. Watch the proshot stuff, not the YouTube clips, it's mixed really well too.

I would say Maynard is a more consistent live singer but he takes so few chances these days, which is a bummer. He just plays it too safe and it's making Tool a boring and predictable live band as a result. Cornell can fuck up but at least he still throws himself out there and isn't scared to dig way back into the vocally demanding material, and I love that.

[lipanconjuring]

If he can sing Pushit, he can sing H, Jimmy, The Patient, Right In Two, Rosetta, Parabola, Swamp Song, you get it. If they can play Intension, they can play Triad instead or whatever tune they can think of, Intension this year with Justin's poor mixed bass is just absolutely horrendous. I can't stand listening to it.

I LOVE Intension on the album but I agree, the live versions have sounded subpar for some reason.

[Kittaan]

Same here. It's the low point of the shows. And I totally agree with Kannaduh, it's just a fucking tease to play Intension and NOT play RIT. Better yet, replace it entirely.

I would say Maynard is a more consistent live singer but he takes so few chances these days

Also agree with this.

That being said, for those who haven't seen them on this tour, the shows were excellent. The set lists are the major complaint, not the performances. Danny is such a muthafuckin beast. Getting better year on year.

[lipanconjuring]

That being said, for those who haven't seen them on this tour, the shows were excellent. The set lists are the major complaint, not the performances. Danny is such a muthafuckin beast. Getting better year on year.

I can agree with that.

[Ettan]

It's like if they played Disposition but not Reflection.

I agree with you Kittaan, these shows has been amazing so far. Performance and visual wise.

[Bill Hilly]

These setlists are so fucking stale. When was the last show they didn't play Lateralus, Jambi, Aenema, 46&2, Schism, or Stinkfist all in the same night? Talk about a greatest hits act. Ticks & Leeches and Hooker were a big surprise when they started playing them again a few years ago, but it's like every successive year the pool of songs keeps shrinking and now it's come to a head where it can't contract anymore. Don't the guys get bored of playing the same shit so much?

I was stoked to hear Adam riffing on 4 Degrees and Eulogy in that Q&A recording. The guy can clearly still play these songs and I bet they would be pumped to rock out to them live. If the onus is on Maynard here and he really is the sole authority on the setlists every night then that's just fucking lame. I'm sorry, the light shows and the visuals are cool as fuck but when they keep getting crazier and more exorbitant every tour while the song rotation keeps getting smaller and more predictable it doesn't come off as anything else than compensating. I would take a return to a small club or theatre gig with a minimal light show over more PEPSI STADIUM blowouts with UFO lights up the asshole if it meant I got to hear something fresh. I'm sure Adam, Justin & Danny would do it but this band is Maynard's vineyard expansion fund and Puscifer cross-merchandising opportunity now, so a little bit of tasteful minimalism will never win out if it means not packing another hockey arena for one night.

Fucking look at Chris Cornell, Soundgarden just played Superunknown at SXSW and that dude ripped the whole way through. They took a TWELVE YEAR break and came back playing music all the way back to Screaming Life & Louder than Love. I Awake, Beyond the Wheel, you name it. Cornell's the same age as Maynard and he's been a much more fucking interesting and unpredictable performer to watch these last few years. I don't buy the age excuse, at least not to the extent that it's pushed Maynard so far to his limits that the only selections in their catalogue that he will still play can be counted on two hands. What I do buy is that the dude probably drinks so much of his goddamn wine that he's dried his throat to shit.

I agree with everything that's said in this post. Best show I have ever seen at Red Rocks was Soundgarden in 2011....even better than the Tool show in 2010. Cornell's vocals off the rocks was unreal. T&L and Hooker were a nice surprise in 2012, but honestly those are my least favorite songs off Lateralus and Aenima. Same with Intension. It's like they intentionally want to piss me the fuck off.

[hellboy]

Each to their own I guess, but I though Intension was one of the high points of the set last year.