Tool - 09 January 2016 - San Diego, CA

[hellboy]

Please keep this post on topic - discussions not related to the show will be deleted by moderators. Spoilers (including setlists and pictures) may be posted in this thread after the show has taken place.

[markuspoop]

Anyone know of anywhere good to go before the show to grab some beer/food?

From what I saw it looks like the only places may be:

Woodstock's Pizza
Bridge's Bar & Grill
Effin's Pub & Grill
Wings N' Things

[azbay]

Man it's crickets on this thread.....

[Kittaan]

I predict identical setlist to SF for each SD night.

I f'n wish I was going to more shows....

[nxrm]

I f'n wish I was going to more shows....

I wish I'd been able to make this first SD show. Just couldn't make it happen.

Hopefully that new album and accompanying tour aren't too far off.

[Kittaan]

You should have gone Norm!!

Hope somebody starts feeding us some details from SD.

[hellboy]

Full set, same as night 1 in San Fran:

No Quarter
The Grudge
Parabol
Parabola
Schism
Opiate
Ænima
Descending
Jambi
46&2
Danny Solo
Vicarious
Stinkfist

[hellboy]

Also, Primus setlist:

Those Damn Blue-Collar Tweekers
Wynona's Big Brown Beaver
American Life
Jilly's on Smack
Mr Krinkle
My Name Is Mud
Jerry Was A Race Car Driver

And poster:

[UndKeineZwEier]

Looks like they're getting abducted by aliens.

[Krazy_blah]

Glad I went, can't recall last time Maynard sounded this good- not kidding. He brought the vocals. Didn't do the usual part in Vicarious but absolutely can't complain. They sounded great.

Been avoiding all threads for spoiler reasons since Wednesday. Here's a pic of the poster, tired and just want to go to bed and eventually catch up on reading some posts...

[markuspoop]

Really, really good show. I'm back on the Tool hype-train.

Will post more about it later.

[hellboy]

[Krazy_blah]

[brasko]

were they allowing tubes to be brought in for posters? or were any being provided at the Primus merch table, which seems to be the norm with those guys?

[markuspoop]

So, it's only taken about 2 weeks but here goes:

For me, show #15 or so. For the wife, show #12 or so.

We ended up getting there late. So we didn't get to explore the area around the campus or meet up with other Tool-peeps at local watering-holes beforehand or whatever. We go there late enough that we missed 3teeth. Or we just decided to drink in the parking lot and drink outside and skip 3teeth.

So, when I got our tickets I got them off craigslist/Ebay (that whole day-of, on-sale fiasco was the 1st time I'd been shut-out on Tool tickets) and they were some of those "obstructed view" seats, as they were as far left as you could go on MJK/Adam's side (Was also worried about the actual location of the seats themselves but, well, that was a non-issue). Initially I was a little bit worried that I had been bamboozled with the tickets, just because they were off craigslist/Ebay but over countless emails with the seller and the fact that I knew I had Ebay/PayPal to reimburse me, I felt pretty confident that they were legit and worse case scenario is that we'd get 2 tickets outside and I'd have to deal with Paypal later. Dude I got 'em from emailed me pdfs of the tickets as soon as the purchase went through and later on actually mailed me the hard tickets too. Slight bit of trepidation when our tickets were getting scanned but they all checked out and we were GTG. I've read that some people were bitching about security for this show and I guess they went in via a different entrance. Security for us was lax and they barely patted us down. Made a quip to the security dude that I enjoyed his pat down and it got a chuckle.

Met a bunch of cool people outside, one of which was a dude (Ryan) at the show on his own and it was his 1st Tool show ever. He was a really cool dude and it was neato to meet up with him and bask in his enthusiasm. I think we convinced him (not that it takes alot) to go to the show on the 10th as well. Good brew and good people equals good times. While waiting in line to hit up the bathroom I asked everyone else in line what time 3rd Eye Blind went on and that was met with both laughs and boo's. Some people just can't take a joke.

Of course, the wife wanted to get her merch before heading in, so we had to carry around/account for 3 tshirts for the 2 sets. I tried to tell her that there'd be plenty of merch available after the show but she was having none of it.

Primus was really great. Like, Larry David "pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good" great. I'm not gonna sit here and pretend that I'm some hardcore Primus fan. I know "My name is Mud" and the South Park theme song and some other tunes but I'm certainly no fanboi. But they rocked the fuck out. I dug the shit out of 'em though I couldn't tell you the track-names of the songs they played. Really enjoyed their stage set-up.

So, like I said our seats were on the far left of the stage, as far left as you could go. So for Primus we stayed in our "assigned" seats which were near the top of the arena. Throughout the course of Primus' set and the intermission we noticed our section was maybe 1/2 or 2/3 full. So we decided that if things stayed the same we'd scoot down a bit. We went and grabbed a final beer and when we came back we went down to somewhere around row 10-15 and grabbed some seats for Tool's set. And these seats were fucking t-i-t-s, tits. Like, so fucking good. Incredible. Maybe the best seats I've had for a Tool show. And for the whole set there was like barely anyone around us.

So, Tool comes on, we light up a little jammer (and no, I don't condone or promote any kind of narcotic usage but hey when in Rome), security doesn't care, so, eh, good stuff. Now, I had done my best (or the best you can do in the 21st century with social media and everyone being all Neo and being plugged in) of avoiding the set-list but I knew they were playing a Monster Mash-esque set. Cool, good stuff. Now, the wife, I think she had cheated and checked and read on line. But I had an idea what to expect and I still wasn't going to get my hopes up on any songs until they actually started playing them.

Viginti Tres, okay, intersting start.

No Quarter. Yeah, it's on. Holy Toledo. I mean, this was some good stuff. Minimal lighting, just straight to the nuts with the good stuff.

The Grudge. This is where I think I actually ejaculated in my pants. Like I said before, I had an idea of the set, but I didn't get any hopes up for this one just so I wouldn't be disappointed if they didn't play it. But once that first note it, it was on like fucking donkey kong. Finally get to hear my favorite song. And yes, Jim didn't do the screams at the end but fuck it. That break-down (or whatever) at like 3:50-4 minutes in was worth the price of admission alone. Obviously the highlight of the night for me. Just straight up rock-out-with-your-cock-out for this whole song.

Parabol/Parabola. So, we still don't get any time to rest and decompress (well, I guess a little during Parabol, but still.......). Another one to check off the "I finally heard" list.

Schism. It's definitely the top "radio" hit but still, live and with that whole OTR middle part, I still don't mind it.

Opiate. Again, another one to check off the "I finally heard" list. Yeah, it was good. The middle, extend-a-version was awesome and the whole jab at fucking SJW's was great. Take that you fucking pc, hippie mother fuckers.

Aenima. For me, this seemed like the first time I could take an actual mental break. Probably heard this song every time I've seen 'em so initially I was like "Okay, I'll kinda check out and catch my breath." Yeah, that didn't happen. Actually, JUNIOR stole the fucking show on this song. Not trying to slobber-knob or anything but seriously, Junior's work on this song actually upstaged the band, in my opinion. I'm sure anyone around me during this song was thinking, "Why is this idiot looking around at the lasers with his mouth open? Is this dude on acid or mushrooms?" But that's how good, imo, Junior was on this bit. It actually made Aenima. Kudos, Junior. Kudos.

Descending. So, it seems like Jim has added some vocal harmonies/hums to this. I still love this little 3-5 minute bit. I've already heard it countless times so I'm sure I looked like a wack-a-doo to everyone around me when I was rocking out on cue to this one. Still, this was nice.

Jambi. Forgot how much fun this song is live. Probably my 2nd favorite track off that album and totally didn't realize it'd be played. Just an all-around solid song.

46 & 2. Okay, first time I actually can kinda catch my breath. At this point Dan's drum-solo is what makes this one. And said drum solo did not disappoint.

Intermission. Perfect. This time I actually enjoyed the intermission. Last time (in 2014), I remember kinda, I don't want to say, bitching about it, but I think the whole Intension into Intermission was a real "vibe" (god, what hippie bullshit is that) killer. It was like 20+ minutes of 'meh,' in my book. This time, the intermission seemed like a perfect time for everyone, audience/band/crew/etc. to catch their breath, hit up the tinkle, and get ready for the finale. Definitely appreciated it this time. Plus they kept the house-lights off, which I think added to the whole deal. Plus, it was the perfect time to hit up the bathroom.

DC's Drum Solo. I know pretty much just shit about drums but just getting the chance to watch Dan by himself on stage just go to town is awesome. Totally love it as a way to kinda get back into the flow of tunes.

Vicarious. We got "edgy/ironic/too-cool-for-school" Jim on this one. I had kinda seen that in one of the previous shows he had actually sang the final chorus, so I had my hopes. But, nope. We got the whole hey-it's-ironic-that-i'm-not-singing-but-you-are-singing-for-me-and-singing-about-living-vicariously deal. I mean, it's a cool song and all but lord, just sing the end fucking chorus. This whole I'm cool and edgy and "live" and make wine and have Puscifer and live in bum-fuck Arizona and do other stuff while you work in corporate world or whatever and actually live vicariously through me, Jim the singer, is kinda played out. Or maybe I'm just a cynical old man. Still, wasn't too bad of a song.

Stinkfist. What I love about this song live is watching everyone being into it and then they go into that extended breakdown bit that throws like 98% of people off. I dunno why but I just always get a kick out of it. Plus, it's a not too shabby closer. Definitely like it better than Aenima for some reason. I mean, it's pretty fucking hard.

After the show we hit up Merch again and got an unsigned poster and an unsigned Primus poster. I think I actually like the Primus poster more. Plus, hitting up Merch again let me point out to the wife that they still had plenty of tshirts. Take that, woman.

I said before that I thought these may have been the best seats I've had for a Tool show (and I've sat all around) and I think it's true, at least for me. From where we were, we got to see Adam interacting with his tech and the guys on the side-soundboard (or whatever) the whole show. And we got to see Jim and Dan interacting with, whom I'm assuming was Aaron Harris (or whomever sits behind Danny's kit for the whole show). Whoever that was kept making the 'drinky-drinky, glug-glug' motion to Jim the whole show, which seemed to elicit many-a-laughter and smiles from our mystery-man singer for the whole show. Plus there were a few times where you could see Dan turn and give that smile/laugh/WTF look back at the tech. It was really, really neat being able to see some of the, not the behind the scenes, but the kinda inner-workings of a show.

One one hand, I'da heard alot of these songs live countless times, not just from being in attendance but from bootlegs and still it was a lot of fun to get to experience them first-hand, again. Or in some cases for the first time.

I'da never thought a set without Lateralus would be as good as it was, but this show was that good. Definitely Top-5, probably Top-3. Jim sounded on-point all night long. Didn't notice any real fuck-ups with anyone. Adam was his stoic self. Justin rocked out fucking awesome. Plus the whole bow-tie and suspenders gig was nice. At some point the wife leaned over and was like, "Uh, you're gonna have to do me while wearing suspenders." Talk about a total score. And watching Dan is well worth the price of admission.

Oh, and this was me to everyone around me in my section after The Grudge:
[thumbnail][/thumbnail]

Some other time I'll bitch about how much I hate driving home from San Diego at like 4 in the morning.

[hellboy]

Technical note: Junior does the lights, another dude does the lasers. They're both bloody good at what they do.

Thanks for the great review!

[markuspoop]

Well in that case I fully retract any/all accolades directed at Junior. Laser-man is a God. All hail Laser-man.

I will say if there was any downside to where we were sitting it's that we didn't get the full-on scope of the lights/stage backdrop. That said, Junior's still pretty good at what he does.

And yeah, it was a great review.

[ncast2523]

Great review!

[nxrm]

Righteous write-up poopus! Thanks for that.

Wish I could have made it down there to hang out with you. Maybe next time.

[Capt. Shipwreck]

Great hd vids

The Grudge

No Quarter

[markuspoop]

I listen to parts of this show at least once a week. The whole No Quarter/The Grudge bit almost makes me splooge in my shorts at the gym every time.

"Stop me if you've heard this one before.........................................Aaaaaaaaaaaaah whales vagina. (chuckling as if he's rather very satisfied with his joke). Hello, San Diego."