This is nothing more than speculation based on Blair‘s cryptic emails, but is worth posting anyway:
Sounds kinda crazy I know, but collectivejudas29 put together a good analysis of Blair’s spirit session from the February newsletter that led him to conclude Tool may be playing a show in July. It seems right to me, and more specifically it seems like they might be playing a festival. If it’s in July, that means it’s not Bonnaroo and not Lollapalooza. But there is another festival I’ve been hearing more and more about, and maybe it’s where Tool is heading — the All Good Festival.
Two parts of Blair’s message led me to this conclusion. The first is his footnote that seems to have no purpose. “* Y and J in place of I were also tried, as was V and W in place of U.” It has no place at all in figuring out what SILITNIUQ means. (SILITNIUQ is just QUINTILIS backwards, referring to July.) So what does that footnote mean? I think the letters are also backwards in the footnote, so not V and W (VW), but W and V (WV = West Virginia). Also he says at the end “if someone is able to fathom a meaning from the experiment, … please shout it out from the top of a mountain”. The All Good Festival is being held on Marvin’s Mountaintop in West Virginia.
I probably wouldn’t book your flights/tickets just yet though. Thanks to ogt from Toolarmy.