The Tool VIP Event has come and gone, and as expected it included a rehearsal and a Q & A session. A warning for those wanting to stay spoiler free for the show – rehearsal included a couple of surprises, which may or may not bne reflected in the setlist, so I’d avoid reading much further.
At the session where Adam Jones, Danny Carey and Justin Chancellor. Maynard wasn’t in attendance, which probably shouldn’t surprise anyone. There were numerous crowd size estimates, some say 300, others say 500. Regardless, due to the size getting in was slow and the Q & A was reportedly a little tedious.
The rehearsal was a mini-set of sorts and included Vicarious, Opiate (new extended version), Parabol, Parabola, Aenema, The Grudge and a new jam that was described as sounding similar to one we’ve already heard before. It was noted on the Tool Army Members Facebook page that Adam mentioned this was part of a 15 minute song.
Following the rehearsal there was a Q & A session, and some of the highlights were:
- Adam spoke in regards to the new Tool album that there has been good progress since the lawsuit was done. They wouldn’t be drawn into saying much more about it. Adam was reportedly a little emotional when discussing it.
- They’re hoping to have the Opiate video out by the end of the year and it’s directed by Dominic Hailstone.
- It sounds like the Opiate video will be the new version of the track, and not the original. Presumably it’s been re-recorded, and I’d speculate it’s probably what they were doing when the were in the studio with Motorhead earlier this year.
- It seems as though they are waiting for their record contract to be finished before doing a live DVD.
For those who haven’t been keeping notes, there were a few hints earlier this year from Danny that the Opiate video might be the much discussed curveball. There’s only a few months left this year, so I expect we’ll see some solid news on this in the not to distant future!
Thanks to lachrymologist for the details on the VIP Event.
As to the show tomorrow night, here’s a shot of the stage that ajreeb sent to me:
Finally some news to get excited about! New album progress, Opiate DVD/re-work, possible live DVD and an interesting setlist that would be fkn epic. Hopefully they hit Oz on the back of the new album… Great work Hellboy and thanks for the info from those who attended
hmm, 500 bones to hear that ? and a retooled version/video for a song that came out over 20 years ago. how exciting.
Must we complain about everything?
That CoS link was about as classy as shitting on your grandmother’s grave
Am I supposed to be put in my place by that?
Yes dude. please proceed to leave another comment where you pretend you’re tough & know what’s best for everyone
Yes, we must complain when there is something legitimately deserving of a complaint.
Who the hell pays $500 to see an event and then guess who never shows up. Just took a look on twitter and found someone asking why MJK as a no-show. Official answer: Oh, this was planned months in advance. As if that makes it any better. What if MJK planned months in advance NOT to be there. COULD HAVE TOLD THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WERE GETTING!
some people are never happy ay? personally I reckon an updated/retooled version of opiate would be awesome. you’re obviously one of the fans MJK alluded to in his last interview. What more do you want from them? There will be a new album, possible live DVD and also a re-jigged version of Opiate with accompanying vid… Fk me whinge whinge whinge do us all a favour and quit being a tool fan altogether and go listen to a corporate whore like Miley Cyrus. Then you’ll get your 6 albums a year, endless live goodies and whatever else it is you… Read more »
I guess you live inside MJK’s head then. So glad you are privy to the 9inner workings. I know most of you are long-time fans… I was to…. then I got tired of getting the shit end of the stick. I know MJK has a certain dry wit and style… but I realize that the joke is on me. I’m the douchebag for buying the hype, getting in line to see the shows, getting all warm and fuzzy at the first sound of his voice. There is no other musician like him. But I honestly feel Maynard has moved on… Read more »
Mate, whats your drama? When did I say I know whats going on in MJK’s head – just repeating what was communicated at the VIP event. all I’m saying is I’m stoked for new shit after years of waiting patiently. If you’re not then thats cool too, but if you are so over tool/MJK what are you doing on a tool fan/news site? Also there is more to tool than MJK. yes he’s obviously a big part of them but I’m more excited to hear the new music than the vocals. You guys are fucking wankers it pretty much goes… Read more »
We think alike. Thank god you are here.
You’re a negative, patronizing little turd aren’t you. How’s the view from way up there on your pedestal?
No new album in 2016 I guess… “progress”…
Adam got emotional while discussing the new album? Like pissed off emotional or sad emotional???
Some clarification would be nice. But from interviews in the past, Adam has admitted that he gets teary (happy) when the pieces start coming together and a project (be it a song, album, or video) are coming to fruition. Could be that they are simply nearing the end and Adam is happy with how it has turned out.
And I mean… given the context of – they performed an extended section of a 15 minute song from the new album for a private audience – … sounds like there is nothing to worry about in terms of negative emotions surrounding the album for Adam.
i took emotional about the new album as a good thing. so not everything is lame news. why are they making a video for Opiate though. this isnt 1991/92. i really didnt expect this V.I.P thing to reveal much. at least they got to hear the grudge. if they play that tonight thats awesome. happy halloween everyone!
What about the so called “surprise”?
The Grudge is sic!
Wouldn’t talk about new album, blow me.
Glad the video is new extended version or I really couldn’t get excited. New version is great though.
I reregistered to clarify some of the VIP roundup post, as I attended this event. For me, I have to admit that I was sceptical that just Adam wouldn’t show for this “rehearsal” (BMB), just because of the nature of Tool and what I read about the rehearsals on the 2014 tour, added with Tool not feeling (changing their minds for any reason). Obviously, I never expected Maynard to attend before purchasing (which I loved after the 3 piece rehearsal. I mean who doesn’t want to hear DC, Adam, and Justin do intimate instrumental versions of their songs!). I live… Read more »
Thanks for the insightful comments MJ
Thanks for this! Would you mind posting the set list after the show this evening? I’m hoping YouTube will be flooded with videos tomorrow!
I’d recommend refreshing this site
http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/tool/2015/marquee-theatre-tempe-az-7bf5d6a8.html
6. Unkown – before this setlist is confirmed, I’m wondering if it’s one of the jams we already heard or something completely new
Disregard this post, I didn’t notice it’s from yesterday’s VIP session
The lack of lasers was not prompted by the FAA. They were ok with it and granted permission to the laser company. None of the lasers in the show would have come close to the flight path, despite it being right there overhead.
The city of Tempe are the ones who wouldn’t allow it, and never gave a real explanation as to why, apart from “because we say so”.
No news matters anymore until they are in a recording studio. Don’t care to anticipate this any longer.
It was great. I was shocked Justin remembered a show from 17 years ago and how bad it was. I wanted to apologize on behalf of Tool’s Idaho fans – half the guys that came to that show were there to punch each other out.
Meeting Danny was the highlight of my trip.
To anyone that was there: was this the part of the 15 minute song? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJKJWVRQu8Y
According to a guy on Reddit it was this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIV8-7IixFY
Thanks. Sounds great.
According to setlist.fm
Note: Band dressed up as Led Zeppelin for the first song.Maynard and Danney stayed as characters until Danny did the solo. Maynard stayed as Robert Plant the entire time
Hey did anyone who attended the VIP thing keep their little black card that was supposed to have photos on it? I wanted to see the “yearbook photo” – make a print of it to put up with my signed drumsticks and a couple other cool things from the swag pack. I got a nice little set of cool collectibles going on that will make an awesome wall display.
What is this “yearbook photo” and what else is on the card?
Do links work?
http://laphotoparty.com/TOOLPHX
And everyone had a unique what would appear to be 8 character code consisting of zzy##xxx which ends up being some encoding of the little bar code on the front. Other people were getting pictures taken by a guy with a load of cameras and he would swipe their card and take a picture. Like next to the music video props and stuff. I think the idea is once they upload the photos that you can login and look at them and download them or what have you.
They used the same cards to retrieve our cell phones at the end of the evening, after which we were allowed to take our own pictures if we wanted.
I realized I completely forgot to answer your question. I haven’t gone to bed yet… long day on airplanes. The “yearbook picture” was a picture of the guys from the band in the middle of us as a crowd and dude took a big panoramic photo of the crowd from the stage.
Cool – sounds like a good alternative to people taking cameras/phones in. Explains the disclaimer about Tool using your image as well.
Yeah I thought it was a great balance. Adam made a point of that at the beginning that folks paid good money to be there and deserved something special that wouldn’t show up on Youtube. I think it’s OK to talk about it so other fans know what to expect going in to something like this (and I really hope this is how they do it going forward if they are going to because it’s definitely a unique experience) Going out, we all got little gift bags and a poster. The gift bags had a t-shirt and assorted cool Tool… Read more »
Wow! A re-TOOLed version of “Opiate” huh? That sounds like it might be kind of cool actually. My first thought when reading that was the “Motorhead” studio thing for sure. Had to be what they were doing there. I think it’s cool that Adam seems to be so excited about everything. I mean that law suit sounded pretty soul taxing so I’d be happy to be done with that shit too. Now it seems to have cleared the passages for creative flow and he’s excited about it which is awesome! I was also just thinking about a live DVD from… Read more »
So….they played a bit of a new song that THEY called “Descending” on their setlist, pulled right off the stage!
http://postimg.org/image/vgbexdl3j/
YouTube video:
https://youtu.be/qP4hiKlUJdI
Badass!!
The new jam should be getting a little more credit if you ask me. I really appreciated Maynard’s improvisational “oooaaaaahhhs” it reminded me of The Patient. And Adam’s newest guitar part is out of this world gorgeous!
Agreed. Adams part is stuck in my head right now. It really sounds like it’s leading to something absolutely face melting (wonder if it’s from the beginning of the 15 min new song),like the intro to lateralus which gives way to the greatest and most badass guitar riff of all time.
Even though the wait has been getting tedious, I think they are gonna blow our minds and melt our faces like never before when the time finally comes. Can’t wait!
Best comment on here. Hopefully when the album drops all the negative turds on here hate tool that much that they never get to enjoy what potentially could be as good an album as Lateralus. I know I’m getting ahead of myself but fuck it it’s all positive vibes from here on!
In my mind, there’s no doubt that when this new album drops, it will be the best Tool album yet. Probably the greatest album of all time
I’ll be excited to listen to it which I haven’t had time yet. My lunch time is fast approaching…
Holy shit. I thought I’d got into tussles with other members until I read this thread.
There’s been some intense displays of vitriol …
Lol.