Tool 2023 North American Tour Wrap Up

The first leg of Tool‘s mammoth 2023 North American Winter Tour has wrapped up, and by all reports there were some great shows! This post is a little spoilery, so if you’re keen to avoid what’s in the setlist, the please turn back now!

The stage setup didn’t appear to change significantly. For the most part is resembled the last tour, though they seem to have done away with the curtains, and added a few extra screens on the side of each stage. Breck, Junior and co. did a great job of delivering on the light & video show we all come to expect.

There were a few guest on the tour, most notable Billy Strings and Alex Lifeson. They both jammed with the band on the track Jambi. You can find these performances on Youtube pretty easily if you’re keen to see more. Reportedly the support band Steel Beans were good value as well.

Posters and merchandise were once again a focus for these shows (as is the norm for big bands these days). Tool managed to curate a bunch of great posters, but a few new items were added to the repitoire such as coins and the 30th Anniversary Undertow re-issue. You could also buy those Skull sculptures from shows too. Finally there seemed to be a new re-issue of the Fear Inoculum vinyl with the yellow cover. These seemed to be some kind of coloured vinyl variant. Reported signed copies of these were sold for thousands! These all come at a hefty premium though, so prepare your wallet appropriately.

There were a couple of festival dates, with Power Trip being the big name this time around. Tool played the same day as Metallica. While the setlist wasn’t especially notable, I did enjoy the huge video screens that kinda wrap around the stage – a somewhat unique layout for Tool this time round and worth checking out. You can read a review of the day courtesy of our buddies at MXDWN.

Finally – the setlist! For the most part Tool didn’t stray from their recent formula of setlist construction. We still have the set in two parts with an intermission. They play for more or less the same amount of time as previous shows. The sets were prety Fear Inoculum heavy which shouldn’t surprise many. The most notable inclusion in my opinion was the addition of Rosetta Stoned into the rotation. It’s been a while since the blokes from Tool have played it, and it seems to have filled the slot they’ve been squeezing 7empest into.