About a week ago Tool finished the second leg of their North American tour, hitting up a bunch of locations they didn’t get to in 2023. They played a number of back to back shows, including a couple at the famous Madison Square Gardens.
The setlist was an iteration on the last tour, with the most prominent changes being the inclusion of Flood, and the removal of Aenema. The sets continue to be loaded with Fear Inoculum tracks, which while not unexpected to me did ruffle a few feathers of those expecting to see more Aenima and Lateralus era tracks.
The stage had some adjustments, including what appeared to be some extra video wings that seemed to wrap the stage a little more than normal. This seemed to be somewhat dependant on the venue. I think they crew may have taken some small inspiration from the Power Trip stage used last year.
Posters once more were hot property on this tour. Getting them at shows seems to be a mixed affair – being early seems to help somewhat, but frustrations were felt by those dead set on getting one. The range of artists selected was pretty eclectic, continuing the trend have having a bunch of “Un-Tool” like pieces. My favourite was this excellent poster from the Dallas show by artist Karen Offut.
As usual, our friends from mxdwn.com wrote an excellent review, as well a bunch of great photos from Brandy Hornback.
There were a few special guests this tour, including Billy Strings, Pat Mastelotto and Emily Wolfe. I believe that the drummer from Elder also made an appearance. Speaking of which, Elder seemed to get many new converts from the Tool crowd. I’ve been a fan for a while now, but if you haven’t heard them, take a look at the excellent Lore:
The next leg for Tool is Europe, kicking off in May. These should be excellent shows, and there seems to be some suggestion this may be the last one before the band start writing (and hopefully recording) again. Get on it Euro Tool fans!