On the recent Tool tour I went to the Sydney sideshow, Melbourne BDO, and
Melbourne sideshow, I would have liked to go to more but one BDO I thought,
and think in retrospect, is probably enough.
The first Sydney show was easily the best of all three, and simply put, the
best show I have ever witnessed. I got there at about 6pm I think and went
to the meet-up, unfortunately it was too crowded to be really social… and
was just leaving when I briefly met hellboy outside of it.
I soon left there and joined a couple of friends in the line for the floor. They got
there at about 5:30 I think and I was amazed how close we were to the front.
After they opened it up and snaked the line to enter the actual arena, I
was so close to the door that I really did feel sorry for those who had been
waiting there all day. I ended up getting front row on the barrier, almost
directly in front of Justin, which I was pretty pleased with.
There being no support act, it was pretty damn annoying. Though the crowd
made fun of it with a Mexican Wave, it was still reeking with anticipation
where I was. After they came out everyone went fucking crazy, but I was
surprised how good the sound was even though I was so close. Crazy as the
crowd was, Justin was just as so. I don’t think the guy knows how to bang
his head in time, I think he just does it in an attempt to get his brain
right… I don’t think it will work somehow. Danny, who was my favourite to
watch, seemed pretty tense at the beginning but looked to have fun later in
the set, particularly during Swamp Song, and his drum solo was something to
behold. Maynard is Maynard… he wears a fake mohawk, is there anything
else that needs to be said? Adam was, surprisingly, getting into it much
more than I had been led to believe, but I couldn’t see him all that well,
and wasn’t too fussed to look.
The setlist, I later realised, was pretty standard. I was glad that I’ve
been avoiding them for nearly a year… Highlights were the backdrop during
Jambi, the lasers in Wings, and the awesome drum solo. But Lateralus was my
favourite song of the night, it was just perfect. The visuals too, were
really impressive. It was so mesmerising… I just don’t know how to describe
it if you weren’t there, or even if you were. Words just don’t do it
justice…
When I got to the Melbourne Big Day Out, I was just in time to see the last
couple of songs of Trivium’s set. I don’t like Trivium, and the sound from
where I was standing was just terrible, not their fault I suppose. They
seemed not up themselves as such… just fucking annoying. But I was amazed
that I loved their “big last song”, for all the wrong reasons. It was the
same song as the clip on http://www.triviumsuck.com (if you haven’t seen it
do yourself a favour and watch it, you won’t regret it). It was just
hilarious… Screaming out “This… LIME!” was honestly the best part of the day
that wasn’t Tool, Muse or the thing in the cage with 5 heads. I then went
and won some free Converse shoes, and still await them in the mail. The
only other really notable band was Muse, who were really amazing. I think
it was almost as good as their Hordern show I saw on the Absolution tour.
But even the cooler visuals could not stop Supermassive Black Hole from
sucking live, the rest of it was great though. What amazed me even more was
that Matt Bellamy’s vocals didn’t completely piss me off by the end of it.
But the set was only an hour, as opposed to the two hours I had to endure
when I last saw them. He and I just don’t connect… but it was still a great
show.
Tool’s set was good, but nothing special. The sound was quite clear from
the vantage point I had towards the back of the D. Swamp Song was almost as
good as it was at the Sydney show. But I thought, just for a moment, that
we were in for something special. Into the second half of the set, I’m
almost certain sure that Danny started playing the Third Eye drumming! I
went fucking crazy, I couldn’t believe it. But it seemed no one else there
knew what it was, and it only went for about 10 seconds… and alas, they
played Sober instead. But I doubted they would play it at the festival and
not the show, so I went to the Melbourne sideshow hoping, not really
expecting, for something amazing…
I got there with a few friends around 6 I suppose and the line was already
massive, though it didn’t bother us because we were lucky enough to have
Gold seats. The Myer Music Bowl is an awesome venue, it just seemed to be
the perfect setting, but I was sceptical as to what the sound would be like.
When the suppory act started I was quite undecided if I liked them or not,
I honestly don’t remember their music too well. All that really stands out
is that those guys loved the squats. Seriously, the keyboardist’s do that
many squats during the show that their thigh muscles must rival the likes of
a Sumo’s fat fucking gut.
After they left, I noticed people had left their seats and were standing on
the barrier, and not to be denied another front row… I ran down and got an
awesome spot between where Maynard and Adam would have been. I was chatting
to the Triple J photographer for a while until they told us to go back to
our seats or the show wouldn’t start. So we all left, and when it was about
to start, people went back to the barrier, so I ran down again and pretty
much got exactly the same spot.
It’s a whole different experience, being closer to Adam and Maynard (or was
it simply being away from Justin?). This show just seemed more relaxed… not
being squashed this time, the outside venue, Maynard’s… Maynard. Danny was
just as enjoyable to watch, but I was a little disappointed that the venue
didn’t accommodate the massive backdrop like it did in Sydney, but even
worse was that Maynard’s vocals were almost non-existent where I was for the
first few songs. I think it was just poor mixing, because it got much
better after that. The set was pretty much the same as Sydney, apart from
the lack of Swamp Song. Unfortunately I missed seeing the guy who climbed
the roof during Wings (sure he could have picked a more fitting song to do
it), highlight of the night for me was Vicarious; he actually sung the last
part as opposed to leaving it for the crowd to sing. Wings was also much
better this show, not sure why really… it just seemed to fit more with the
atmosphere. Although due to the wind blowing the smoke machines, the lasers
didn’t look quite as impressive. But because they skipped Swamp Song, and
remembering the Third Eye drumming, I thought they were leaving time for a
special treat. But unfortunately, it was just a shorter show. After it
some bastard about 3 people away from me caught a drum stick… I hated that
guy. Can’t wait until December!
Because this site posts Isis news (sometimes), I thought I’d add a mini
review of the Sydney show while I’m here. Laura opened, and they completely
blew me away. I’d never heard them before and it was just so… absorbing.
They were on their way to get into the top 7 or 9 live bands I’ve ever seen,
when disaster struck. I don’t know how they managed this… but during the
second last song, BOTH guitarists manage to snap a string. After this
ensued chaotic and comical scenes of them running around on stage picking up
each other’s guitars, some of which sounded out of tune, only to dump it and
grab another. It was really quite funny, and I would have laughed at them
if they had not already converted me as a fan. Next were These Arms Are
Snakes, and having never heard them either, I didn’t know what to expect,
and certainly couldn’t have expected what was delivered. I’m not sure how
to describe it really… It was like playing Wii Boxing at 5.30am only to have
your controller run out of battery – they kept punching but just never made
any impact. Actually it wasn’t that bad, their music was good if you listen
to it. But their fucking singer should just stop, he had taken some serious
substances before coming on stage, and just acted like a fucking idiot the
whole time. He was just obsessed with the rockstar ideal without trying to
create an experience, which is a shame because the music was really quite
good, but the show did nothing to inspire me to listen further. And yeah,
Isis were awesome.
I thought Isis were grate. Laura were good too. These Arms Are Snakes were… interesting… until the idiot vocalist decided to smash his beer bottle on the barrier in front of you.