| Tool is my biggest inspiration in music these days. Probably one of my biggest influnces in my life, period. I don't believe Tool can be classified as a certain type of music. I believe they are their own genre. Sure, a lot ?of it has to do with the man himself, Maynard...But, Tool is still the bigger picture. And sure, A Perfect Circle and everything else Maynard does is fucking great but nothing can top Maynard, Danny, Adam and Justin. It took me a long time to realize how much I liked Tool. Metallica was my favorite band for years. I knew who Tool was but I didn't own any of their albums and just thought of them as decent band. Boy, was I wrong. I ended up buying all their albums. I bought 'AEnima' first, and I fell in love with it. My next album was their most underground one, 'Opiate'. The song, 'Opiate' became my favorite song. I got their boxed set, 'Salival' and barely listened to it. But once I did, their cover of Led Zeppelin's 'No Quarter' became my favorite Tool song. I bought 'Lateralus' next because I just came out and I loved the album, although a lot of Tool fans thought it sucked for some reason(You know, I still haven't figured out why...). 'Undertow' finally made it's way into my hands. This album was really different. Different in a way I can't explain and if I had to live with one Tool album, I think I might choose this one. Eventually, they made their way to my second favorite band, shortly behind Metallica. And I thought to myself, "Tool is a better band...But I like Metallica more." Then, came a life-altering moment. At Big Stink 6. I was eagerly awaiting Alison's phone call, my girlfriend at the time. She called me to inform me that we had won. We had won 2 front row tickets to see Tool live at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on August 8th, 2001. I almost shit my pants right there. I didn't care that the tickets cost me a whole paycheck, $250. I really didn't. I wanted to see them live so bad and I was going to, FRONT ROW! I was nervous the tickets weren't real while we were waiting in line. But, once we made it inside, I had the shivers all over me. We went and sat down, after buying a tour shirt from what was sure to be my favorite concert. We watched the opening band, King Crimson, who fucking rocked. They were like a 70's version of Tool. They reminded me of what would happen if you tripped on acid and listened to Tool and Pink Floyd simeltanioulsy.After they were done, we eagerly awaited Tool's introduction. When the lights went out everyone started screaming, I just stared and waited. My heart was beating three times as fast as it should have been. Then, it came. They came. They came onto stage and dove into their first song, 'The Grudge'. It was so amazing. SO FUCKING AMAZING. Halfway through the concert, I told myself this was and is the best concert EVER. And they became my favorite band right then and there. I don't remember the order of their setlist but they played a good one. They played 'Opiate', which I couldn't believe because they don't play that song very much I've heard. It was a great thing seeing that song live. They played 'Parabol, 'Parabola', 'Sober', 'Schism', 'Eulogy', 'Stinkfst', '46 & 2', 'Pushit', 'Lateralus', 'Disposition' and 'Reflection'. I believe there might have been a couple more songs but I'm not sure. One of greatest parts of the concert was Maynard recited rules to live by in life and had us all repeat them after him. |
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