Many Tool fans on Reddit are not happy with the band’s San Bernardino, CA tour closer show from Saturday night, which featured Primus, Melvins, Fantomas, Clutch, and The Crystal Method. The fans claim that Tool did not have the ‘exclusives’ they expected during the band’s performance following posts on the band’s website.
Other fans though defended the performance, saying it was great and that fans misunderstood the band’s promise of exclusives. The band played mostly the same setlist they played throughout their 2017 North American tour.
tayimpromptu wrote:
Okay, so what the fuck exactly were the “couple of things” that Tool had “up its sleeves to share exclusively with its hometown crowd” (per Tool’s website on 06.19.2017)?
Discuss. And help me understand why this wasn’t blatantly deceptive advertising on the part of a band who repeatedly promises their fanbase that new material is coming “soon”.
Moteasah wrote:
I have defended you guys against the worse the internet has to offer but never again. I know this means nothing but this just has to be said to get off my chest. This is the ONLY time any entitled fan can actually be pissed and after your promise, it’s finally warranted. Adam, you had better post to Instagram today either a link to buy the new album or the reason your so called “plans for the last date of the tour” didn’t happen. At this point, I’m joining the rest of the idiots online and saying WTF? I have loved your band since high school and I’m 39 years old. Over the past 11 years, I’ve fended off all the haters of “you owe us” an album. Never again. I give up. I’ll still listen to you daily but fuck you and your new album. I will finally join the Tools and say “it’s out when it’s out”. Fuck you.
To all the people I attacked over the years, you were right, I was wrong.
Tanwhiteman wrote:
What were the surprises promised for the big show exactly? No new material, no new playlist, not even special guests or cover songs… WHAT THE FUCK TOOL??? This is beyond ridiculous. These guys give 0 fan service, which we let slide because we enjoy the music so much. But fuck this shit. Their pretentious/mysterious act is getting old. If they go on tour again anytime soon, I certainly will not be buying a single ticket unless they start playing new material. And in the future, don’t promise your fans “surprises ” if you’re not going to deliver! Holy shit..
thebrobotic defended Tool, writing:
This is the worst type of Tool fan. Any fan who believes they are owed anything by Tool, clearly does not get Tool. Y’all got the longest set of the tour, and had a sweet lineup of openers. Be happy.
Justin said it himself in the OC Weekly interview: “We’re playing the songs you heard before, at a different level. A next level. We also like to mess them around,” – what did you expect? He said it’d be the “biggest show” of the the year and in terms of attendance and lineup and setlist, it absolutely was.
kabirakhtar wrote:
hey guys. kabir from toolshed here. i haven’t written a review of a show in a really long time, but after a few of you asked, this thread seemed like the perfect place to do it. (also there’s no tour page on t.d.n to post reviews anymore…)
this was my 24th tool show, and i’m sorry to say it was the worst one i’ve seen.
granted, tool at their worst is still a lot better than most bands, but perhaps because i’ve seen them a lot, or because i saw them play in the Undertow / Ænima days, this show was just objectively not them at their best. this isn’t about “having been promised something special”, mainly because i don’t follow Tool news much anymore, so i have no issue with there being some kind of promise undelivered.
from a technical standpoint, Adam and Justin and Danny are wizards, like they always are. still one of the tightest units around. but as a guy standing next to me said, “they’re just going through the motions.” i.e., as someone else in this thread said, they’re playing the songs like a touring band, or like an excellent Tool cover band — without much emotion.
and i hate to say it, but obviously MK’s heart isn’t in it. we already know this because he’s so busy creating so much non-Tool stuff (other bands, other endeavors), but what used to be a fiery and emotional performance was anything but. the last big scream in The Grudge? he didn’t sing any of it. the final lyrics in Vicarious? (“Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies”)… he didn’t sing any of it. the final “miiiiiiiiiiiiind” in The Pot? he got a few beats into it and then pitched down, which anticlimactically let the air out of an otherwise solid performance.
the band did shine as a collective unit on a few songs (Opiate, Ænema, Forty-Six & 2, Sweat, Stinkfist), with all four of them delivering inspired performances. was interesting to note that this level of commitment and emotion only peaked with songs written before 1997. one wonders how much more powerful the set would have been with even one song from Undertow.
or, for that matter, if the setlist had included any of a dozen songs not played in years. Lateralus, last played 3 years ago. Right in Two, last played 6 years ago. Prison Sex, last played 16 years ago. Crawl Away, last played 19(!!) years ago.
all in all, pretty disappointing. this band used to deliver incredible live versions of their music, but after eleven years of not creating anything new together, Tool felt less like a band and more like four brilliant individuals playing the same songs for an aging yet dedicated fanbase who were left wanting more.
JackSparrow420 defended the band:
Here are the official changes:
Lineup was lengthy and solid
Vicarious + The Pot instead of either/or
Jam leading into The Pot
Tool confetti
Special poster
For Adam, that can be considered special. I personally wouldn’t go that far, but hey this show was different, you can’t just wrap it up with the others and say they outright lied. Exaggerated maybe, but the ones who exaggerated that were the real issue were the people in the sticky thread yesterday speculating hearing an entire new song or any of the other crazy shit that they convinced themselves of.
I want you guys to consider how you sound to someone who saw this concert for the first time last night. It was absolutely mind fuckingly incredible, and I will go again even for the exact same setlist, because guess what, the setlist is only great songs, and they play better than any band I have seen.
Lastly, think about how old these guys are getting. They aren’t young anymore and they aren’t totally into this band like they used to be. Now, they could do what a lot of bands do and lax on the practice, or worse, just not tour. They are older with enough other shit going on (and with enough money to retire) that they don’t need to tour for you. Going forward I will go to as many concerts as possible because at some point there won’t be one to go to.
