Tool at the Paramount Theatre, Oakland CA

Wow.

Just, wow. Another great Tool show. True to the performance in Seattle on Tuesday, and similar to the Coachella show on Sunday, Tool played a tight set, demonstrating tremendous energy. There was no opening act, and on this warm-up tour, the venues are being kept small (the Paramount apparently holds something over 2000 people). The time listed for the concert was "7:30", but I assumed that meant that the doors opened at 7:30. I stepped into the venue at 7:50, just as the opening song started!

Marquee for Tool's show at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland, CA

The outside of the Paramount Theatre. After the show was over, the Marquee had already been reconfigured for R. Kelly.

Holy crap, I almost missed part of the show! I left work a little before 6, and did some "creative driving" to try and beat traffic, which combined with BART, got me to Oakland when it did. Thankfully, I made it to my seat in time. My seat, for being a last-minute ticket, was actually pretty decent. I was on the ground level, fairly far back, but dead center. Seeing as how the Paramount isn't very big, however, there really aren't any "bad" seats in the place. I was much closer to the stage than for Coachella, that's for sure!

Without further ado, here is the setlist:

Lost Keys (Blame Hoffman)
Rosetta Stoned
Stinkfist
The Pot
Forty-Six & 2
Schism
Jambi
Eon Blue Apocalypse
The Patient
Sober
Lateralus
Vicarious
Ænema

This is basically the same setlist as Coachella, with Lost Keys and Rosetta Stoned tacked onto the beginning. There was no encore, but Tool did take a short break (2-3 minutes) after Lateralus.

Maynard came out sporting jeans and a mohawk, carrying a megaphone on a shoulder strap (which I never did see him use...). After Rosetta Stoned, he donned a cowboy hat, which he wore for the rest of the show. In addition, during Schism and Vicarious, I spied Maynard messing around with a keyboard of some sort. I believe I also saw Adam and even Danny getting into the act as well, but I am not as sure.

Camera phones suck, but you should be able to make out the relative size and position of the video displays. This was taken during Lateralus, I think.

They are doing some interesting things with the video screens on this tour, as you can see in the image above. They have evolved to four separate screens, each of equal size. They are placed evenly at the back of the stage. What is interesting, however, is that the displays vary from working independently to "teaming up". I saw images that took up 2, 3, and even all 4 of the displays. Tool tends to use more of the displays in tandem for the songs that have actual video content (like Schism, for example), to great effect.

Overall, Maynard wasn't as talkative as he was at Coachella. Here is an incomplete list of his between-song banter:

"Those were, some songs. Coming up: more songs."
"Peewee's Playhouse. Always a blast."
Before playing Sober, he said "Little bit of OGT".
He tried telling a story about how his grill was stolen when he looked away, and then he told a cop, but the cop was stolen when he looked away. "Tough town", I believe he said. It didn't come off well, however due his mic cutting out in the beginning.

A shot of the crowd, as Tool leaves the stage.

Overall, I am pleased with 10,000 Days - I am growing increasingly fond of it with every listen. Three of the songs on there, The Pot, Jambi, and Vicarious are extremely good, and play quite well live. But what is really surprising, is how well The Patient holds up. That song is crazy-good, and nearly upstaged the entire night.

-Andy.

Technorati Tags: Tool, 10,000 Days