The date of Tool's Wednesday night performance said it all: 2/2/22.
Feels like it must mean something numerological, right? Given Tool's forte of twisting image and sound into esoterica that hints at something just out of reach, at the very minimum those repeating digits heralded an appropriate sense of mystery.
The alt-metal legends hit San Antonio just as a winter storm queued up, though you wouldn’t know it from the temperature inside the AT&T Center, which crackled with energy. The band has a reputation for massive light shows and weird visuals, which it delivered in spades. The projected imagery invoked anything from TVs tuned to dead channels to death-head moths to the world’s oceans, teaming with life.Maybe it was glee that the show went on at all, given the ongoing pandemic, but the crowd seemed downright happy, displaying less of the aggro energy that can manifest at Tool performances.
Maybe it was the retooled setlist, which discarded mainstays “Jambi,” “Parabola,” “Forty Six & 2” and “Stinkfist” for a deep-cuts vibe that added “The Patient,” “Eon Blue Apocalypse” and “Opiate.”
Either way, the crowd displayed its allegiance by donning the worst hoodies you’ve ever seen. The garments, adorned with Alex Grey artwork, were in full effect amongst the Tool faithful.
Tool has already played here once on this extended tour, though that was in October 2019, a thousand years ago in pandemic terms — a faded black-and-white memory of the Time Before.
And while the staging and production were virtually identical, the world has changed so much that Tool’s music has changed, too. Well, not the music itself, but its meaning.
Once again, “Fear Inoculum,” opened the show, this time following the ambient interlude “Litanie contre la Peur.” The title “Fear Inoculum” is so of-the-moment that, had it been written in the past two years, the title would seem too obvious. It’s hard not to think of COVID-19 when vocalist Maynard James Keenan intoned “exhale!” and the video screens filled with images of fire.
Speaking of the still-mohawked Keenan, he appeared to be incrementally more visible than in past appearances. He still stayed on back risers for almost the entire show, but he seemed to be less actively avoiding the light.
Tool’s lyrics are often about personal evolution and self-actualization, so it tracked that the shimmering curtains that surrounded the stage for the first four songs parted for “Pneuma" from the band’s most recent album, Fear Inoculum. Once again the lyrics had new meaning in the pandemic era: “We are born of one breath/One word.”
Mainstay “The Pot” got the crowd fired up early in the show with its blistering attack on hypocrisy. Tool fans from both sides of the political spectrum may feel Keenan is speaking to their ideological opposites, but his actual stance is far from overt. And keep in mind he has appeared on lightning-rod podcast The Joe Rogan Experience three times.
Tool is frequently described as psychedelic, but the descriptor applies more to the light show and visuals than the music. In particular, the tone of the rhythm section is reminiscent of '90s alt-rockers Jane’s Addiction and Faith No More, even if the rhythms themselves are infinitely more complex. Any doubts of the similar DNA were erased when bassist Justin Chancellor’s tech played the bass line from Jane’s Addiction’s “Three Days” to test his gear just before Tool took the stage.
Part of Tool’s appeal lies in the band's visual personas, which parallel their contributions to Tool’s collective sound. Drummer Danny Carey invoked a pro wrestling archetype, clad in a custom-made Spurs jersey as he hulked behind his kit. Meanwhile, Chancellor looked like an intense college prof who swills the occasional IPA. Guitarist — and visual designer — Adam Jones projects a laid-back, stoner dude vibe.
Carey has absorbed years of musical history, his monstrous playing rooted in prog but incorporating plenty of other elements, including swing. When the band is firing on all cylinders — which it is virtually non-stop — listeners can feel the tension of the rhythms that refuse to resolve, while the guitar opens things up via Jones’s riffs, which evoke late-era Led Zep.
And, if things refuse to end or resolve, hey, it’s just another way Tool reflects the current dystopia.
Indie-rockers Blonde Redhead opened the show to a polite but reserved crowd. They mixed a classic vibe that recalled Sonic Youth and Cocteau Twins with more modern electronics and dance elements. Despite the challenges of opening for a beloved cult behemoth, vocalist-guitarist-keyboardist Kazu Makino thanked the crowd before their last number and said they had enjoyed being out with Tool.
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