Benevolent redemption

Two weeks ago Tommy and I saw Tool’s second leg of the 10,000 Days tour and the Frank Irwin Center in Austin. I was clueless as to a second leg until I happened upon the back cover of a local magazine the week prior to find an ad for said tour.

Despite my wife’s “why would you want to see them again when the last show sucked?”, I purchased two tickets from a guy on craigslist.

Fast-forward to the day of the show. I created a playlist in iTunes that closely resembled a Tool set list from a few nights prior and synced said playlist with my iPhone so I could be well versed for the night ahead.

Tommy met me at the bar in the OMNI lobby at 7 p.m. and we sat and had a couple drinks and caught up on each others’ lives. Quarter to nine we caught a cab that dropped us off at the entrance of the Frank Irwin Center. We had enough time to grab a couple beers at the concession stand and find our seats before the lights went down. We weren’t sure if we’d missed the opening act so we didn’t know what to expect.

The lights went down and the crowd went nuts. I guess we’d missed the opening band!

Tool did what it neglected to do the last time I spent a couple hundred bones to see a live show - they unleashed and captivated this time.

My ONLY complaint was the acoustics, but that was to be expected at the Frank Irwin Center, so it went without bother. We had awesome seats that put us behind the soundboard but with plenty of room to see the entire band and the accompanying visuals on the series of flat panel screens that adorned the stage.

I think the show was exceptionally energetic because it was the bands first U.S. stop after a six week break since returning from the European leg of their tour.

To the best of my recollection, the set list went something like this:

Jambi
“Good evening, Austin. Try not to get too drunk. We need you focused. Good to see you again!”
Stinkfist (with a funky interlude)
Forty-six & 2
Schism
Rosetta Stoned
Flood
Wings for Marie
10,000 Days
Lateralus
Vicarious

High energy, very mesmerizing and an absolute blast! I’m glad Tommy got to go with me and really happy that he had just as good (if not more) of a time as I did.