June 19th- TOOL at UNO Lakefront Arena

This past Saturday, I had the privilege of seeing one of the best bands of my generation. TOOL. They are doing a small Summer tour to help prepare for their new album coming out next year. I had never seen them before, but from talking to friends, I knew I was going to see something special.

Let me first say that I've seen some decent bands in my life, although not as many as I would like. I recently saw Govt. Mule, Drive-by Truckers, Widespread Panic (also saw them in Gulf Shores, twice in '08, thrice in '09), North MS All Stars, Five Finger Death Punch, and Earth, Wind, and Fire at Memphis in May. I have seen System of a Down (my personal favorite band) in Atlanta in 2005. I saw Lynyrd Skynyrd open for The Allman Bros in Tupelo. In 2007, got to see The Smashing Pumpkins in Memphis on a Thursday night, then drove 8 hours to VooDoo Fest in New Orleans to see Kings of Leon, Galactic, and Rage Against The Machine Friday night followed by Ben Harper and The Pumpkins yet again on Saturday night.
But I had NEVER seen TOOL.

Going to a TOOL show is hard to describe to anyone who has never been. The intensity of the musicians of something that I've only seen once (RAGE) and the light show/video spectacle is something that can only be described as "Pink Floyd + Generation X". The use of lights is something that is not duplicated in other shows. The lead singer, Maynard James Keenan, lurks in the shadows, knowing his popularity takes away from the other highly skilled musicians in the band. His voice sounds better than any TOOL album I've ever heard. There are LED screens moving from the top of the arena to the stage where the guitarists are playing. The overhead lights sway back and forth as if the arena is shaking. The show was 2 hours. It seemed like 40 minutes. The BEST 40 minutes (2 hours) of my life.

I recommend any lover of music to go see this show.