Tool @ Frank Erwin Center, Austin (11.14.2007)

First show of this leg of the tour, last night in Austin:

01. Jambi
02. Stinkfist (extended)
03. Forty-Six & 2
04. Schism (extended)
05. Rosetta Stoned
06. Flood (synth intro + normal building intro)
07. Wings For Marie/10,000 Days
08. Lateralus (extended drums)
09. Vicarious

I'm normally a bit more verbose, but after the past couple weeks I'm a bit reviewed out. And while I agree they are amazingly performed, Tool shows don't really contain any surprises these days, so there's not a whole lot new to add that we don't already know. So I'll just add a few notes here:

=========================

- Might be the best sounding arena Tool show I've been to. Adam's guitar sounded incredible. Maynard's mic could have been turned up a bit.

- No appreciable difference in the visuals. Maybe some slightly different videos at some parts, but maybe not, I don't really remember. Same lasers, same backdrop, same three moving circular light assemblies.

- Maynard kinda killed the momentum of "Rosetta Stoned" at the beginning by flying through the machine-gun style vocals way too fast. He would get through each verse really quickly, and then have to just stand there while the music caught up. It made the beginning of that song really choppy. I don't remember this really being an issue the other couple times I've seen them play this song.

- Long synth stuff leading into the "Flood" intro was pretty damn cool. I had only heard "Flood" live once before (on the Lateralus tour), and on that one they just jumped directly into the meat of the song, no intro. It was great having the full song plus the synth intro stuff. That song really kicks ass live.

- I'd gladly trade the extended drum stuff during "Lateralus" for another full song. That being said, "Lateralus" is still quite possibly the best live song I've ever seen.

- It is absolutely true that watching a Tool show with someone seeing Tool for the first time really elevates the entire experience.

=========================

Enjoy the tour, guys....

Neurosis @ Waterloo Park, Austin (11.03.2007)

HOLY CRAP THIS SHOW ROCKED!!!

Hehehe, I just had to get that out first. Anyway, this past weekend, Waterloo Park in Austin played host to the second annual FunFunFun Fest. I kid you not, that was actually the name of the festival. There were a couple good bands on the list that caught my eye, such as The Sword and Explosions In The Sky, both of which I've seen numerous times since they are based in Austin. Most of the rest I could leave or had never heard of. But then, lo and behold, I spotted NEUROSIS on the bill, and I could not believe my eyes. I was stoked, being a huge fan and having never seen them live before. Despite not really caring about any other bands and not yet knowing what time or even which day they'd be playing, I snagged a 2-day ticket as soon as I could. There was no way I was going to miss this!!

As it turned out, Neurosis was the headliner on the second stage at 8:30pm on Saturday night. Perfect timing. I watched my Wolverines come back in dramatic fashion, grabbed some Rudy's BBQ, told my preggo wife I'd be back in a few hours, and cruised on downtown to catch the show. I got there just in time to see The Sword. They sounded pretty good overall, although the singer's voice sounded pretty bad during the first song. They played just under an hour. Their set consisted of a lot of new material, so I didn't know most of the song titles, but here is the setlist anyway:

01. Iron Swan
02. New
03. New
04. Take The Black (New. Something about George R.R. Martin)
05. Winter's Wolves
06. Freya
07. New
08. New (holy friggin' long awesomeness)

"Freya", as always, totally killed, and the 10-minute or so final song was also very bad ass.

Anyway, enough stalling, how 'bout Neurosis!! In the dead time before they came out, you could feel everyone in the crowd getting anxious, everyone was clearly jazzed to see these guys. It was an awesome atmosphere, it truly felt like something special was about to happen. When the band took the stage, the place erupted at first, but then after a couple minutes almost fell silent, just waiting in anticipation for it all to begin. Then they launched into it, and oh my god was it glorious. Here is the set:

01. Given To The Rising

02. Hidden Faces
03. A Season In The Sky
04. At The End Of The Road
05. To The Wind
06. Distill
07. Water Is Not Enough
08. Burn
09. The Doorway

So, all in all, 6 songs from Given To The Rising, 2 from The Eye Of Every Storm, and 1 from Times Of Grace. Definitely heavy on the new album, and when I see that set on paper, I think maybe it'd be nice to have another song or two from the earlier albums. But in reality, I didn't care. They kicked so much ass and executed it all so perfectly, I don't care what songs they played or what albums they focused on. They could have played pretty much any combination of any of their songs, and it still would have been amazing. The whole damn show was a highlight for me, but if I had to pick, I would say that "A Season In The Sky" and "The Doorway" were my favorites. "A Season In The Sky" is just so perfect in the way that it builds, and "The Doorway" was just utterly crushing, a fantastic way to end the show.

The sound was excellent, especially considering it was an outdoor show, where drums and bass tend to either disappear or be so over-compensated for that they drown everything else in a wall of distortion. Everything was clear and crisp during the lighter passages, and just insanely devastating when they brought the heavy stuff full on. I was especially impressed with how clearly all the subtle electronic textures came through, since quite often they are layered over some pretty heavy guitar. I thought for sure the ability to distinguish between all the elements would have to be at least somewhat compromised in this setting, so I was very pleasantly surprised.

Visually, the only real effect they had going on was a 15-foot screen at the back of the stage, which they projected video onto from the soundboard area. The video was all black and white imagery, rooted mostly in negative and silhouetted natural (plants, forest, deer/elk, the moon) and biological (eyeballs, human faces, hands) elements. The video worked well with the tempo of the show, it would depict a slower sequence such as an eclipse for mellower moments, and then return to quickly changing frenetic spliced together segments during the faster, heavier parts. I tried to snap some photos with my camera phone, but they mostly turned out pretty crappy. I might post some a couple of the less crappy ones later.

As for the performance, the whole band was really into it. Noah Landis (keys) and Dave Edwardson (bass) pretty much just hung out on their respective sides of the stage, just kind of steadily doing their thing. But Jason Roeder was insane on the drums. Seeing him play live, you can really see how his drumming is the cornerstone holding Neurosis' sound together. The best way I can think of to describe him is this: Imagine Aaron Harris (Isis), who is pretty damn good in his own right. Now imagine someone even more natural and fluid, an absolute master. Roeder was working his ass off, but still he somehow made it look practically effortless.

But more than anything, I was impressed with Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till's vocals and overall presence. The shouting vocals all sounded great, which I expected. But more importantly, the slow, deep, sometimes raspy vocals were phenomenal, and Kelly and Von Till really sold it well. They sounded tortured and vulnerable, they really seemed to be pleading and confessing their souls. It added a personal intensity to the show that magnified the whole performance. As much as the heavier parts would invigorate the crowd, the slower passages carried an impressive weight of their own, and seemed to be equally appreciated by the crowd. They had everyone in the audience captivated.

Maybe it was because it was the first time I've seen them, or maybe it was because everyone in the crowd seemed to be feeling the same, but either way, I was totally locked in the entire show. When it was over, it was almost as if I snapped out of a daze. I had no idea how long they had played (1.5 hours), since I hadn't looked at my watch even once during the show.

Seriously, these guys are unreal. I don't want to say these guys are "gods", because I generally think it sounds lame when people say that. But this is probably as close as it comes for that phrase to apply. I'm glad I didn't miss this show. For anyone who is a fan of Neurosis, you HAVE to see them live. HAVE TO.

Porcupine Tree @ The Meridian, Houston (10.27.2007)

Porcupine Tree made a rare stop in Texas this past Saturday, so the wife and I packed up and headed over to Houston to catch them while we could. I had never seen them before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect. Based on their live DVD, I was expecting a pretty good mix of old and new, heavy and trippy. What I wasn't expecting (although maybe I should have) was so many damn sweaters. It was like everyone there had just walked out of some lame-ass poetry reading or something. Hehehe.

Opening band came on about 9pm, and it was a band called 3, which I had never heard of. I didn't think much of them one way or another at first, but the more I heard, the more I liked. They were definitely a bit progressive, the songs would have a fairly accessible core, but then delve into heavier or more sprawling parts. I might look into them a bit more.

Anyway, Porcupine Tree came on at about 10:30pm, and after a quick polite "hello" from Steven Wilson, they launched into their set. Here is the setlist:

01. Fear Of A Blank Planet
02. What Happens Now?
03. The Sound Of Muzak
04. Sentimental
05. Cheating The Polygraph
06. Anesthetize
07. Open Car
08. Dark Matter
09. Drown With Me
10. A Smart Kid
11. Way Out Of Here
12. Sleep Together
(Break)
13. Waiting
14. Blackest Eyes
15. Halo

The first thing that comes to mind when I see that setlist is What??!! No "Trains"??!! Are you kidding me??!! The second thing that occurs to me, however, is that the setlist is actually pretty good. All told, they played for just a tad under 2 hours. I would have probably swapped out a couple of the songs for a couple more from Deadwing, but no big complaints. The new material from Fear Of A Blank Planet and Nil Recurring sounded great. "Anesthetize", as expected, was absolutely PHENOMENAL, in just about every way that a song can be. "Open Car", "Halo", and "Blackest Eyes" were other good rockers. On the other end of the spectrum, the sprawling spacy groove of "Dark Matter" and "Waiting", and the mellow sadness of "A Smart Kid" and "Sentimental" evened out the pace of the show very nicely. The sound was absolutely spectacular. I had never been to this venue before (the Meridian), so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I could barely find a single flaw, from the vocals to the guitars to the thunderous drums. Maybe Wilson's mic and guitar could have been a tad higher, but I'm reaching even on that one.

Visually, there was not a whole lot going on, except for the projector they had aimed at a screen at the back of the stage. Each FOABP song was accompanied by a creepy video, usually depicting some pill-popping teens trudging through their depressing daily grind with blank expressions. The videos were fairly well done, though, particularly the video for "Way Out Of Here", which culminated in a disturbing scene of a chick walking blankly along some tracks as a train bores down on her. The scene reaches its peak just as the song hits its climax, it was all perfectly timed, and pretty damn intense. Definitely the most powerful moment of the show. I'm surprised they went ahead and followed it up with "Sleep Together", because quite frankly I think that song completely blows. It wasn't so bad live, though, and the video for it was actually pretty cool, featuring a little stop-motion animation character very reminiscent of something Adam Jones would have created.

As for the performance of the band, the best word I can think of to describe Porcupine Tree is "professional." These guys are pro's, every note was perfect, and they didn't miss a beat. They tore through their set with almost robotic focus and efficiency. Yet, every song was played with the utmost humanity. The upbeat rockin' songs had everyone smiling and shouting along, even holding their beers in the air at times. The slower depressing songs (in particular the new material) were melancholy and oppressive, you FELT it. At the end of the night, though, the band all seemed to be really enjoying themselves. The crowd was frenetic all night, and it seemed the band really fed off of that energy. Wilson spoke the the crowd several times, to either introduce a song or to comment on a song just played. He definitely had that polite British manner that made him seem like he was probably friendlier and more intelligent than just about anyone else in the room, hehehe. I don't know whether that's true or not, but the guy can sure write some songs.

If you like these guys, definitely catch them live if you get the chance. You won't be disappointed!

The Sword @ Emo's Austin (08.12.2007)

OK, I'm still too wiped out from the recent Ween shows to do a full blown review here, but I figured I'd mention that I did happen to catch The Sword at Emo's in Austin on Sunday night. The openers were High Cost Of Living and Saviour. Both were competent enough, decent openers, but nothing too special. I had seen High Cost Of Living before, and I think I liked them a little more than the other band.

The Sword played for about an hour and a half, and they sounded pretty damn tight. Here is the setlist:

01. March Of The Lor
02. The Horned Goddess
03. New Song
04. Celestial Crown/Barael's Blade
05. New Song
06. Freya
07. New Song
08. New Song (Black River/White Sand, or something like that)
09. Iron Swan
(Break)
10. New Song
11. Winter's Wolves

Lots of new material, and it all sounded pretty good. They said that one of the new songs was a 2-parter, and that it was called "Black River/White Sand", or something like that. It kicked some pretty good ass.

Sound was pretty good, except for JD's guitar, which was way too low. Most of the time, it was fairly difficult to hear his guitar parts. Other than that it was a decent show though. Lots of energy, as usual.

Ween @ Stubb's, Austin, Part Two (08.10.2007)

Second night in a row seeing these boys, pumped as hell. No anecdotal preliminary crap this time, lets get right to it.

The setlist (there was one I couldn't identify):
01. She Wanted To Leave
02. Marble Tulip Juicy Tree
03. ?? (Something about "Freaking out", possibly new)
04. Bananas And Blow
05. Take Me Away
06. Mr. Richard Smoker
07. The Grobe
08. Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?
09. I Got To Put The Hammer Down
10. Roses Are Free
11. Buckingham Green
12. Happy Colored Marbles
13. Pork Roll Egg And Cheese
14. Nan (A Tear For Eddie Teaser Intro)
15. Gabrielle
16. Doctor Rock
17. Pandy Fackler
18. Chocolate Town
19. Birthday Boy
20. Mutilated Lips
21. Joppa Road
22. Help Me Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain
23. I Don't Want It
24. Flies On My Dick (with Dickey Moist)
25. Tick
26. You F**ked Up
27. Fat Lenny
(Break)
28. Springtheme
29. Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy
30. Never Squeal (Claude Drum Solo)
31. Fluffy

Jesus, these guys have outdone themselves. Two nights in a row, 30+ songs both times, AND NOT ONE REPEATED SONG! Two completely unique setlists, these guys are prolific as hell. The sound was incredible again, as always at Stubb's. Once again, there was no shortage of jamming out: the end of "Happy Colored Marbles" was extended a couple minutes; Glenn went nuts on the keys for a few minutes in the middle of "Pandy Fackler"; Deaner cranked out some extended riffs for a bit during "Fat Lenny"; they unleashed Claude for a 10-minute drum solo during "Never Squeal"; and to top it all off, Dean absolutely destroyed the place with a mind-blowing 10-minute or so solo during "Fluffy" to close out the show. I just sat there with my jaw dropped, it was insane!

Aside from Dean's guitar jam mastery, the highlights of the show for me were the perfectly executed renditions of "Doctor Rock" and "Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy". These two songs, more than any others, sent the crowd into a total frenzy, every person screaming the lyrics and pumping their fists in the air. I don't think I've ever witnessed two more fun songs live, I felt completely drained after each one. Its also worth mentioning, I suppose, that Dickey Moist (singer for the Moistboyz, who Deaner is also a member of) joined the band on-stage and provided the vocals for "Flies On My Dick". Apparently he lives in Austin. I'm not a huge Moistboyz fan, and there was nothing particularly remarkable about this song, but I thought I'd mention it.

The pace of the show was very different than the first night, I thought it varied much more. Whereas Thursday night's show was a pretty consistent trade-off between faster and mellower tunes, this show made a couple more abrupt pace changes. The first half of the show was pretty much non-stop fan favorites, culminating in a badass performance of "Gabrielle" and the aformentioned "Doctor Rock" greatness. The whole show at that point had just continued to build momentum, to the point where "Doctor Rock" was about to make the place explode. After that, they pulled in the reigns a bit, starting with the sprawling keyboard jam of "Pandy Fackler". They then switched up and went into an accoustical set for 5-6 songs. It was a nice change of pace, and they absolutely nailed those songs (especially "Birthday Boy", hell yeah!).

Here is where the only problem of the whole 2 nights occurred. They never fully recovered their momentum after the accoustical set. They started to, with "Tick", "You F**ked Up", and "Fat Lenny", but those went by pretty quick (mainly because the first 2 are pretty short), and then they went into their pre-encore break. So, the energy they were just starting to re-build ended up being just kind of a false start. And then for the encore, they started nicely with a sweet performance of "Springtheme", and then the glorious "Don't Get 2 Close 2 My Fantasy". But instead of building on this with a couple more rockers and really blowing the place out, they switched back into the plodding groove of "Never Squeal", which almost immediately regressed into Claude's 10-minute drum solo. Now, it was cool to see the solo, and if it had been placed earlier in the night, when you have ample time after it to re-build your momentum, I think it would have worked better. But being so late in the show, as interesting as it may have been, it was a drastic enough pace shift to really kill any kind of build-up to the finale. Now, I will admit, they did an amazing job with "Fluffy", and it still ended up being an incredible finish. But I think it would have packed more of a punch if they had rolled two rocking songs into that time instead of the drum solo.

Anyway, there was way too much ass-kicking going on the last two nights to dwell on the one minor negative detail. These were two of the best shows I've ever seen, bar none. I was so worn out after last night's show, I slept like a rock. I didn't get up till noon today, and I still feel tired. Always the sign of a good time!!

In summary, Ween is back, and they are just as formidable as ever! When they set the schedule for the Fall tour after the new album is released, do yourself a favor and get your ass to one of their shows. You will thank me. And more importantly, you will bow to the Boognish!!!!

[Note: It has been announced that Ween's new LP will be titled La Cucaracha, and is tentatively scheduled for release toward the end of September. Hell yeah!!]

Ween @ Stubb's, Austin, Part One (08.09.2007)

The last time Ween rolled through Austin was 2003, so when I heard they'd be playing Stubb's two nights in a row, I snatched up tickets as fast as I possibly could. I was a bit worried that the long hiatus, which included a stint in rehab for Gener and the longest stretch between albums they've ever had, might take a bit of pizzazz out of their legendary live prowess. I hadn't lost my faith, I just slightly questioned it.

I was a foolish, foolish man.

Last night, Ween took Stubb's like a tidal wave. They went on just a little after 8pm, and didn't relinquish their grip until almost 11pm, for a total playing time of somewhere between 2:45 and 3 hours. Not bad, not bad at all. By my count, there were 32 total songs played. Yes I said 32, which for Ween is just another stroll in the park. Here is the setlist (there were a couple I could not identify):

01. The HIV Song
02. The Golden Eel
03. Baby Bitch
04. Spinal Meningitis
05. Even If You Don't
06. Transdermal Celebration
07. Touch My Tooter
08. Slow Down Boy
09. Waving My Dick In The Wind
10. Voodoo Lady
11. Zoloft
12. Exactly Where I'm At
13. Push Th' Little Daisies
14. Piss Up A Rope
15. ?? (Badass prog rock stuff, possibly new or cover)
16. She's Your Baby
17. Frank
18. The Mollusk
19. I'll Be Your Johnny On The Spot
20. Stroker Ace
21. Puerto Rican Power
22. Ocean Man
23. A Tear For Eddie
24. Best Time At Your Party
25. She F**ks Me
26. ?? (Crazy synth/chanting stuff, possibly new or maybe just a lead-in to the next song)
27. I Can't Put My Finger On It
(Break)
28. ?? (Something with the keys sounding like horns, possibly new or just live wankery)
29. Sketches Of Winkle
30. Sorry Charlie
31. Booze Me Up And Get Me High
32. Someday

What a set!! They started pretty slow and deliberate with "The HIV Song" and "The Golden Eel", like they were still feeling it out. "Baby Bitch" was a good follow-up, it started getting everyone in the sing-along mood ("F**k you, you stinkin' ass ho!"). After that the momentum just kept building, and everyone strapped in for a wild ride.

They paced the set extremely well, balancing the mellower tunes with sheer rockers, and everything in between. There was some excellent jamming out going on, as well: they extended the rockout ending of "The Golden Eel" by a minute or two; "Voodoo Lady", as always, featured a few minutes of improvised guitar screaming in the middle; "Zoloft" was utterly deconstructed down to a practical standstill before creeping back up to its feel-good groove; the guitar solo in "I'll Be Your Johnny On The Spot" was extended a couple frantic minutes.

The coup-de-gras, though, was an INSANE version of "A Tear For Eddie". Those of you dedicated Ween fans know how good the version is from the Live At Stubb's album (ironic, I know). This was even better, and possibly longer. Dean was in the zone, shredding like mad then pulling it back to the slow sweet melody, and doing it over and over, building it up higher each time. I think even Gener was in awe. Anyway, that right there was worth the price of admission.

They continued on and ended the normal set with a crunchy version of "I Can't Put My Finger On It", which was led into by some weird crazy synth stuff while Gener was chanting and wailing away in a Middle-Eastern sort of way. After leaving the stage, they came back and plowed through a few more, the best received of which being a rousing rendition of "Booze Me Up And Get Me High". The crowd was delirious with joy by this point, everyone shouting out the lyrics as loud as they could and lifting their 16oz. High Life's into the air (I practically launched mine, hehe). It was a full blown hot, sweaty, dirty, exhausted, Ween-rock love vibe. It was exactly what rock-and-roll is supposed to be, its the reason I'm still smiling today, and why I'm PUMPED to catch round 2 tonight!!!

To be continued tomorrow.....

Pelican @ Emo's, Austin (08.04.2007)

After a longer concert dry spell than normal (my last show was Tool in May), I was jazzed to find out last week that Pelican would be hitting my favorite small venue in Austin on Saturday. How I had not heard about the show until 4 days before, I have no idea. But judging by the fact that the show was inside (much smaller than the outside area) and by the fact that the show was still not completely packed, even given the smaller area, my guess is that it may have been a somewhat last-minute scheduled show. I'm just glad I happened to check the schedule in time, I was definitely in need of some good live riffage.

First, there were two opening bands. The first one, Fatal Flying Guillotines, was awful, mainly due to the retardedly spastic singer. I suppose I would classify their style as a punk-metal kind of thing, and as far as musicianship goes, they weren't too bad. The drummer seemed fairly competent, the guitarists were fine, and the bassist was actually pretty damn good. The songs were just so-so though, and any last hope of finding them remotely interesting was destroyed by the singer's antics. His vocals were a whiney type of shouting, and he stomped around the stage like a cross between Mick Jagger and a gimpy peacock. He kept lifting up the mic stand and swinging it around, more than once hitting the two guitarists on either side of him. And once he threw it lamely into the small crowd of people at the edge of the stage, and they kind of looked at it, picked it up off the ground and handed it back to him. It appeared that one of the guitarists had a major beef with him too, as the guitarist kept shoving the singer away from him, and once he slung beer into the singer's face when he was getting all up in his business. It would have all been pretty comical, if it hadn't been so damn annoying. I've already wasted way more words here on them than they really deserve.

The second opening band was called Clouds, and they weren't half bad. They were kind of all over the place style wise. They primarily had a sludgy Black Sabbath type sound, but would then go off into more jazzy, progressive parts, kind of reminiscent of Mastodon. I didn't think any of it was good enough to buy and check out further, but as opening bands go, they weren't bad.

So, then came Pelican. Here is the setlist:

01. Concrete In Bliss
02. City Of Echoes
03. Drought
04. Lost In The Headlights
05. Dead Between The Walls
06. Far From Fields
07. Aurora Borealis
08. Sirius
09. Red Ran Amber
(Break)
10. Mammoth

Its was definitely an interesting setlist, and longer than any set I've seen Pelican play (total time was about an hour and 25 minutes). I had expected a full dose of songs from the new album City Of Echoes, which lent 5 of its 8 tracks to the set. What I was not expecting, though, was to hear anything from Australasia or the self-titled EP, or see such a focus on the latter half of The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw. Not to say that it was bad, on the contrary it was an incredibly refreshing set, executed flawlessly. I was just surprised because a) I had not heard them play anything from Australasia in a couple years, b) I don't think I had EVER heard them play anything from the EP, and c) I had never seen them NOT play "March To The Sea" since the song was recorded. Roll all those into one show, and you've got one very suprised yet ecstatic tedo!

Just as a note, though, I will say that I do think it was a mistake to not play "March To The Sea". That song should always be played, I don't care how tired of it they may get. That song is so great, it transcends their ownership of it. Every Pelican fan should have the chance to see how thunderously that song brings the house down! But, that's the only slight negative I will mark up for this show.

Everything else about the show was perfect. The sound was excellent. The last couple Pelican shows I had seen had the guitars cranked a bit too high, so that a lot of Trevor de Brauw's higher stuff got lost. I'm glad to say that this was not the case Saturday at all, everything came through very clean and crisp, with maybe just a little bit of tinkering with the sound during the first song. Schroeder-Lebec's guitar was as crunchy and massive as I've ever heard it. The bass and drums were solid as always, which is particularly important seeing as Pelican's songwriting has continued to feature more standout bass parts and active drum elements. Maybe playing the inside venue helped accoustically, but whatever it was, it was nice to see the sound setup return to form.

Performance wise, this was definitely the tightest I've seen them play, and they seemed to be having an absolute blast. Having the new material from City Of Echoes has added some much-needed depth to their repertoire, and the style changes throughout the show seem to have added another level of energy to the guys in the band. By their standards, they were extremely interactive with the crowd, and seemed to really feed off the excitement of the crowd. I may be completely wrong about this, but it seemed to me that adding the encore at the end was a spur-of-the-moment decision. They had all gotten about half-way off the stage, and were just staring almost in shock at how insanely wild the crowd was cheering. Larry Herweg looked as if he didn't want to leave the stage, and he called something out to the other guys. After about 20 seconds of quick conversation, they strapped back up, plugged back in, and launched into "Mammoth", a sludgy monolithic cruncher from their self-titled debut EP of all things. Was it the best song for an encore? No. And honestly, its a track that I typically skip over if I happen to listen to the album. But with the circumstances surrounding how it was played and the energy and vibe running through the place, it could not have been a sweeter treat. Digging deep into their back pocket and pulling out something probably never heard by any fan there just summed up the whole evening. The guys in Pelican were giving their all, and it resulted in what might very well be the best show I've seen them put on yet.

Support these guys. If they are in your town, go check them out, talk to them before or after the show. They are nice, hard-working guys who love doing this. You'll have a blast, I guarantee.

(And here is a link to a recent article about the band. Its a good read:
http://www.decibelmagazine.com/features/jul2007/pelican.aspx).

Tool @ AT&T Center, San Antonio (05.21.2007)

Last night's San Antonio show was long overdue!! My wife and I had been holding on to the tickets for practically a year. I was particularly anxious for my wife to see it, since this was to be her first Tool show ever! But after all the months of waiting, the show finally happened! Before hitting the road from Austin, I practically flipped out for about 5 minutes as I tore the house apart trying to find the damn tickets! But in the end, I did find them, all wadded up and dirty in the back of our "random stuff drawer" in the kitchen. Right where I put them for "safe-keeping" months before, hehehe. We finally headed out at about 5:30pm, battled rush hour traffic for about an hour, and cruised into the AT&T Center right about 7:50pm. Boo-yah.

Just a few minutes after 8pm, the opening band Kinski went on. Their first song was a bit droning and repetitive, and didn't really grab me. However, they played 3 or 4 more that I thought were actually pretty decent. They were completely instrumental, not entirely heavy, but not necessarily on the mellower side either. They had some decent riffs going, and some electronic/keyboard type elements. Not bad, I might look into them a little and see how their recorded material sounds. It was pretty funny though, you could definitely tell that they are not accustomed to playing on a huge stage. The four guys were all kind of bunched up together in the middle of the stage, they didn't spread out at all. My wife thought it was "cute".

But enough of that, you say. We want to hear about Tool!!! First off, here is the setlist:

01. Jambi
02. Stinkfist (Extended)
03. Forty-Six & 2
04. Schism
05. Lost Keys/Rosetta Stoned
06. Right In Two
07. Wings For Marie/10,000 Days
08. Lateralus (Extended w/ King Crimson dudes)

Well, lets get the negative stuff out of the way. I will reiterate (to the dismay of many, I'm sure) the slight disappointment in the setlist. I know its been beaten to death, but that doesn't change the truth of it. It was nothing surprising, essentially a greatest hits + new material type of set. I personally think they could do better, but any Tool set is still by definition a good set, so its not a major problem. The only real legitimate complaint is that the sound was kinda crappy, definitely the worst sound of any Tool show I've ever been to before. Everything was very muddy, Maynard's vocals were way too low and Adam's guitar was way too distorted. And its not just because it was in an arena, I've seen them in arenas before where they've totally nailed the sound.

Other than those two things, the show completely kicked ass. The visuals were stunning as always. There were four smaller screens along the back of the stage, where they projected all the video clips that they play during the songs. Immediately behind that was the gigantic 40-foot (or whatever) screen that spanned most of the width of the stage. Up here they projected images of a more static nature. The lighting would change, and the image projected changed from song to song, but they didn't play any actual video up there. The stage itself was a glossy white, which in itself looked really damn cool when the high intensity white lights would come on. But the added bonus is that it provided a perfect surface to have images projected down onto it, which they did a lot throughout the show and it looked magnificent. As is well known, they busted out the lasers during "Wings For Marie"/"10,000 Days" and "Lateralus", which I was really anxious to see. I was worried that the overall effect would come off as cheesy, but on the contrary I thought they used it very well. But to me, the coolest thing they had up there were these 3 circular light assemblies that went into action during the long intro to "Wings For Marie." They started moving around and the centers of them started glowing purple, almost (but not quite) ultra-violet. They slowly moved around and "looked" out at the crowd, like they were eyes or glowing hands or something. They did this for a couple minutes and then returned to their original position. Kinda hard to describe, I just thought it was pretty cool.

As for the band themselves, they seemed in good humor. Their entrance was a bit hilarious, they all walked up onto the stage with the lights fully on, Danny in his brace. You could hear a collective gasp from the crowd. I think everyone knew "hey this is Tool, they screw with us all the time." But you could tell everyone was still holding their breath. Maynard then got on the mic and remarked on the fact that they had cancelled on San Antonio a couple times now, but that it wasn't their fault. He then said "We have good news, and we have bad news. The good news is.........there is no bad news." Danny shed the brace, the lights dropped, and the crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief, hehehe. They launched right into "Jambi", which I thought was a really good song to start with, and they just cruised from there. The energy and execution were tip-top all night. Justin was rocking violently back and forth the entire show, Danny was a blur, and Maynard was there in the back being his normal goofy self. Adam was, well, Adam. Stoic, I would say. Maynard was particularly Matrix'ish last night, constantly leaning way back and waving his arms in the air like he was dodging bullets in slo-mo. The crowd was extremely vocal, you could tell that this was a town hungry for their long overdue show. I was actually fairly impressed by it, the other arena shows I have seen were all loud and appreciative, but I felt like S.A. took the cake in this regard.

Minor complaints about the setlist aside, I really liked the song flow for this show, probably better than the other Tool shows I've seen. They've always done lots of instrumental stuff between songs, but I thought it was much smoother for this show. There really were no dead points or times where its just an annoying repetitive sound to kill some time (like they had on the first leg of the Lateralus tour, where they had a sound like someone hawking up a loogie looping for like 10 minutes). "(-) Ions" was played before "Stinkfist", and that was the only segue that I recognized as something definitely from the albums. There was an intro to "Schism" that did not sound like "Mantra" to me, and the intro to "Right In Two" was maybe a little "Intension"ish, but not really (and actually, I liked this intro much better than on the album). And there was a long ambient kind of intro to "Wings For Marie" (while the circular light assemblies were doing their thing) that I thought was really cool. It was all very seamless, I thought they planned it out pretty well. And no matter how many times I hear it, "Lateralus" is a perfect show-closer. That song always impresses me, just how much it can musically kick ass and rock out, and still have such a positive message. And the visuals for that song have always been my favorite too, with all the swirling colors and the spiraling videos. That song always leaves me just straight up feelin' good. And clearly, the rest of San Antonio was feelin' pretty damn good too!

Overall it was a blast and I left smiling ear to ear. And very importantly, my wife was VERY impressed! She already liked Tool quite a bit, from hearing the mixes I've made for her. But I think this locked her down as a fan for good! I hope you all enjoy the your upcoming Tool shows as much as we did!

Explosions In The Sky @ Emo's, Austin (03.05.2007)

Last night, Explosions In The Sky returned to Austin for their first hometown show since the release of their most recent album All Of A Sudden I Miss Everyone (which by the way is excellent!). I was pretty damn pumped to see the show, but apparently so was the entire city of Austin. The show ended up selling out a couple weeks ago, which, for a venue where you can usually show up and just pay cover at the door, is pretty impressive! To put it in perspective, both Isis and Mastodon played this venue in the past few months, and I don't think either sold out until possibly the night of the show. The place was PACKED, but oddly enough it wasn't annoying at all. The anticipation and excitement were pretty thick, and everyone just seemed happy to be gearing up for a great show from the hometown heroes.

The opener was Eluvium, who I had never seen before. Its one guy with a keyboard and a guitar. He would basically repeatedly play a bit and loop it, so that over the course of 10 minutes or so he would gradually layer different piano and guitar parts over each other until it built a wall-of-noise type crescendo, and then he would peel the layers off one at a time to wind it down. Each part on its own would be something fairly mellow, but by the time it reached the climax it was extremely loud and somewhat distorted. He also had a couple songs that were shorter piano-only pieces, and they were actually quite pretty. Overall, it was decent, and it fit fairly well as an opener for Explosions. But it didn't interest me to the point where I would buy it or anything.

Then Explosions In The Sky came on a little after 11pm, to a thunderous greeting from the crowd. Munaf, one of the guitarists, spoke to the crowd for a couple minutes, about how amazed they were with the opening ovation and how much the hometown support really means to the band. Then they launched into their set, which was as follows:

01. Greet Death
02. Welcome, Ghosts
03. With Tired Eyes, Tired Minds, Tired Souls, We Slept
04. The Birth And Death Of The Day
05. The Only Moment We Were Alone
06. Catastrophe And The Cure
07. Memorial

Excellent set! Although I suppose just about any set of theirs would be a great set. They did an amazing job of fading one song into the next seamlessly, I don't know if they ever had an actual complete break during the show. It made it quite a bit tougher to keep track of the setlist, hehe. The sound was amazing, the bass came through very cleanly, and you could hear every detail of the guitar work. The drums may have been a tad on the quiet side, but if so it was very slight, they still sounded fine. Most importantly, the energy was astounding. The band was really into it, and the crowd just fed off that. And the band really rocked the climax of the closing song, "Memorial". Everything came together as a huge crashing peak, it was the perfect conclusion to the show. For a few minutes, the crowd hung in there hoping to possibly get an encore. But after a few minutes, Munaf came back out and told the crowd that they couldn't play any more. He said they were a bit out of practice, since they had spent so much time working on the record and not playing shows, and that they were completely exhausted. He sounded really sincerely apologetic, but he said that in the coming months they are hoping to play a lot more shows, especially with a couple more in Austin. It came off as a very classy move to come out and explain things to the crowd, because he really didn't have to. As it was, they played continuously for about 80 minutes, which if I remember correctly is slightly longer than they had played at shows I had seen previously.

Anyway, the bottom line is that the show completely kicked ass, in every way possible. I highly recommend seeing this band if they happen to come to your town. They are genuinely nice guys who obviously put a lot of work into their music and into really trying to connect with the fans. They definitely deserve all the support they can get.

Isis @ Emo's, Austin (02.28.2007)

So, Isis rolled back through Austin again last night, which was a little unexpected seeing as they just stopped by here in September, on an off night from the Tool tour. As always, I was pumped to see them. However, as it turned out, I was in for a sub-par night.

First, the opening bands. Going on first was Intronaut, as a replacement for Jesu, who cancelled on the tour for some reason. Intronaut was OK, good rhythm section but the guitars and vocals were nothing special. Drummer tore it up though, and a lot of the bass work was pretty cool. After that was Torche, who I'm pretty sure I've seen before but I can't remember for sure. Anyway, I liked them a bit better, they had a good level of energy and, weirdly enough, a guitarist that to me looked just like Kim Thayil from Soundgarden. I may follow up with them and check out an album.

The sound for both of the opening bands was pretty good, but for some unknown reason the sound was absolutely HORRID for Isis. The only thing I could consistently hear cleanly was the drums. The bass was way too low, a couple of the guitars were way too high, and Turner's mic was also way too high. During mellower moments when only the bass or one guitar was doing something, it would sound fine. But most of the time if there was more than that going on, the entire thing would just explode into an overly distorted wall of noise. And the vocals had the same problem, it seemed like the mic was cranked so high that the signal was constantly clipping and the result was really distorted and crappy. I'm really confused as to why the sound was so off. This is the 5th or 6th time I've seen Isis at this venue, and the sound has always been superb. I guess it just happens occasionally.

Anyway, here is the setlist:

01. Wrists Of Kings
02. Not In Rivers, But In Drops
03. False Light
04. Dulcinea
05. Wills Dissolve
06. 1000 Shards
07. All Out Of Time, All Into Space
08. Holy Tears
09. In Fiction
(Break)
10. Celestial (extended alternate version)

Pretty good set, especially the closer. And as bad as the sound may have been, it was still Isis, live, still bringing the energy and power that they always do. And as most of you would probably would agree, even when the sound is off, if its a band you're very familiar with you can still pick out all the good stuff from the noise and have a great time. Well, this worked for about half the show. And then the idiotic moron "I don't want to actually listen to the music I just want to beat the crap out of other people" moshers started up. Moshers??? At a friggin Isis show??? Huh??? It makes no sense that people would get all aggressive and start shoving and punching to music that spends most of the time slowly building up to a climax. OK, getting a little rowdy and pumped up during the pay-off moments, no problem. But running around slamming people during the mellow ambient stuff, that makes no sense. I've never seen that at an Isis show before, it pretty much ruined the middle half of the show. Fortunately, the moshing seemed to fade out by the time Isis got to their last two songs. Also, it appeared that whatever adjustments the sound guys may have been making during the show finally got sorted out, and the last couple songs actually sounded pretty good. Especially the long version of "Celestial" that they closed with. I was really excited that they played that, I haven't heard them play that song since I think the first time I ever saw them. They really brought the intensity on that one and blew the roof off the place. In my mind, that song saved the show.

All in all, not the best Isis show I've seen, but I wouldn't blame it on the band themselves. They still brought the intensity and thunder, which in the end made up for the less-than-ideal conditions.