Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Tonight I made a trip over to NYC. I’ve wanted to see Tool for about 25 years and I found out they were playing at Madison Square Garden. Technically, I also knew they were playing in Allentown (much closer) a few months prior to this but I couldn’t decide if I wanted to buy an expensive concert ticket. Around the time they were doing that show I was kicking myself for not getting a ticket. That’s when I found out they were also playing at MSG, so I decided to treat myself and bought a ticket immediately. My daughter wanted to see them also so I bought her a ticket also and made a special trip out of it, getting us a hotel for the evening so we could hang out in the city and not have a long ride home in the middle of the night.

Elder

The opening band was Elder, a heavy psychedelic rock band originally from Massachusetts and now based in Berlin. The vocals felt a little too echoey though MSG was largely empty when they were playing so that could have contributed. After listening to their recordings afterwards I realized that was just their sound. They were a great opening band, though, and started to make the evening feel “real”.

Set List

• Sanctuary
• Merged in Dreams - Ne Plus Ultra
• Halcyon

Tool

I absolutely loved the main show. It was a ruthless assult of songs and syncopated rhythms. I didn’t realize at the time how lucky I was with their set list; they played Flood for the first time since 2011, Schism for the first time as the show closer. Danny Carey was insane on drums. His rhythms were impeccable and he made it look effortless. I found myself watching his arms purposefully flail, striking every target dead center. During Chocolate Chip Trip the large visuals were a kaleidoscope view top-down on Danny, furthering the arms-flailing imagery.

Set List

• Fear Inoculum
• The Pot
• Rosetta Stoned
• Pneuma
• Intolerance
• Descending
• The Grudge

Intermission

• Chocolate Chip Trip
• Flood
• Invincible
• Schism

Ear Protection

While I expect any major concert to be loud, I had read a few reports that recent Tool shows were insanely loud. I didn’t feel like paying the hearing-loss-price, but I was torn by also not wanting to have a sub-optimal experience watching one of my favorite bands I had waited so long to see. Foam earplugs are a blunt instrument to lower volumes. I’ve tried them at other shows and haven’t enjoyed the result. After some research I found there were some options to lower the volume without losing much fidelity. I opted for a pair of Experience Plus Earplugs by Loop.

The balance of sound quality to noise reduction was rather impressive. It wasn’t exactly the same as listening without any hearing protection but it was impressively close. They were so comfortable that I forgot I was wearing them during portions of the show. and I could still hear the vocals and cymbals quite easily.

The biggest proof was later that night and the next morning when I didn’t have any of the typical post-concert ringing or discomfort. I also felt far less fatigued. I really appreciated they came with a small, compact case and are completely passive so it’s not yet another device that requires cords or chargers.

Being Present

The music - that was the real reason I was there and it was pretty amazing. At the start of the concert, lead singer Maynard James Keenan pulled no punches in expressing his disdain for “god damned fucking phones” at a concert. I have to agree with him and was simultaneously a bit convicted, knowing that I’ve pulled out my phone at many inopportune times before. He invited us to join with him in a shared experience, and if we put them away he’d let everyone record the closing song (which felt less like a reward and more like a concession). Most people complied (there’s always one person with their brightness all the way up, in this case texting people and browsing porn) and it really made for a better show.

Ironically, Ticketmaster required you to have a phone to use your ticket - no more printing tickets at home. I’ve been using a LightPhone lately so I had to bring one of my old broken phones with me to use the Ticketmaster app. It really felt like an exercise in tech-for-tech’s sake.

Given I had that phone with me also I did sneak a small handful of photos during the show, but 99.9% of the time my hands were free and my entire self was deeply into every note that was played. It reminded me of concerts I had been to a long time ago - before I ever owned a cell phone - and how awesome it was to step outside of time’s forward march to just enjoy the art of some very talented musicians. I understand the allure to having a snapshot or two of your vantage point for posterity’s sake, but I almost felt silly with the phone after having experienced such immersion in the show just minutes prior.

Before the last song, Maynard begrudging announced the phones could come out again on one condition: the flash on them needed to be turned off. Of course a number of oblivious idiots had their flashes on and received a tongue lashing from Maynard. “If you don’t turn that off I’ll come down there and shit right in your mouth.” After saying that to a few more people, he realized he was going to “run out of shit” and needed to ask Danny for help shitting in people’s mouths. It was humorous and sad at the same time. With all the phones out, the concert already felt somewhat over. The magic was gone.

However, then they played Schism and I was lost in the concert all over again, save for that little voice in the back of my head reminding me this was the last song.