Tool returned to Las Vegas for the first time in almost two years Saturday night. Under normal circumstances, that would seem like a sufficient gap between stops, but the touring industry’s year-plus shutdown amid the global pandemic has changed things.
The veteran metal band has now staged two of its past 30 performances at T-Mobile Arena, the only venue that’s hosted Tool twice since the group released its fifth album, Fear Inoculum, in 2019. Combine those Vegas dates with several other local gigs during Tool's infamous 13-year gap between releases, and the enigmatic group might seemingly be running the risk of making its appearances here feel stale or repetitive.
But, as Saturday’s show made evident, that hasn’t happened. Despite being billed as another date on the Fear Inoculum Tour, the latest concert was in no way a rehash of the previous one.
The setlist was heavier on Fear Inoculum material, with all but one song off the latest album performed, and the visuals were mostly new. A constant cascade of graphics and videos stretching near stage-to-ceiling made it easy to get lost in the long, meandering songs in which Tool almost exclusively now deals .
The 2020 date featured mostly darker visuals, but the range of colors onscreen was wider and brighter on Saturday. The whole atmosphere felt lighter, as typically tight-lipped vocalist Maynard James Keenan addressed the crowd after back-to-back songs to start the set—including 1990s radio hit “Sober,” which wasn’t played during the band’s previous recent local stops.
Kennan spoke a couple more times during the night. “I’m not going to lie you, I’m tired,” he said near the end of their 135-minute set. “I’m 57 up here acting like 27.”
Nevertheless, Keenan maintained his normal stage presence, alternating between two risers behind the rest of the band where he was rarely ever visible beyond a silhouette. It remains a strange setup no matter how long Keenan has employed it, but it's one that works for Tool.
The focus is better concentrated elsewhere anyway. Drummer Danny Carey and guitarist Adam Jones were the stars of the show as usual, with the former making ample use of a preposterously large kit with creative fills and the latter ever-so-slightly bending and twisting his usual riffs.
Bassist Justin Chancellor also helped Tool defy normal metal conventions by slowing down, instead of speeding up, its songs and giving the band room to breathe. All of Tool's strengths coalesced with a mid-set rendition of “The Grudge,” the epic opener off 2002 fan-favorite album Lateralus. It was the only song played off Lateralus, compared with three in 2020, and the clear peak of the performance, with virtually the entire crowd out of their seats. Breathers and bathroom breaks ensued over the second half of the set—including a 12-minute intermission—but there were enough highs, including a relatively understated Carey drum solo.
The most consistent stretch of the evening actually belonged to opening act Blonde Redhead, as the longtime indie rock outfit from New York played a sometimes-psychedelic, thoroughly gorgeous 45-minute set heavy on dreamy material from 2004’s Misery Is a Butterfly and 2007’s 23.
Keenan told Revolver Magazine he handpicked Blonde Redhead to open the tour in part for the band's “incredible melodies, complex and subtle rhythms and non-traditional arrangements," and it proved to be an inspired choice.
Tool’s longstanding policy against cell phones, on the other hand, has started to become too big of a distraction. If the band is so adamant against phones being used during its sets, perhaps it should go the route of acts like The Misfits and Jack White and implement technology to lock them up during the show.
Instead, venue staff was tasked with pouncing on anyone who pulled out a phone for the second time at T-Mobile Arena. The only thing that’s worse than one intruding, blinding light in the middle of the set is two, which happened constantly as ushers shined flashlights on offenders with lit-up phones. It creates an unnecessarily hostile environment between the crowd and fans that’s not fun for anyone, expect perhaps Keenan.
“You can take out your phones now. I don’t like it, but what do I know?” Keenan said before the set-closing “Invincible,” allowing photos during that one song.
But Keenan does know how to perform, and despite Tool’s idiosyncrasies, the band remains well worth watching. Saturday's show might not have the band's best-ever here, but it was unique to an admirable degree.
