The refreshingly evil sounds of Tool
Posted: Saturday, June 16, 2007 3:10 PM by John Roderick
Tool
In massive contrast to everything else I saw on Friday, Tool wants us to know that everything is NOT OK. In fact, going by the imagery projected on the giant screens flanking the stage, Tool is predicting that the future will be just one terrifying invasive medical procedure after another. Prepare to have your skin flayed by emotionless cyborgs, America, in 5/7 time.
It was pretty refreshing, actually, to hear a band make evil sounds and show scary videos, and the Bonnaroo audience was musically resilient enough to dance and groove to Tool like they were listening to ABBA Gold. The live sound was crushingly good, the guitar sounded like it was quadruple- tracked, and the singer spent the whole set at the back of the stage, silhouetted against the bright video screens. It was a cool effect for the singer to remain distant, highlighting the estrangement in the music, but paradoxically the overall effect was enveloping and calm.
I’m starting to think the real terrifying future of America is no longer an eternally dark, rainy “Blade Runner” techno-horror where killer robots disembowel us to Alice in Chains. Instead, it’s a perpetually sunny farm-field where we all lick Cheetos dust off each other’s salt-stained arms to the sound of cheerfully punky ska music. While killer robots disembowel us.
Tool delivered the sort of spine-tingling music that is meant to herald the coldest of apocalypses, the worst nuclear winter after Skynet decides to kill all humans, and it was comforting. I pictured the reaction from the original Woodstock audience if Tool had taken the stage with their modern PA equipment and melted everyone’s faces. We’ve come that far, at least, that a completely stoned audience can watch vivisection footage without freaking out. Don’t take the brown acid!
