ahousenearyou Concert Review

Tool - Saturday 28/04/2002 at the Rod Laver Arena.

Ever listened to a band and thought, 'wow, imagine meeting those guys'?. Well, a dream came true for me when i got to meet maynard from tool on the weekend. A client of my work had a bit to do with him professionally and ended up getting tickets to the concert and a pass to the aftershow party. When i got the call for accompanyment, i was pretty stoked.

We trotted off to the Tool gig (that i wasn't going to for lack of funds) and cruised in somewhere near the first set. Heard 'The Grudge' and 'Stinkfist' with an interlude of 'Eulogy' in the middle, the sound was huge and we had great seats.

I think the wine guy (our client) was really getting into it too, he kept ringing his friends and sticking the phone up in the air for them to listen, might have just sounded like a really loud party but hell, he didn't care, he was rockin' out with tool. Another guy that came along wih us was the brother of the carlton footy cclub player matther lappin. He was diggin it too, but not getting in on the crazy phone call action that i had also cough on to. Lapps was playing it cool.

Before i go on i will describe some other cool stuff at the gig...

• Some dude getting a run up and jumping from the seated area into the moshpit and doing a runner from security (it was a fair drop, it would have hurt.
• nude dudes walking around with their heads at their feet and swinging around like a clock ticker up on stage (read Schism filmclip).
• nude dudes hanging upside down with their arms out during the encore and generally looking cool (read opener to the tool 'salival' dvd).
• an awesome new filmclip for parabol & parabola playing on their big ass screens prior to the encore.
• The drummer from the melvins coming out for the first song of the encore and banging away at some drums alongside the tool drummer, big solo, very cool.
• ps. maynard did the whole gig from the back of the stage silhouetted by a screen in his undies

After the gig we took advantage of our after show passes, we had these little round stickers that basically meant that we were cool and we were going to get to meet the band. But we were one short, lapps was without a ticket, Andrew thought he could smooth talk his way through security though.

We had been fantasizing about hoards of whores, mountains of cocaine and hard liqour all night long. The Tool after party would have to be something pretty special . . . It wasn't to be.

The wine guy displayed his smooth talking prowess when we mad our way down under the rod laver arena to the secret location of the tool rendezvous, the bouncer was more than happy to give Lapps his ticket into the room. Walking in we were presented with a stale environment, white walls, about 30 young dudes in there all sitting around waiting for their hero to walk through the door. Seems all the beer had already been consumed so we grabbed a coke and waited patiently. . .

A couple of minutes later this seedy little dude walked casually through the door wih his big blue cap on, tiny man he was. He introduced himself as Maynard and we chatted about wine and the show. We had planned a day of wineries and wine auctions for the sunday. Maynard seemed pretty cool, pretty casual. He was obviously a bit drained and it looked like he just wanted to have a good nap. We parted ways, he said 'see you guys tomorrow' and went off to service the rest of his doting fans.

On the way out, walking from the meet 'n' greet, we must have looked a bit like the band, the wine guy looked a bit like maynard i guess and we just kind of look like other casual dudes, we had heaps of people draped over the fences watching us, yelling stuff out
"great gig guys"
"that was awesome man"
raising our hands in the air we received applause from the tools fans and upped our stride, feeling pretty good as we walked from the arena.

It all seemed a bit boring to just leave the gig and go home so we bar hopped to the depot in richmond for a beer before a big day of wineries the next day

The morrow came, but it was not to be, Maynard was still in bed when the wine guy went to pick him up from the hotel and we were on standbt until 9pm when the call came that he had interviews and stuff to do so he couldn't make it. That was fine with me, i had to go and console my special lady friend who i had left the night before prior to leaving for a romantic dinner to ggo and watch tool. But these are the sacrifices you make, i guess.

Rating out of 7 7's.