Live And In The Flesh
Tool - August 24, 2002
Tool was out on the road promoting their latest album Lateralus which came out in 2001. I had caught them the year before in Barrie at Edgefest for the first time and knew I couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch them live so close to home in Ottawa. After all I had to go through to get down and back to that Barrie show at 16 years old, this show seemed like it would be much easier to make happen. We were still faced with a few challenges along the way though.
We were lucky the show had landed on a Saturday night in August. We didn't have to worry about school the next day and we could make our way into the city whenever we were ready. Five of us climbed into my mid-nineties Ford Escort (my first car ever), and headed into Kanata to the Sens arena, which was the Corel Centre at the time. Twenty or so minutes after leaving my house we started to experience some issues with my car's transmission, as it wouldn't shift into any of the higher gears. Luckily we weren't too far from home so I was able to turn it around and limp the poor thing home with the four ways flashing. After bargaining with my dad to allow me to borrow his van in order for us to make our way to the show, he made our night and handed us the keys. We made our way to the arena fourty-five minutes later and rushed into the venue full of excitement.
Tomahawk, Mike Patton's latest creation featuring members of The Jesus Lizard (guitarist), Helmet (drummer), and Melvins (bass), opened up for Tool during this 2002 Summer Tour of North America. We were pretty excited to get to see Patton in action. After hitting up the merch booth and picking up a tour shirt we made our way to our seats. Situated in the 100 level, just a section back from the stage, we had the optimal view throughout the entire concert. Tomahawk made their way to the stage with Patton sporting a cop uniform and some sort of megaphone. Starting things up with Jockstrap, they had our attention in no time. Seeing as how they had just released their debut self-titled album in the fall of 2001, we heard almost half of that album live. Probably one of my favourite albums of theirs to date, and it was incredible to see Mike Patton live doing what he does best, rocking our faces off. Flashback was probably the highlight of the night for me. By this time we knew we were in the right place at the right time. God Hates a Coward, and even Angel Eyes, a Herb Jeffries cover was thrown into the mix to spice things up. 101 North, Sir Yes Sir, Point and Click and Laredo wrapped up their eight song setlist. We were lucky that Tool had decided to bring along such an incredible opening act that tour. They had us excited and begging for more!
This was my second opportunity seeing Tool since Lateralus was released the year before and turned out to be one of their most memorable performances. Not only did we hear three-quarters of their latest album live, they even threw in Sober to get everything started up, an extended version of Stinkfist, Forty-Six & 2, and one of my favourite Tool classics, Ænima. This was my first time hearing this track live and it was more incredible than I could have ever imagined. I couldn't believe we were experiencing such an amazing concert in Ottawa of all places. This was my first time at this venue for a concert and I was relatively impressed with how everything unfolded. Tool had these groups of balls that looked like gigantic bunches of grapes that had enormous propeller fans keeping them afloat sidestage throughout some of Tool's set. The giant screens and visual artwork from the band's decade-long career blew us all away. Alex Grey had recently been brought on for the Lateralus album artwork and this was really the beginning of my admiration for his work.
The highlight of the night for me would have to be the trio off of Lateralus, Disposition, Reflection, and Triad, which was even followed up by a Wings for Marie (Pt 1) teaser (four years before 10,000 Days was even released). This was the only time I would see these Tool songs live and this entire jam was really what got me hooked onto their live shows. It was a perfect way to begin wrapping their performance up before topping the twelve song setlist off with the latest title track and certainly one of my favourite jams off of the Lateralus album. After the show had finished up we made our way back out to the parking lot only to find out that our battery had died in the van! We couldn't wait to get ourselves into the venue and had forgotten to turn our vehicle's lights off! Thankfully we were able to find someone to give us a boost and send us on our way. It's hard to pass up any opportunity to catch Tool live, as you know they will show up time and time again with amazing performances that keep you coming back for more.