Tool bring first arena tour to Europe in 15 years – review

Copenhagen is unseasonably warm for an April day, as we arrive in Denmark’s sunny capital to watch the opening date of Tool's Fear Innoculum European tour, which sees the band traverse Northern Europe, including shows in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Dublin.

Although Tool aren't due on stage until 9pm, die-hard fans are queuing outside the sparklingly new Royal Arena Copenhagen from as early as 4pm, pressed against the merch stall crush barriers to get their hands on limited-edition gig posters along with an array of t-shirts and long-sleeved items. Judging by the punters’ attire inside the venue later that evening, the merch stand did a healthy trade.

Support: Brass Against

Supporting on all dates this European jaunt are 16-legged New York ensemble Brass Against, whose viral covers of Tool classics helped secured them the position. Perhaps also in play is the novel idea of the opening act performing covers of the main artist, something that we’d be willing to bet has tickled Tool’s sense of humour.

On that note, Maynard left this sign on stage, a wry reference to a somewhat controversial aspect of Brass Against's recent history...

They open with a thunderous version of Audioslave’s ‘Cochise’, the 5-strong brass section, drummer and guitarist dressed head to toe in white, whilst singer Sophia Urista stalks the full width of the stage in a black catsuit and black glasses, radiating supreme confidence in front of the rapidly filling arena.

The well-lubricated Saturday night audience roar with recognition when the eight-piece move into subsequent Rage Against The Machine tracks such as ‘Bulls On Parade’, but they save their biggest cheers for the covers of Tool tunes, which they play in their own inimitable style.

On songs like their cover of ‘Forty Six & 2’ Urista’s voice effortlessly alternates between whispered invective and angst-ridden screams, whilst the brass section provides atmospheric accents you wouldn’t expect at a metal concert, including a drums vs brass breakdown in ‘Guerilla Radio’.

Watch Brass Against's cover of 'Forty Six & 2':

When they round off their non-stop set with a powerhouse version of ‘Killing In The Name’, employing the time-honoured tactic of slowing the riff to increase the heavy, the all-seated audience (more on that later) is a sea of bobbing heads. As a mainly covers band they perhaps unfairly won’t receive the critical recognition of more traditional metal acts, but Brass Against would have absolutely any rock festival crowd bouncing from front to back. And if live music is all about enjoyment, then they have absolutely nailed the brief.

Tool

By the time the house lights dim just after 9pm, the excitement in the venue is palpable. The last time Tool played this neck of the woods was Copenhell 2019, on the same festival tour that saw them headline Download with a rapturously received set.

Remarkably for one of metal’s biggest acts, aside from festival dates like the above, most of us in Europe have had to wait nearly 15 years for a proper Tool arena tour, and the rarity of their appearances combined with the past two years of devastation to the live music industry lends the evening a special air.

Another interesting quirk of tonight: signs throughout the venue state “No cameras or recording of the show. Any persons taking photos will be ejected from the venue.” Venue staff are quick to politely inform allcomers that this is indeed the case.

The deceptively simple-looking setup at one end of the arena sees a conventional looking stage surrounded by a mysterious opaque curtain that must be 50ft high, curved in an arc around the front and sides of the performance area.

As the strains of instrumental ‘Litanie contre la Peur’ start, the curtain’s purpose becomes clear: projections of album imagery start to rotate across and around it, making the whole stage appear as if encased in a three-dimensional vertical cylinder of Tool iconography.

The band walk on stage with no fanfare, but their appearance is met with a roar from the crowd. As will become apparent across the rest of the evening, the focus from the off is on the sound and visuals, acting in tandem to envelop the audience, with the band themselves almost secondary to proceedings.

They begin with ‘Fear Innoculum’ and vying for the breath-taking honours alongside the stunning screens (an enormous eye looks left and right, the pupil returning to centre on Carey’s drum podium) is the sound. It is SO loud, yet so clear. Even in our seats at the back of the venue looking down on the stage, it hits you like a hammer. With just three instruments and one vocalist, the power is astonishing.

Said instrumentalists and vocalist assume their traditional positions: drummer Danny Carey seated at his enormous glinting kit is the main point of light on the stage, whilst smaller spotlights illuminate bassist Justin Chancellor to the right who is all movement, and guitarist Adam Jones to the left who stands studiously focused on his pedals, occasionally strolling towards the centre to exchange a smile with Carey and Chancellor.

Enigmatic frontman Maynard James Keenan, as always, is right at the back of the stage in near darkness, confined to two small platforms above the amps of Jones and Chancellor. He paces in tight impatient circles on his platform of choice, singing, then crouching low and ape-like. Even unilluminated against the enormous LED backdrop, you find your eyes flitting to his brooding silhouette throughout.

Chancellor’s trademark bass sound punches through the wall of Jones’ guitar, sometimes pairing with it, other times siding with the groove of Carey’s drums. All three combine in thunderous synchronisation for the end of ‘Fear Innoculum’. As the first song finishes and the applause dies away Keenan states the word “Copenhagen” and is met with cheers. Obviously not meeting his energy requirements, he responds with “Copenhagen… work on it.” These are the last words he will address to the crowd for nearly two hours.

They move onto older material with a run of ‘Opiate’, ‘The Pot’ and ‘Pushit’, the sell-out 16,000 crowd singing the opening lines of ‘The Pot’ back to Keenan as one.

The feeling of carefully controlled power underpins the show. Even amidst the earth-shattering volume of the heaviest parts of ‘The Grudge’ and ‘Hooker With A Penis’ it feels like - if they wanted to - they could go nuclear and obliterate the venue.

Chancellor’s bass can surely only be rivalled by Rob Trujillo’s for stadium-shaking tone. It is hard to convey just how all-encompassing the sound is; the solid concrete floor of the arena vibrates beneath our feet as if we’re sat upstairs in a pub with wooden floors and a band is playing in the room underneath.

Much of this is the work of a veritable battery of desks the size of a tennis court in the centre of the arena, displaying a constellation of tiny and no doubt incredibly expensive LED’s.

The visual production is huge, to match the sound. Our back-of-a-napkin calculation reckons there must be something like 4,000sq ft of screens behind the band. Lighting rigs descend, unnoticed, angle, dance with each other, then ascend once more. Tool’s iconic seven-sided star is suspended over Carey’s drumkit, changing colour and throwing out beams from its points. As the show progresses, more effects are unveiled. Lasers strafe the crowd, lights appear unexpectedly from beneath the guitar and bass cabs, the side of stage, the roof, behind the screens.

And then there’s what’s on those screens. Tool have always embraced the uncanny, as their music videos attest, but witnessing the slimy nightmare creature from the video for ‘Opiate²’ chattering its lipless mouth on screens the size of a block of flats is quite something.

A standout moment is during ‘Right In Two’ where a 30ft tall grimacing mask appears against a background of shifting snake skin, displayed in such high definition that it looks for all the world to be emerging out of the screen above the band. Its eyes illuminate, and it splits to reveal the skull of… an animal? You feel like you’ve either become part of a music video, or they’ve added something extra-curricular to the beer.

Speaking of beer, after the band finish a raucous version of ‘Hooker With A Penis’ they walk off stage, leaving a helpful counter on screen showing that the encore will begin in 12 minutes, and the crowd dutifully disperse to visit the toilets and bars.

The show resumes with the slightly unusual choice of ‘Chocolate Chip Trip’, essentially an extended drum solo for Carey. In his uniform of basketball jersey and shorts, he is the focal point of all: the visuals, the lights, the music, all eventually recentre on him. During his solo the crowd sees an overhead camera angle of him, split into 9 kaleidoscopic slices, (the only time the screens show a musician rather than graphics) and there may as well have been 9 of him tonight. His drumming is relentless throughout the show, no mean feat for a guy in his 60s.

Watch Danny Carey's staggering drum skills during Pneuma:

Before the final number, Keenan addresses the all-seated crowd for the first time since the opening song. “I believe apologies are in order. I believed it was a Copenhagen thing, but maybe it’s a Tool thing: you guys don’t have to sit down. You can stand up.” The crowd cheer and begin to stand. “Thanks so much for coming to our first show here since the world caught fire. You may now take out your stupid cell phones and film this last song. But turn the light off.”

They end on 12 minute epic ‘Invincible’, their 6th from Fear Inoculum tonight, fully half the setlist. Fair enough, it’s the album tour and their songs regularly top 10 minutes, so setlist decisions must be tricky, but after a wait this long a few fans we speak to afterwards are disappointed not to have had more representation from the albums they’ve grown up with. Still, the joyous reaction from the arena when their set finishes and the band take their bow shows that age-old setlist arguments are the least of everyone’s problems. The fans are just happy that Tool are back.

Of those fans, plenty have travelled from across Scandinavia to be here, with a healthy scattering of Tool t-shirts on show in the airport departures lounge the next day. A couple in the crowd explain to us that they've travelled from Bergen in Norway, a round trip of over 800 miles.

With the house lights up ‘Witness The Fitness’ by Roots Manuva begins to play on the sound system. The spell is broken, we are released from the mad, jaw-dropping world of Tool. We file out, not sure what we’ve just witnessed, but knowing it was incredible.

Tool UK & Ireland tour dates:

MAY 2022

Manchester AO Arena – Mon 2nd

Birmingham Resorts World Arena – Wed 4th

Dublin 3Arena – Fri 6th

London The O2 Arena – Mon 9th - SOLD OUT

London The O2 Arena - Tue 10th - added due to extra demand

Get tickets to Tool's Manchester, Birmingham and London shows from Planet Rock Tickets

Tool Copenhagen setlist:

Fear Inoculum

Opiate

The Pot

Pushit

Pneuma

The Grudge

Right in Two

Descending

Hooker With a Penis

Encore:

Chocolate Chip Trip

Culling Voices

Invincible

Tool set times:

Brass Against on stage 8pm

Tool on stage 9:15pm, end 11:30pm

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Maynard James Keenan through the years:

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