Tool live - unfrickinbelievable.

[quakana]

Last nights show was awesome. They have such a huge sound and nailed every song. The bass player has an incredible sound....the guitar player too.
Another great show!! Catch em if ya can. Wish they would have done more old stuff though...not too fond of the new disc but appriciate it more now hearing the tunes live

[Sinistas]

Great show. Tons of meatheads in the audience (I was in the upper lawn). Got out of the Tweet in 47 minutes. haha

[Norton]

Actually I dislike Tool even if I don't listen to them.


It's like "we're so prog that we don't use normal rhythm patterns,we are so strange that everybody likes us just to be different".At least,I get that vibe from them.I mean a lot of people listen to Tool just to be "different" and I don't like it.

And their music gets on my nerves.I want to listen to something REAL.More "in your face" music.

[Endrik]

If you don't like it, fine, but don't say it's not real. It's as real as it gets.

I don't know how you get that kind of vibe from them? They have never said anything like that, they are just fans of King Crimson and other prog rock legends and so they make progressive music. And in your face isn't the purpose of prog.

btw. What's wrong being different? Metalheads try to be different too compared to the people who listen to mainstream pop music.

[Norton]

The wrong thing is not about them,It's about some of their fans,and those fans create that vibe for them.

And it's not about being a metalhead.I listen to anything that I think it's high quality.

[zeegler]

Maybe you just don't "get" them. It's not about the fans, or image, or any crap like that. It's about music that you can immerse yourself in. As far as the timing thing goes, some people naturally write in weird timings. I do it myself sometimes. Unfortunately most people repress it because they think "this doesn't sound right. It's not 4/4 timing". Bands like Tool just say fuck it and do it anyways. They realize that 4/4 timing gets pretty boring after a while. Yeah, it's great if you want to dance, but who the fuck wants to write dance music anyway?

[Endrik]

I can dance to funk, funk is full of odd time signatures and polyrhytms. Same thing with some soul, r'n'b and jazz music.

Anyway, 4/4 time signature is ok, but 4/4 beat gets really annoying, that's why I can't listen to most of the metal stuff.
You know the good 'ol 4/4 beat:

s--x-x-x-x
b-x-x-x-x- etc. or the same pattern with double bass


You can make a lot of cool beats and rhythms in 4/4 singature. But 4/4 beat isn't very groovy. And I'm all about groove.
Tool has a lot of groove. Danny Carey is the most original drummer in metal today, he is very open minded and picks up different rhythms from all kinds of music. He brought cool afican tribal and eastern rhythms to metal, ok I Mother Earth did 'em first but Tool followed I Mother Earth with that stuff. There are a lot of similarities between these two bands, IME is/was more mainstream rock/funk metal though.

Anyway, the first time I heard Tool, I was like, fuck yeah, these guys just get It. It was just like breathe of fresh air.
I've been listening to progressive music since the age of 4 or 5. I know everthing about prog. I'm a huge fan of Genesis, Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, Marillion, Rush the whole Cantenbury stuff etc.
As far as Prog metal is concerned, I like the early stuff...Queensryche, King's X, T-Ride, Fates Warning etc.

But suddenly crap started to came out of so called "prog world" by bazillions. All those new prog metal bands are horrible. Dated double bass patterns instead of groove, cheesy keyboard sounds, bass players who play more like guitar players, guitar-keyboard solo trade-offs in phrygian scale (6 minute wankfest), power metal vibe, plastical drum sounds yadda yadda yadda. This isn't the point of progressive rock, It never was and never will be. Prog's roots are from jazz and psychedelic rock not from straight beat wankfest metal. Prog has always been about the vibe, the sounds, the atmosphere, groove, concept and SONGWRITING.... and all that mixed with the technical jazzy stuff. Bands like Kamelot and Angra are not prog, even bands like Deftones are more prog.
Good prog bands were great songwriters. There are tons of hit songs from prog bands, Money, Another Brick In The Wall pt.II, Owner Of The Lonely Heart, Tom Sawyer, Spirit Of The Radio, Abacab, Land Of Confusion, Kayleigh, Jet City Woman, Silend Lucidity etc. etc. etc.

Those new lame ass bands simply can't write a decent tune.
Tool just knows how to make music. They are like the old prog bands, they are about the sounds, groove and songs. Tool is the only progressive metal band after Queensryche who has a great success in mainstream radio and MTV.

[zeegler]

I'm also gonna bring up Jethro Tull. Not exactly what you call prog, but definitely progressive elements going on there. I have always thought Tool sounded like a heavy, modern Jethro Tull. Maynard even sounds a lot like Ian Anderson.

[Endrik]

Jethro Tull is classic prog IMO, like Nektar, Soft Machine, Gentle Giant etc.

[Norton]

Maybe you just don't "get" them. It's not about the fans, or image, or any crap like that. It's about music that you can immerse yourself in. As far as the timing thing goes, some people naturally write in weird timings. I do it myself sometimes. Unfortunately most people repress it because they think "this doesn't sound right. It's not 4/4 timing". Bands like Tool just say fuck it and do it anyways. They realize that 4/4 timing gets pretty boring after a while. Yeah, it's great if you want to dance, but who the fuck wants to write dance music anyway?

I would dance if "what is love?" by haddaway's playing.but that's another issue