The Magic Tool in the O2 arena hypnotized, intoxicated and uncompromisingly crushed them
Covid’s concert fast seems to be over. Large halls have opened after clubs and there are so many concerts of really big names that one hardly knows where to jump first. On Monday, Tool, American prog-metal mystics who won the O2 arena in Prague like a magic wand, won it.
Live: Tool
place: O2 arena, Prague
date: May 23, 2022
setlist: Inoculum Fear, Pot, Pushit, Pneuma, Resentment, Eon Blue Apocalypse, Patient, Opiate, Descending, Penis Hooker, Chocolate Chip Trip, Culling Voices, Invincible
Photo gallery
If you would like to add to your CD collection or dress in a T-shirt with the Tool motif, head to our store. The fact that it was a complete concert for a session made it seem that almost no one came to the American formation in front of the Vysočina hall. There were practically no queues, no crowds inside the arena, everything went perfectly smoothly. There was simply no need to chase the best place underground. In the end, however, it was quite full, although the sight of half-empty galleries did not give much hope at first. Covid and his aftermath holt have done damage that will continue for a long time.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
The forerunners of Brass Against and their big band adaptations of rock and metal hits (eg “Kashmir” Led Zeppelin, “Killing In The Name” Rage Against The Machine or “Stinkfist” from the main stars of the evening) were a rather strange choice. It had energy, ideas too, but as a result – unfortunately also due to a not-so-successful sound, which shattered quite a bit against the walls of the hall – it was rather just fun half an hour. The tool knows very well that they, as musicians, tend to play more and can’t invest much of their energy in the show. Guitarist Adam Jones is a stoic calm, bassist Justin Chancellor rather walks or sways to the beat, Danny Carney almost disappears behind the drums. And then there’s Meynard James Keenan, the case to himself. The frontman, who stays in the back in the shadows and most of the time can only be seen in silhouette on one of the elevated practitioners on the drummer’s side, resembling an animal trapped in a cage.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
Nevertheless, all these essentially withdrawn, introverted foursome brought a show to Prague, which very quickly dispelled fears that perhaps long, hypnotic songs might eventually slip into a stereotype. Especially when more than a two-hour concert was planned. Footbridge error. From the first seconds, the session event became a stand-by concert, and the people on the stage immediately flocked under the stage and were on the same page with the band. Tool played the first (roughly) third of the concert behind a translucent curtain reaching to the ceiling, which created an arched projection area. He, in conjunction with a giant LED screen, significantly exceeding the width of the stage, deepened the hypnotic projections, adding to their plasticity and at the same time ethereality. Add to that the powerful light park and the massive sound that crushed (albeit at the cost of clarity of some details) and literally intoxicated.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
The instrument masterfully masters the art of gradation. Their extensive opuses – the complete new album “Fear Inoculum” and the representative selections from the four previous and debut EP “Opiate” were played on Monday – are like waves. At first, the ripples rinse slightly, swaying to eventually grow into an audio and visual tsunami. And sometimes the big intense wave comes straight and the listener / viewer immediately finds himself in the mouth of an angry leviathan. There was no rush here. Music Tool requires focused immersion, this is not the type of concert you came to sweat the T-shirt. The deeper its intense atmosphere digs under the skin. In addition to music and visuals, a disciplined audience also has a large share in this. Only a few individuals broke the ban on the use of phones – and for those, the concert ended quickly. Security was relentlessly consistent in this case. And when people could at the last “Invincible” officially “pull out your mobile phones” (as Keenan said) there weren’t that many. If the adjective is suitable for some concerts magical, this one was really like that. And this feature, or perhaps its ability, was used to the maximum of the Tool.