Tool at the TD Garden - Boston, MA 2/19/22

Tool made their way to Boston for their latest leg of the Fear Inoculum Tour this past Saturday, and like always, they never disappoint. The pandemic may have put the damper on live music for almost two years, and stalled all touring during that time, but despite all that and given that frontman Maynard Keenan battled the virus twice, he still sounds just as great as years past. The mystery that envelops a Tool show and its fans was just as prevalent as always. Tool has always had a "no phone/camera" rule, and I love it. It ensures that the fan is truly there for the show and the show only.

Starting off the show was a tracked version of "Litanie contre la Peur" and dives right into "Fear Inoculum", the title track from their 2019 release, featuring a lacy style curtain during the duration of the first few songs, but yet you can still see through it with their unique and brilliant light show. The Tool production team really never gets the props they deserve, but every time I've seen them it is as impressive as ever.

Frontman Maynard Keenan has never been the talkative type when addressing a crowd, always keeping things to a minimum and saving his voice for the performances, but with the crazy weather on Saturday, almost 65F in the morning, snow squalls in the afternoon, and near blizzard winds at showtime, he said, "Hey Boston, sorry I brought some weather with me from Arizona, you're welcome!" This was one of the only times he spoke other than singing. Its the mysterious aura of Maynard that makes Tool truly unique and that much more fun to see perform live.

Tool rarely plays some of these classics and fans were for sure excited and were treated to songs like "Opiate" and "Right in Two" which nearly never make the live show. Having seen Tool on the first leg of this tour nearly three years ago, I knew what to expect for the light show, but the switch up in tracks from Fear Inoculum made it worth it to see both legs of the tour. You literally got to see just about every track from the record performed if you went to both legs. Six were performed in Boston. If you get the chance to see Tool on this leg, do yourself a favor and get those tickets. You won't regret it, as every time I've seen Tool, the show has been different every time, yet the same brilliant drumming by Danny Carey, whom had his signature drum solo leading into "Chocolate Chip Trip."

A rarity was seeing all four bandmates share the front of the stage on stools playing the unplugged introduction to "Culling Voices," to which even Danny played the guitar. Once done with the introduction, Danny quietly receded to his kit, started the percussion, to where Maynard followed suit and the band finished up this amazing rendition. To close out the show, the band played an incredible version of "Invincible" and really secured how well rounded they are as a band. Of course at the beginning of it, Maynard said his usual "You can now take your phones out and take shitty video that you'll never look at again." I just love his stance on this.

TLDR: Go see Tool before they hang it up forever.