Horses are terrible people

Last night I had the pleasure of going to the Tool concert at Staples Center here in Los Angeles.  The show was amazing and the sound was much better than I expected.  They started off with Lost Keys and Rosetta Stoned. I was impressed and happy that they didn't try and play a recording of the talking track from Lost Keys.  I think it would have distracted and been too obvious as a recording.  

As expected a majority of the set list was comprised of songs off of 10,000 Days which was fine by me.  Other songs on the set included Stinkfist, Fourty-Six & 2, AEnima, Schism, and they closed with Lateralus.  While I was hoping for a track off of Opiate or Undertow, it wasn't to be.  The highlight of the show for me was AEnima which was incredible live.  

The way they handled the lights and visuals was great; they slowly progressed with visual complexity through out the set, starting with none and ending with everything going full bore.  The all white stage and low backing (6, 7 feet tops?) progressed from light show to video display and at one point the display that runs around the entire staples center was flashing the Tool logo.

Maynard was humorous with his referring to the VIP's in Los Angeles repeatedly.  After they finished Rosetta Stoned he said something along the lines of "Oh good the VIP's are here now, we can start the show" and when they took a five to ten minute break before going into the last quarter of the show he explained that they had to stop because the VIP's had to go out and buy more beer.

Overall I don't know how to place the concert against David Gilmour earlier this year, but I have to say it was one of the best concerts I've been to.