Temp: 22 degrees
Whoah, what happened to summer? Cold today... well, compared to the weekend anyway. But that's okay, because today is Toolsday! After work I quickly made some breaded pork cutlets and asperagus, then we drove down to GM Place for the TOOL concert!
the first band, Isis, started at 8PM. We were outside the venue, in line at 8PM, but for one convoluted reason or another, there was only one single entrance gate open, and it took over 45 minutes to get in to the stadium! We completely missed the first band. With well over 400 concerts/gigs/shows under my belt, I can safely say, this was the longest I ever had to wait to get in to see a band.
Well, at least we bumped in to our friends Collin and Kristy, so we got to catch up, and hear some road tales from Collin's recent tour with Splatter.
Fortunately when we finally got inside, there was no lineup at the beer garden, so I grabbed a couple wobbly-pops (at $7.25 each) and we made our way to the seats to await the start of TOOL. A few minutes later, a jovial, if not slightly intoxicated kid carefully ballancing two beers plops down beside me. "It sucks that you can only buy one beer per person per trip, eh?" He says.
"Yeah, " I replied, :but the guy at the end of the bar right behind us asked me "You sure you just want one?" (I had finished the first one, the bought a 2nd), "so it sounds like he'll sell you a few if you try..."
"Awesome, I'll be right back - you want another beer?" He quipped as he stood up again, carefully placing his two full beers under his seat.
"No, I'm fine, thanks."
A few minutes later, he returns with a single beer in his hand, plus two girls in tow, each holding another two beers. He took all five and added them to his little pile under the seat.
"That's a lot of beer, man.. you sure you've got enough?" I joked...
"I'm gonna try to make one more trip!" He enthusiastically replied as he turned on his heels and headed back down the stairs. "Why, you want one?"
"No, I'm still fine," I chuckled, "I've had plenty already."
"Well, I see you eyeing my stash" he says grinning, "if they're all still there when I get back, I'll share. Mind watching the beers for a minute?"
"Not at all...", I replied with a smile. After all, it was a pretty funny situation - this kid, maybe 19 or 20 years old is already slightly glossed, and yet he's got seven untouched pints of been crammed under his seat (which has cost him over $50 at GM Place prices) - and this still isn't enough for him? Carole and I got a bit of a chuckle out of it. He was cheery and talkative and super psyched about the show, sure I'd watch his beer for him - this would, after all, make a pretty funny blog entry. Of course, I didn't know the half of it then...
A few minutes later, he and his girlfriend return, each holding yet another pint of beer. "They'd only sell us one each this time, man that sucks!"
"You've still got 7 full ones down there", I say, pointing to his foamy stash, "you don't think that's enough?"
"six." He says, still smiling, as he hands me one. "Thanks for keeping an eye on them."
"Thank you!" I say, "You know it was pretty hard work, lots of people shuffling down the isle almost kicked 'em over."
"The hard work was probably keeping from drinking them while I was gone, am I right?" he joked. "Naw, just kidding, thanks man.
So, over the next few minutes I learned that he and his girlfriend and her friend were all over from Pender island for the concert, and that they were totally psyched, had a hotel room, and were in full-on party mode ... yada, yada, yada... typical youthful exuberance.
But then out of the blue, he hits me with "So, we're going to fuck during the concert, you don't mind, do you?"
Startled by this totally unexpected subject change, and still not sure if he's joking, I say "Funny you should mention that - just two weeks ago at the Rob Zombie concert, Rob stopped between songs to say "hey people, we've been getting a lot of calls from promoters lately telling us that cleanup crews are continually finding hundreds of used condoms after our shows ... now I've gotta ask, which one of our songs exactly, is causing this???" ... so, is this like a new "thing" that's happening at concerts these days?"
"Seriously," he says totally deadpan, "we've going to be fucking during the show. That's not going to bother you guys, is it?"
"Now strange thoughts start creeping through my head ... who is this "WE" he's talking about ... is he talking about me, or his girlfriend? The beer he gave me DID taste kinda funny, oh crap... did he drug me? I wipe the dew off my cup and hold it up to the light... is there any residue? Nope... but what was that taste... maybe I'm just weirding out... I take another sip, nope, now I'm convinced it's chemically tasting... or maybe that's just the taste of the plastic cup? What could he have put in... GBH? Extacy? Maybe he put it in a beer for him or his girlfriend and he gave me the wrong cup? No, the beers are all sealed with lids - if he did that it would have to be premeditated... okay, okay, I'm a big boy, whatever it is, I can ride it out. I keep looking at my beer in the light, and I suddenly realize I must look really strange to him, and I haven't answered his question yet... crap! crap! crap! How could i be so dumb as to accept a drink from a stranger? Okay, okay, okay, I'm TOTALLY being paranoid, there's no way this ljolly little kid did that to me, I've just got a way too out of control imagination... besides, if I start to feel strange even in the slightest way, I'm going to take this punk with me. He may be drunk, but he must know I've got 80 pounds on him, and would pulverize
him... I come to the conclusing that he probably IS intimidated by me, and is just being really nice because he wants to, as he so elloquently put it, "bust a nut to Tool" with his girlfriend and he doesn't want to surprize the "big guy" - so he's placating me with beer.
Finally I muster a reply: "We'll be looking that way" I say, pointing at the stage, "what I don't see don't bother me... just don't get any on me, eh?" I mean, what else could I say - the question was so surreal and my mind went into overdrive thinking of convoluted scenarios allready, this was just too strange... so what could I do. He laughed, gave me a high five, and tried to hand me another beer.
"No," I chuckled, "I've DEFINITELY had enough now!" Obviously three beers is never enough, but I needed a clear head to process what the hell was going on and to analyze whether I had indeed been drugged, though that particular worry was quickly diminishing. I was about 99% certain he was talking about his girlfriend now. LOL.
Finally the show started - the show on the stage, that is... though I must admit, I had one eye locked on my new buddy for the entire performance... if his pants drop, I'm shuffling over a few places in the other direction!
After the first song, "Sober", (how ironically titled, eh?) he pushes another beer my way, and I take it - aw, what the hell. Thankfully, this one tastes just fine, and when held up to the light, shows absolutely no signs of residue.
Oh, and by the way, I know the expense is killing everyone, NO, buddy did NOT "bust a nut to Tool". Apparently, much to his surprise, his girlfriend just wasn't comfortable with the proposition ... in fact, she looked down right unimpressed - possibly even "angered" by the suggestion. My goodness, now who would have imagined that???
... and the beer was perfectly fine too. Just an over active imagination, though I really should take a lesson in this, because several people Carole knows have had drugs dropped in their drinks at bars - that kinda crap happens - and just because I'm a 6'4", 225lb dude doesn't mean it can't happen to me - as proposterous as that sounds.
Enough about buddy. This is TOOLSDAY, and Tool was seriously kicking some ass on stage. From the intense beginnings with "Sober" to the intense ending with "AEnema", and everything in between, Maynard was flawless, the band was TIGHT, and the visuals were mesmarizing. Tool is totally on top of their game - to think that barely 4,000 people trickled in to see Rob Zombie two weeks ago, and here, over 15,000 are squashed into Vancouver's largest stadium to see Tool - I love Tool, they're one of my top 3 all-time favorite bands, but I had no idea they were THAT popular.
Ah, and the sound... crystal clear - like digital quality, I don't even know how they got such clarity out of GM Place, I've never heard such audio quality before... there MUST be some secret new technology at work here, because it was far and away the best sounding concert I've ever been to. And loud. Even the GM Place gate attendants were saying that they've never worked a concert in their lives that was as loud as this one. Well, whatever Tool brought with them, holy smokes did it do the trick.
Maybe it was the beer, maybe it was the party atmosphere in our section, maybe it was surreal little wacky buddy, or maybe it was simply awesome music, performed to perfection, by some of the most precise musicians in the genre - whatever it was, the end result was the best damned sounding live performance I've ever witnessed.
In all, Tool was on stage from 9:20 to 11:20 - a full two hours. We were back to the car by 11:35, and were home shortly before 12:30. I couldn't believe that I had been standing up for well over two hours, and my back was still feeling great - I think this physio is actually working! Despite the ringing in our ears, we were both asleep before our heads hit the pillow, dreams of sugar-tools dancing in our heads.
Posted by Calvin at August 22, 2006 09:39 AM