When you film a concert, you are ‘rude’ and no longer present. Then you leave the trip the band wants to take you on. These are the harsh words of Tool, who hates filming concertgoers. They are ‘arrogant jerks’, and so smartphones are banned in the Ziggo Dome. It feels a bit like primary school, but to be honest: it has been a long time since we have had such a classical concert experience.
By: Sebastiaan Quekel
Photography: Ashley Oomen
“Amsterdam?” The concert is barely ten minutes into the concert when Maynard James Keenan, normally not so talkative, makes an urgent appeal to the Ziggo Dome: keep your phone in your pocket during the show. Immerse yourself in the magic of music, he says. “Please, Amsterdam.” A phone is only a distraction. Or as he previously said in an interview: “It’s rude. It’s annoying, it’s distracting, even for us. So put the fuck away, grow the fuck up. It only takes two hours.”
During those two hours, real smartphone sheriffs in sleek suits (and with stern looks) walk around with some kind of flashlight, hunting for disobedient video makers. It feels wrong and intimidating. We hardly even dare to take notes on our mobile phone. But don’t worry, says Tool, it’s really for a good cause. And yes, no one is peeking at their WhatsApp or Instagram in between. All 15,000 fans have their eyes on the ball: it creates a solidarity that you hardly see anymore in this digitalized world.
Tool will be in the Ziggo Dome (venue in Amsterdam) for the third time in five years on Monday, again with the same tour, but now at even higher prices. Fans pay up to 180 euros for one ticket, which has doubled prices since 2019. A bizarre observation, although Tool fans know better than anyone that an evening at Tool guarantees a sensational experience. And they are right.
Already with the surprising opener ‘Jambi’ the band causes an earthquake that seems to split open the Ziggo Dome. Singer Keenan, who turned 60 last month and again with a mohawk, has a fantastic voice. Adam Jones’ riffs are sometimes subtle, sometimes thunderingly loud, and Danny Carey’s drums: well, no less than legendary. The Ziggo Dome sees perhaps the best drummer in the world at work and can even watch via a bodycam how brilliant he makes every drum fill sound.
For two hours the band fluctuates from pulverizing (The Grudge, including scream!) to beautiful (Invincible) and from elusive (Descending) to nice rocking (Flood). After the break, Tool seems to get lost in its own hint of mystery for a moment – the instrumental piece is very long – but then there is Maynard who brings everyone back to class with his demagogic shouting voice. Metal from the very top shelf.
After a truly phenomenal Invincible – the new songs get a better response anyway – Keenan keeps to his word. The fans behaved and were allowed to pick up their phones during the last song and make a recording. That takes a maximum of a minute: the Tool fans put that annoying thing away and are completely absorbed in the magical experience called Tool. What a night!
