Yesterday the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam was flooded by people coming from all over Europe for Tool, one of the most eclectic bands on the rock scene of the last thirty years.
Impossible to define their genre. Swaying between alternative rock and progressive metal, with a tendency towards psychedelia, the music of the American band is appreciated by a heterogeneous audience, coming from every musical background and every age. The event, expected by the end of 2018, sold out in a very few hours.
The gates of the Ziggo, mastodontic concert venue located in the east side of the city, were open at 18.30. The building consists of six floors; the public areas are furnished with different bar stations and a resturant, and the concert hall comprises a parterre and grandstands on four levels. At 20.00, a melodic death metal band from Russia named Field, opened the event and, with its dark sonorities, created the right atmosphere for the main band: Tool started at 21.00 and played until 23.00.
As a request of the band, the use of cameras and/or films during the performance was not allowed. The Facebook page of the event explained that Tool ”strives to achieve an optimal concert experience, the use of cameras and/or film equipment does not contribute to this and disturbs other concert visitors and the band”. It actually worked.
Tool’s lyrics are intense and introspective, ranging from philosophy to mathematics, from spiritualism to social criticism, maintaining a constant obsession with the bond between the individual and the Universe and the necessity of change. Their videos, projected throughout the entire concert, show a human being disfigured by suffering in the continuous search for an inner tranquility, which seems difficult to achieve, but still possible.
Tools are: Maynard James (voice, keyboards), Adam Jones (guitar, sitar, keyboards), Justin Chancellor (bass) and Danny Carey (drums). The band is currently still around for their European tour, which will end in July with the last date in Portugal. Federica Veccari 19th June 2019
