Some situations are just plain strange. The fact that TOOL chose a city such as Syracuse for a tour date seems to fall neatly into that category. That was the constant theme reverberating through my skull as I drove to the concert. Another oddity of this quizzically placed show was the inclusion of reserved seating on the floor, this is nigh unheard of for rock shows now-a-day and I couldn’t help but wonder what this combination of improbabilities would produce.

The inclusion of Tomahawk didn’t help much.

If ever there was a band to leave the audience scratching their heads in post-performance befuddlement, Tomahawk is that band. Mike Patton still has his unearthly vocal gifts, which he has put to good use in this project. Apparently, he has also gotten some top-notch training in how to be an asshole. Between bouts of somewhat inaccessible experimental-metal, made all the worse by a poor house sound system, there was plenty of time to assail the audience with any random insults that happened to be handy at the moment. Some would say that this tactic alienates the audience and does little to boost the public’s view of the group. They would be correct. Regardless, the sadistic gleam in Mike’s eyes was more than enough to see the band’s “public popularity be damned” idiom. All non-musical shenanigans aside, Tomahawk put forth a solid set that showcased a starkly unique sound and, at times, challenged the preconceived notions that a national touring band’s prime directive is to ensure maximum audience accessibility and perform a commercially viable set.

TOOL also did a fine job in questioning some of the usual preconceived notions about stage arrangement and band-audience interaction. Vocalist Maynard James Keenan spent the concert on a riser placed far back on the left side of the stage. This obviously confused some people. Without a prominently placed vocalist, the audience was free to engage their eyeballs in other ways. Some looked to the large projection screens that broadcast myriad shifting images during each song. Others watched the two “frontmen” Adam Jones (guitar, stage left) or Justin Chancellor (bass, stage right). Others still watched Maynard or Danny Carrey (drums) occupy the back half of the stage. Musically speaking, it was everything that one would expect from such a high caliber group. All parts were rock solid and the selected tracks almost always had some modifications to them to distance them from their “stock” album counterparts. With TOOL being a relatively mild band, visually speaking, the music did a great job effectively conveying the intensity and subtleties of the performance. The bass was unquestionably loud in the PA system and this removed some of the finesse of Justin’s playing, but still managed to move the audience (literally) with waves of ground shaking vibrations. During the first half of the set tracks from all the studio albums except Opiate were brought out. Heavier and older tracks such as Stinkfist seemed to elicit a better crowd reaction than some of the more melodic, progressive tracks from the Lateralus album. Perhaps the older music has just had more time to endear itself to listeners. Regardless, the first half of the show was more accessible than what was to come.

After a long first half, I suspected that when the video screens booted up again and an extremely odd 10 –15 minute long noise track began, that we were en route to a brief encore. I could not have been more mistaken. The second half of the show found a previously clothed Maynard buck naked, save for some skimpy black briefs. This was a sign that things were already going to get a little strange. The apex of this long second set was a jam session that brought members of Tomahawk back on the stage to play Roto-toms and the Virus synthesizer. Some of the crowd looked bored during this excursion into more free realms of music, however I found it to be deeply engaging. Looking at each other far more often and playing off of subtle musical cues, all of the on-stage members showed an extrasensory musical cohesion. That was a treat to watch. While it may not have the glamour of an uber-rehearsed work, the raw music that was brought to bare was still miles above most other commercially released products. It was like watching Phish, but with a sense of purpose and intensity. As the show wrapped up, Maynard found the time to directly address the audience in a manner that likely made everyone’s night. Thanking the crowd for “sharing this moment with us” Maynard managed to take all previous music and tie it to the audience in a deeply personal matter. Any feelings of alienation vanished at that point. Of course asking the crowd to “take this feeling and use it a positive way” was nice as well. Following it directly was the command to get naked and have sex on the way home as well. Just another fine example of TOOL’s ever-present sense of tongue-in-cheek humor. At the true conclusion of the show, the band came forward, thanked the crowd and threw most of the contents of the stage back into the audience. All of this was done with such a balance of sincerity and professionalism that there was no way anybody could have not gone home feeling as if the band wasn’t truly happy to have been performing that evening. It was the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a perfect ending for a show.

Blending masterfully designed backdrops, a top-notch light rig (in an occult shaped layout no less) and an unbeatable musical prowess, TOOL proved once again why they have been alternative music favorites for nearly a decade straight. This was a truly personal performance that will not soon be forgotten by any in attendance. And yes, reserved floor seating at a rock concert does suck.