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I think it's time to start talking about live shows, specifically ones I have been to and ones I have been so very fortunate to see. I do consider myself lucky for some of them, and others I am just happy I have seen and have seen multiple times. I'll start off with one that has a great story leading up to it, and will always mark one of the best moments in my life.

Tool (Everett Events Center)



I have a really cool story for this one, so I figured it'd be a good way to start. A few years ago, my dad had informed me that Tool would be playing at the Everett Events Center in Washington. That alone got me excited about the fact that Tool are FINALLY making their way over here and I may have a chance to see them perform live. About a week passed and my dad told me that I should call the Everett Events Center to order some tickets to go to the show because him and I were both completely convinced that we wanted to go. That next morning, I decided to give the venue a call, and I was on hold for what felt like 3 hours at least. After the first hour had passed I was feeling a bit nervous and I wasn't convinced that I would get through to get some tickets because I imagine the phone lines were beyond busy. About another hour passed and my phone went silent, and I hear "hello, welcome to the Everett Events Center phone line, how may I assist you?", at that point I almost lost it, I told the nice lady that I was interested in purchasing four (yes, FOUR) Tool tickets, she informed me that I was a very lucky man because she says that I was one of the last people to have a chance to have gotten a ticket, let alone four. I gave them the credit card number my dad provided, and she confirmed that there will be four Tool tickets arriving at my address in a week or so. I was literally about to scream at that point because something like this had never happened to me, and it made me realize that patience can really be worth it. That afternoon when my dad got home from work, I was playing a little game with him and told him I couldn't get a Tool ticket, but instead I got FOUR. He was super excited and extremely happy to hear the good news since he was expecting the worst, as anybody would.

Now for the show. The track line up was as follows:

They didn't hold anything back, they played all the songs I had hoped they would play and I got to see the beautiful combination of Wings for Marie and 10,000 Days performed live. I had absolutely fallen in love with that mix when the album was released, but I had no way thought that I'd see it performed live. So that was cool. The best part of the entire show was easily the light show. Tool have been known to have some amazing album art and artwork in general, and to see the ENTIRE stage covered in the corresponding album art, was just amazing. It wasn't just the TV's above them that were showing the images, they had the stage, the reflections on the drums, etc all covered in the art work that corresponded to the album that they were performing. People have told me that Maynard Keenan hadn't been at his best during their time in Seattle, but he was nothing short of amazing. He stayed in the back because he doesn't want the main focus on him, he wants people to appreciate the guitarist, and the rest of the band. Truly an amazing experience and one of the best concerts I have seen.

Keep an eye on this because I do have many other shows that I have been very fortunate to see. This is just one of them, and I have stories for each one.