At PPL center in Allentown, PA on November 7th, 2023
Legendary American band Tool is nearing the completion of their North American Fall 2023 tour and on Tuesday came to PPL Center in Allentown, PA for a splendid night of virtuoso performance. They are supported by Steel Beans, one man band (aka Jeremy DeBardi).
Written by Andris Jansons
Not sure if the night officially was considered as a sold out, though I did not see a single open seat in the home arena for AHL hockey team Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Well, you don’t know who this hockey team is? That’s OK, I have an example for you. “Swifties” did not know who the “grandpa band” or “that unknown band” are either, that overtook Taylor Swift at number one spot in Billboard album chart with their highly acclaimed album Fear Inocolum. Now they know. It’s Tool.
I will not go into the performance of each band member – Maynard James Keenan on vocals, Adam Jones on guitar, Justin Chancellor on bass and Danny Carey on drums are the best you will ever see at their jobs. It was an honor just to share the same room with them and watching and listening to them was a pure joy. Complex musical compositions effortlessly kept flowing from the stage engulfing everyone into euphoria.
There are a lot of people with their own mindset on where Tool belongs within rock and metal universe. Personally, I can’t define them to anything specific. They are bold, pushing boundaries and independent. They are not slaves or one entity.
See the full gallery of Tool performance here.
To date the band has released five studio albums, with the latest one Fear Inoculum that was released in 2019, being 13 years in the making since 2006 release called 10,000 days. The band opened the show in Allentown with the title song from their latest album and followed with three songs from 10,000 days album – Jambi, The Pot and Rosetta Stoned. Otherwise their set is heavily tilted towards Fear Inocolum that is represented with a total of six songs. Most of the bands compositions go into 10 minute mark, so don’t expect large amount of songs in their set. In Allentown the band closed with Forty Six & 2 from their sophomore album Ænima. While I have not seen their other performances, I’ve been given information that the bands closing song varies from the show to the show.
There are just a handful of performances left this fall to catch Tool live. See the list below.
November 10 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
November 13 Manchester, NH SNHU Arena
November 15 Boston, MA TD Garden
November 16 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
November 19 Montreal, QC Bell Center
November 20 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
November 21 Toronto, ON Scotiabank Arena
However, Tool is not about to slow down, and in the early days of next year will be touring again.
TOOL 2024 tour dates:
January 10 Baltimore, MD CFG Bank Arena
January 12 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
January 13 New York, NY Madison Square Garden
January 18 Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood
January 19 Hollywood, FL Hard Rock Live at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood
January 21 Charlotte, NC Spectrum Center
January 23 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
January 24 Atlanta, GA State Farm Arena
January 26 Birmingham, AL The Legacy Arena at The BJCC
January 27 Biloxi, MS Mississippi Coast Coliseum
January 31 Austin, TX Moody Center
February 2 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
February 3 Oklahoma City, OK Paycom Center
February 5 Denver, CO Ball Arena
February 9 Phoenix, AZ Footprint Center
February 12 Fresno, CA Save Mart Center
February 14 Los Angeles, CA Crypto.com Arena
February 15 Los Angeles, CA Crypto.com Arena
February 17 Ontario, CA Toyota Arena
February 18 Las Vegas, NV T-Mobile Arena
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