Tool Tickets

Short Biography
Lees & West proudly present

TOOL
 

MELBOURNE BIG DAY OUT
SIDE SHOW ANNOUNCED!


Touring Down Under for the first time in four years, vocalist Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones, drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor take a break from the studio where they have been working on a follow-up to 2006's 10,000 Days to share their "primal, poignant, poetic and as always utterly powerful" (ARTISTdirect, July 2010) music with Aussie music fans.

Formed in Los Angeles at the dawn of the '90s, TOOL first caused tremors in 1993, with their debut album Undertow going platinum, winning praise for its dyna...

Short Biography
Lees & West proudly present

TOOL
 

MELBOURNE BIG DAY OUT
SIDE SHOW ANNOUNCED!


Touring Down Under for the first time in four years, vocalist Maynard James Keenan, guitarist Adam Jones, drummer Danny Carey and bassist Justin Chancellor take a break from the studio where they have been working on a follow-up to 2006's 10,000 Days to share their "primal, poignant, poetic and as always utterly powerful" (ARTISTdirect, July 2010) music with Aussie music fans.

Formed in Los Angeles at the dawn of the '90s, TOOL first caused tremors in 1993, with their debut album Undertow going platinum, winning praise for its dynamic take on metal and causing controversy with striking videos .for Sober and Prison Sex. Ænima followed in 1996 and Lateralus in 2001, both winning Grammys, taking the band further down a mind-bending rabbit-hole of artful and progressive alternative rock and inspiring an unwavering devotion in their ever-swelling audience.

"TOOL are so good they're evil. In fact, it's probably illegal to be as mind-blowing as they are because no other band is even comparable" (ARTISTdirect, July 2010).

From Lateralus to Stinkfist, you know the music. "TOOL are the thinking person's metal band," said The Age in 2006. "Cerebral and visceral, soft and heavy, melodic and abrasive, tender and brutal, familiar and strange, western and eastern, beautiful and ugly, taut yet sprawling and epic, they are a tangle of contradictions".  But, backed by a video and laser light show unlike any other, TOOL live is also "the kind of visual experience you'll probably never have again" (CHARTattack, August 2009).

"Maynard James Keenan and his art-prog-metal outfit unleashed a massive, magnificent multi-media assault that gene-spliced King Crimson on steroids with the coolest Laser Floyd show you could possibly imagine" (Jam! Music, July 2010).

Unmatched in the world of dark, heavy rock, California's TOOL have over 20 years scorched themselves a place as "one of the best live bands in history" (ARTISTdirect). Be blinded by their light when they return for these two exciting solo shows in Australia this summer.

These are the ONLY Australian TOOL side shows outside of the Big Day Out dates.  Tickets go on sale for both shows at 9.00am local time on Monday, 8 November, 2010.
 

Supported by triple j


Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne
Wednesday, 2 February, 2011


Also appearing at:


Big Day Out 2011 dates:

FRIDAY, 21 JANUARY - AUCKLAND MT SMART STADIUM
 
SUNDAY, 23 JANUARY - GOLD COAST PARKLANDS - SOLD OUT!!!!!
Tickets available by ballot only.  Go to www.bigdayout.com for details
 
WEDNESDAY, 26 JANUARY - SYDNEY SHOWGROUND - SOLD OUT!!!!!
Tickets available by ballot only.  Go to www.bigdayout.com for details

THURSDAY, 27 JANUARY - SYDNEY SHOWGROUND


SUNDAY, 30 JANUARY - MELBOURNE FLEMINGTON RACECOURSE - SOLD OUT!!!!!
Tickets available by ballot only.  Go to www.bigdayout.com for details
 
FRIDAY, 4 FEBRUARY - ADELAIDE SHOWGROUND

SUNDAY, 6 FEBRUARY - PERTH CLAREMONT SHOWGROUND

In-depth Biography
Tool's greatest breakthrough was to meld dark underground metal with the ambition of art rock. Although Metallica wrote their multi-sectioned, layered songs as if they were composers, they kept their musical attack ferociously at street level. Tool didn't. They embraced the artsy, bohemian preoccupations of Jane's Addiction while they simultaneously paid musical homage to the relentlessly bleak visions of grindcore, death metal, and thrash. Even with their post-punk influences, they executed their music with the aesthetic of prog rock, alternating between long, detailed instrumental interludes and lyrical rants in their songs.

Tool had a knack for conveying the strangled, oppressive angst that the alternative nation of the early '90s claimed as its own. So, Tool were able to slip into the definition of alternative rock during the post-Nirvana era, landing a slot on the third Lollapalooza tour in 1993, which helped their first full-length debut album, Undertow, rocket to platinum status. By the time the band delivered its belated follow-up, Ænima, in 1996, alternative rock had lost its grip on the mainstream of America, and Tool's audience had shaped up as essentially metal-oriented, which meant that the group and the record didn't capture as big an audience as their first album, despite debuting at number two on the charts. After a co-headlining slot with Korn on Lollapalooza '97 wrapped up, Tool remained on the road, supporting Ænima until well into the next year.

During the band's usual extended hiatus between albums, Maynard James Keenan decided to use his downtime productively by forming a side project, dubbed A Perfect Circle. The band's 2000 debut, Mer de Noms, was a surprise hit, while the ensuing tour was a sold-out success as well. With Tool breakup rumors swirling, the band put the speculation to rest by re-entering the recording studio and issuing the stopgap B-sides/DVD set Salival late the same year. Finally, May 2001 saw the release of Tool's third full-length release, Lateralus, which debuted at the number one position on the Billboard album chart and became the band's biggest hit. After the obligatory several-year sabbatical to pursue other projects, the group returned with another chart-topper, 10,000 Days, in 2006. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato, Rovi