Tool Brings The Fear Inoculum Spectacle to Philly

On Monday night, the Delaware Valley’s devoted Tool fans nearly sold out the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA to see the band perform live in celebration of their latest album Fear Inoculum. The album was the first in 13 years, so these Tool fans were ready to hear some of the new singles played live. There was a strict no cellphone/camera policy to make sure the fans were giving the band their full attention and to also not impede the view of other fans.

Tool opened with the 13 minutue title song “Fear Inoculum” which was absolutely amazing to hear live. For the first 30 minutes or so of their set, the band was surrounded by a curtain of sorts which allowed the visuals to reflect off it while still being able to see the the members of the band. There was a video wall behind them that was the entire width of the stage and almost to the roof of the Wells Fargo Center. While Manyard James Keenan roamed the two platforms on either side of the stage and drummer Danny Carey was engulfed in a sea of drums and cymbols, bassist Justin Cancellor and guitarist Adam Jones had the entire front of the stage to themselves to move about.

Amazing and sometimes disturbing visuals played behind Tool along with a laser light show while they performed hits like “Ænema”, Forty Six & 2, and “Schism.” Philadelphia was treated to the band playing “Swamp Song” live for the first time anywhere since 2007. After about and hour and forty-five minutes of performing, the band took a 15 minute break before drummer Danny Carey returned to the stage along side a giant gong to play “Chocolate Chip Trip.” The rest of Tool then reappeared to play “Invincible” and Maynard allowed the fans to use their phones to recored the final song of the night “Stinkfist.”