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Faceplams: God...please stay away from the comment section of that video
Opinions don't exist there and the pretentious is through the roof
Active Member
God...please stay away from the comment section of that video
Opinions don't exist there and the pretentious is through the roof
Active Member
I watched the video and was like, “Uh, okay. That was a thing.” But the more I thought about it the more the black and white contrast-y artsy look kinda intrigued me so I watched it again and it’s probably pretentious as hell but I like it.
Edit: Although the video editor in me keeps jumping at the screen thinking and on THIS beat something happens. Okay well how about... THIS beat. Oh, still nothing. Then it’d surprise me by cutting or adding an effect.
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Unintelligible Whispering
I was waiting for a bus two nights ago replaying Thirteenth Step. I'm only really seeing it now that I've quit smoking after decades, but it never before quite clicked, just how much of the album is about addiction. And when I hit Gravity, it impacted me in a way it never had before, though I've surely heard it dozens of times. As someone who watched family members die from emphysema, the lyric "I choose to live" took on a new meaning for me, and really resonated...the more I think about it, Gravity might be one of Maynard's very best.
Active Member
Thirteenth Step literally helped change my life when I was grappling with addictions and other self-destructive behaviors during manic and depressive episodes. “Tilling my own grave to keep me level” was one of the first things I’d ever heard that so perfectly summed up how I felt.Originally Posted by Shadaloo
Active Member
Still low res, but the full show is up now.
Throbbing Member
Driving down to Chicago tomorrow to catch the show.
Successfully managed to avoid setlists for once.
Can't wait.
Active Member
Saw them live tonight. Real good show, however I’m thinking next time I see one of Maynard’s bands live, I will not be going for the main floor unless I know I’m really close. I’m guessing the chairs on the floor are mainly to make it easier for ushers to kick out people who use their cameras, which I am fine with. The problem is if you get behind a few people that are taller than you, it can really take away from the show since your vision is pretty much obstructed for the whole show. Maynard’s voice was in top shape tonight. I was so floored when he went all out in the end of Spoiler: Orestes and the scream in Spoiler: The Outsider. Now that I have seen APC, Puscifer, and Tool, I can definitely say the vibe with each separate band is completely different from the others which certainly makes sense since they’re all very different bands save for the lead singer. I would say as much as I loved this show as it was completely beautiful, I’d still put it 3rd behind the other two aforementioned bands. Nothing that really made me go “Wow” during the show save for the opening with Spoiler: The Package though it was similar to some of the NIN shows I’ve seen. I was really surprised to see some fans leaving early during this show. Also, as far as the upcoming album Spoiler: Hourglass (I think that’s what it’s called) is so freaking good and light years ahead of The Doomed.
Overall for me 8/10 for this show.
Last edited by Bachy; 11-25-2017 at 12:09 AM.
Active Member
At this point, I would rank the live shows Puscifer > APC > Tool. And I'm well aware that I'm probably the only person that would do so. But to me, Tool is just uninspiring live these days (the albums still rank very high on my list of favorites). Danny remains an absolutely unbelievable drummer, but the show just has a sort of "going through the motions" feel to it. APC shows have *some* banter from most of the members at some point. And in Puscifer, Maynard actually talks to the crowd. Several times. But that's HIS band. His artistic vision. His direction. It's easy to understand why he'd seem more comfortable and more interested in engaging the audience when he's calling the shots. That's not to say that he half-asses it with Tool. But the band has a style they're known for and they don't stray from it.
House Always Wins
Tool always seemed reserved and compartmentalized in every single live video I’ve ever watched. They’d be great to see once on my bucket list but other than that it feels like every show would be the same. Like the atmosphere and stage set up rarely changes, but that may come with the territory of this being the 11th year they’ve been supporting 10,000 Days hahaha.
Administrator
Yeah, I get the sarcasm, but they aren't really supporting it a for long time now. They only played Jambi and Vicarious (plus The Pot on a good day) in the past few years.
Dis-member
When I saw Puscifer early last year, I was surprised at how much Maynard was NOT into it. Never got very close to the front of the stage and didn’t speak all that much. Plus Puscifer’s music isn’t for everyone and is a bit of an acquired taste.
Tool puts on one one of the best arena productions for a “rock” band that you’ll see, and they’re always on point. I know people like to joke about the set list but they literally don’t play any “bad” songs. And the crowd really gets into the whole show (that’s a big plus for me, and hard for any band to keep the attention of the people for every song they play).
Tool > APC > Puscifer
Hairy Member
The whole "tool play the same songs" thing is a simply untrue. They have changed the setlist every year, with a few songs chopping and changing every tour. Parabola, Ticks and Leeches, The Pot, Sober, Intension, Third Eye, The Grudge, even the No Quarter cover have all rotated through in the last few years. The problem is they only play 12ish songs. That should be peoples criticism.
Active Member
For me, I’ve only seen each band once so I can’t comment on repititivness. I saw Puscifer during their tour for Conditions of my Parole, saw Tool earlier this year back in June, and of course A Perfect Circle last night as I mentioned. My feeling is going into each show not knowing at all what to expect, I was more blown away by Tool and Puscifer than I was with APC. I still had a great time at each show. I feel like I would have enjoyed APC more had I had a better seat. I wasn’t that far from the stage, probably in the middle but much of my view was obstructed because the people in the seats in front of me were just a bit taller than me. This is my main reason for considering avoiding the main floor for any future shows with the zero camera tolerance policy.
Active Member
I saw APC for my 4th time tonight (others were in 2000, 2002, 2011) and I can honestly say this was the second best APC show of the four I've seen (the best being the 2002 show on the Thirteenth Step tour). I was hoping to hear all three of the new songs (Hourglass, The Doomed, & Feathers) and they did indeed play them all. A somewhat surprising highlight of the show for me was The Outsider (which also happens to be my favorite song from Thirteenth Step) because they played it with a sense of urgency that it deserves and Maynard absolutely CRUSHED that scream near the end of the song. Maybe it's partially the fact that the 2011 show I saw in Portland, OR was one of the most boring concerts I've been to, but they seemed really into it tonight. I also got this sweet poster signed by the band:
https://i.imgur.com/7FM31wh.jpg
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb7lKMPg...by=artofhazmat
Throbbing Member
For me, it goes Tool > A Perfect Circle > Puscifer for studio stuff. When it comes to live shows, A Perfect Circle (barely) > Tool > Puscifer. I love Tool's music the most and they've always been one of my favorite bands, but there's something...rigid and monotonous about their live shows. If they played longer/more varied setlists I may feel differently. I'll also cop to having looked the setlists before going to the Tool shows I've seen, so maybe that had something to do with it.
There's something light and gorgeous about APC shows. Overall, out of Maynard's three acts, I feel like the APC material is the stuff best suited for live shows. I love Puscifer, but some of those songs live can be weird. Tool's songs are long we just don't get that many songs per show anymore. APC's stuff is right in the sweet spot.
I was at the Chicago show last night, and it was fucking awesome. Finding my seat was a pain in the ass, and I didn't understand the people around me constantly coming and going to get beers like it was a basketball game or something, but whatever. The no-cameras thing was obnoxious to me at first, but once the show started I really found myself enjoying the lack of screens and visual distractions out there.
The band sounded amazing. I loved not knowing what songs were coming next for a change; glad I avoided peeking at previous setlists. Maynard sounded exceptional, and I was very happy with the variety of material the band played overall.
Highlights:
- Spoiler: The Package was an amazing opener. Set the tone perfectly, and the song gets so HEAVY live..I loved it.
- My APC favorites were played: 'The Noose' (ultimate favorite), 'Orestes', 'Vanishing', 'Counting Bodies Like Sheep'
- 'Counting Bodies' live is fucking epic. It sounds like a 'Nails track. Huge and heavy. Loved it.
- Biggest surprises: Spoiler: 'Rose', 'A Stranger', and especially 'Thomas' (which was, again, was awesomely heavy)
- The new songs all sound great to me. 'Hourglass' is weird, but awesome. 'Feathers' is gorgeous and I can't wait for a studio version of that one.
- The whole band seemed to be in a great mood, and the energy was right from the get-go. Great environment overall.
13 years is easily the longest stretch of time I've had between seeing one of my favorite bands play (I saw them twice back on the 13th step tour back in '03/'04), but it was well worth the wait.
Last edited by Mr. Blaileen; 11-26-2017 at 03:18 AM.
Stubby Member
i was at the chicago show as well, maynards vocals def stand out more with APC than Tool (seems like he gets buried in the mix at times). Before friday i assumed it was bc he was unable to hit all the highs/lows anymore. after friday that's completely incorrect, he was OUTSTANDING (one of the finest vocal performances i can recall in some time). Everyone in the band was on point, they're no Tool, but the show was superb.
Last edited by center27j; 11-27-2017 at 03:03 PM.
desperately chilled
i'm the weirdo who vastly prefers APC's studio music to tool (though i'm a fan of both). something much more feminine and dreampoppy about APC, which has always appealed to my tastes more.
Unintelligible Whispering
I think those of us with post-punk leanings; Cure, Killing Joke, etc. naturally gravitate toward APC over Tool. They're successors to the sound.
Active Member
Has anybody who's seen both legs of the tour this year been able to notice if they've reworked Hourglass or Feathers much since the start of the year? When I saw them they didn't do Feathers, but Hourglass was stunning and a real standout at the show.
Billy Howerdel fanboy
Feathers is the same but Hourglass changed many times (even on the Spring leg) and the beginning was completely different this leg.
Active Member
Further commenting on the Chicago show. I completely forgot about this part until this morning:
Spoiler: The Shake Weight during “Thinking of You” — some out of this world choreography.
The Virus Inside
I can't help but get the feeling that the Vancouver show, this coming Thursday, sold terribly.
For the last 2 weeks, every single website I've been at has been advertising the show.
Then a couple days ago, this article came out: https://www.straight.com/music/99857...billy-howerdel
Billy says the shows haven't been selling well.
Today, this site (https://www.alternativenation.net/foo-fighters-made-shocking-amount-of-money-at-recent-shows-a-perfect-circle-disappointing-numbers/)
released some statistics from recent shows. APC only sold out half their venue in Albany, NY. 3,462 /7,209
and to top it all off, APC's official facebook reminded their fanbase today that there is a show in Vancouver this Thursday, lol...
They never wrote that for any of the other shows on facebook. But today they were like "Vancouver, we have a show this Thursday"
That post just smells of desperation. Like they sold really bad. To be fair, I think they were a tad overzealous with the venues they chose. At least here in Vancouver. Pacific Coliseum is a mini arena... capacity? 17,713!
If they had trouble pulling in a little over 3,000 in New York, how do they expect to come anywhere close to selling this place?
They should have went with a smaller venue. I fear they went a little to over their heads with this one.
Last edited by ManBurning; 11-29-2017 at 02:36 AM.
Stubby Member
Or maybe they should have waited until they had a new fucking album to tour behind.
Active Member
But how does that explain why the spring tour sold so well?
House Always Wins
New factor played a huge part since it was the first tour since what...2011 or 2012? Not to mention, they’re popular and mainstream popular but they’re not Tool popular and Tool mainstream popular so that also shows from lack of attendees at recent shows if people wanna do that tired comparison.
Active Member
So is the routing not different enough this time around? I thought the whole point of this tour was to hit markets they missed last time. Were half the arenas really filled by people driving 2+ hours to see them? I can imagine SOME people would do that, but not enough that they'd suddenly be disinterested a few months later.
House Always Wins
They didn’t do too well then. I’m still at a loss of a date here (they performed at Carolina Rebellion in May but it doesn’t count) in which I would’ve loved to have seen them. Yes people drive. When I seen HIM at the start of the month I talked to a guy who travelled from Nashville to see them in Charlotte (7+ drive). Guy at the Mayhem show last night drove from Knoxville (3-4 hr) so yes people do it sometimes.
They may just see bad numbers also due to the time of year. I had time saved up for vacation days so seeing 3 shows this month, one last night even, isn’t in the cards for some. End of year rush at my job is terrible, it’s not hard to imagine people have that at other jobs too. As fun as shows are some people still have to be an adult sometimes.
Dis-member
Im surprised people are surprised at the numbers. I know there were a number of us on here that raised an eyebrow when they announced an arena tour. They’re a great band but they were never THAT popular or a must see like NIN or Tool. I doubt even a new album would’ve had much effect.
I didnt even even feel like driving less than two hours to the Chicago date for this show, on a Friday with the day off no less. They shouldve stuck to large clubs like most of their venues for that 2011 or 2012 tour.
And it’s that time of the year where one needs to budget for the holidays too. Like Space Suicide said above, people have other responsibilities. And traveling around in the colder months sucks.
The Virus Inside
I think timing is definitely a contributing factor. They probably should have waited til next spring to announce another leg of a NA tour, I think it would have paid off better.
Also, booking smaller venues. Like I said, I think they went a little to in over their heads with the venues they booked.
If instead of touring this fall, and working on finishing up the record, I think it would have been a much bigger pay off for another tour next year. The spring shows should have acted as a warm up to test the water, but I think they let those shows get to their head a little too much with how well they sold. They figured "Well, if TOOL can sell out shows without new music, why can't we as well?"
I can't help but get the feeling that APC are over-booking shows. They're getting announced at every festival on the planet in 2018. I would have personally rather had new music to accompany the show, so that's probably the biggest make or break decision for your casual fan trying to decide whether or not to go to the show.
Also, like a few have mentioned, I hate traveling during the colder months. I barely want to go to a show in my own city in the winter let alone driving/flying somewhere, unless it's somewhere warmer.
Active Member
If they were coming anywhere near central Florida I'd definitely see them this leg but apparently Orlando/Tampa and even southeast FL like Miami don't exist. Since I already put up with a 4 hour trip to see them in the spring there's just no way I'm doing that again this year and I think a lot of fans that jumped at the chance to finally see them after such a long break/hiatus already put in the traveling for the spring leg. I genuinely never thought I'd get to see them and figured those dates were my only chance for a long time. Now that I know they're going to be touring for their new album all through the next year, that sense of urgency isn't there.
Hopefully if they still aren't selling bigger venues by themselves it gets us a NIN/APC tour for next year (not that I actually believe that'll happen whatsoever). I remember Tension having similar issues with some venues later in the year being undersold, and in general I think it's weird that bands like these have management that don't consider how winter might affect attendance.
Also while I'm sure it's not had a major impact and tickets were on sale well beforehand, the constant stories of people getting kicked out of shows for taking one picture or checking a text probably haven't helped a lot of people that may have been interested. I get what they're going for but it looks bad and sounds bad and when you have people who paid a ton to see you and you're kicking them out of the venue for checking their phone once, it's pretty extreme.
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