Roy Jurgens on June 26th, 2017

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Prog-metal mavens Tool reconfigured the ultimate date (and lone Southern California show) of their tour into a friends-and-family summer shindig in front of an estimated 40,000 fans Saturday night, broiling within the fresh hell that is San Bernardino’s Glen Helen Amphitheater. Privately dubbed the “just don’t call it a festival” festival, the lineup of misfit kids the Melvins, Fantomas, Clutch and Primus set up the headliners nicely.

In a daring act of booking, the Crystal Method opened the afternoon’s proceedings with a pounding big beat soundtrack that did not seem out of place despite the potential musical whiplash.

Among the earliest purveyors of what was to become “grunge,” the Melvins are credited with being one of Tool’s earliest influences. Befuddling as that may seem, the stalwart duo of Buzz Osborne and Dale Crover roared though a psych-rock set that included a wayward version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” This was followed by Mike Patton’s art project, Fantomas, which was hampered by a malfunctioning microphone for most of their set (their first in the U.S. since 2008) that was a screeching static operetta colliding with a French horror soundtrack. D.C. vets Clutch delivered a muscular set of Everyman metal that finally brought some of the sunbaked and slothy crowd to their feet.

By the time Primus took the stage, the sun had nestled atop the horizon and the restless crowd were ready to kick things up a notch. The Bay Area power trio of Les Claypool, Larry LaLonde and Tim Alexander delivered a set that heavy on nostalgia and hits, and were greeted with the joy one saves for that weird uncle you’re happy to see every five years, simultaneously grateful that he lives 2,000 miles away.

The Crystal Method’s Scott Kirkland returned to the stage, where he was supposed to be joined by Kyuss’ guitar slinger John Garcia, a plan that was unfortunately scuttled due to set time constraints.

Tool’s two-hour, 15-song set was an ear-shredding retrospective of everything that makes them one of music’s most interesting hard rock acts. And yes, the hits were had, among them fan favorites “Ænema,” “Third Eye,” “Parabola,” “Schism” and “Stinkfist.”

Deconstructed, Tool is the consequential minimalism of Adam Jones’ guitar in concert with Justin Chancellor’s mid-rangey bass crunch, melting into Danny Carey’s thunder math, leather bound by Maynard Keenan’s profound philosophical meanderings. None of this works on paper, but live, fused with lights, lasers and the animated fever dreams of visionary metaphysical artist Alex Grey, Tool deliver a show that has maximum tonnage, sans the typical histrionics employed by most of their peers. 

What other lead vocalist spends the entire set in the shadows upon the drum riser garbed in full SWAT Kevlar? What other guitar hero doesn’t play a single self indulgent solo? What drummer starts a drum solo with a techno beat? What other vocalist writes his lyrics to match a Fibonacci numerical sequence? Tool is the antithesis of what a commercially successful hard rock act is supposed to be, and their anti-magnetism magnetism is what makes them continue to shine for a legion of fans despite an 11-year absence of new material. 

Keenan broke character halfway through the set, “I’ve got good news, and I’ve got bad news … Combined, the good news and the bad news is … It’s all gonna work out … or not. So, tonight? We dance.”

And dance they did.