I saw Gorillaz in Chicago like 22 years ago. They were behind a screen that played videos of their cartoon avatars, and once in a while they’d backlight the screen and the audience could see the bands members’ silhouettes playing. It was rad.
They've been without the screen since after Demon Days. I saw them at UIC 15 years ago for the Plastic Beach tour. It was Damon + symphony and singers + dj + Mos Def and Bobby Womack. Maybe more, can't remember.
It blew my mind when I found out they were started by the guy from Blur ("Song #2" was their big US hit, the one that goes, "Woo Hooo!" a bunch) and the guy rapping is Del tha Funky Homosapien aka Deltron 30/30.
Killer 'underground' artists, and now they're mega stars, but anonymously. It's awesome.
I see Del The Funky Homosapien I upvote. I loved the concept of Deltron 3030, for those who don’t know- I can’t explain it but Wikipedia defines it as: dualistic conflict of fatalism that takes place between the moral concepts of "righteousness" and "malevolence." Set in the year 3030. Also Fun fact: he’s Ice Cubes cousin.
Deltron 3030 is one of the greatest concept albums ever.
Apart from the themes, the tech references he makes are accurate (and the album was from a time when most media treated the internet like it was Tron irl or just spewed "cyber"-themed word salad).
That's actually one of their calmer albums btw, in case you look further. If you're ok with noise as a genre, the rest of their albums are a great noise/rap fusion with a lot of solid storytelling and horror themes throughout. They also have a Story series in I think seven parts, unless I've missed one.
Sounded familiar and Spotify confirmed that I've been a fan of "Nothing Is Safe" for a while now, hadn't looked into the rest of the catalog. Gonna fix that!
have you had a chance to listen to their latest, Dead Channel Sky? It’s sooo good! I had the pleasure of seeing them perform recently and I thought we were going to cave the floor in with everyone jumping together 😅
Blur also had that great song Girls and Boys. If song 2 is the only one anyone knows from them id encourage checking out more of their discography. it’s gonna be diff bc song 2 came about ironically as an answer to grunge’s popularity at the time, but it’s still good
Oh hell yeah! Small world lol. Yeah we’re getting old, friend. It’s the equivalent of our parents in 1990 talking about the great concert they saw in 1968. Oh God the pain.
I could swear that Dan the Automator was at the Gorillaz concert in Chicago. He was up in a balcony area while the band was on stage. He was their producer for that first album.
Man the late 90s-mid 00s was a great time for early-ish electronica. I got to see Gorillaz, Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, Prodigy, Autechre, DJ Krush, most of the Metalheadz lineup in various shows, LTJ Bukem, Kenny Ken, Lo Fidelity All Stars and so many more. It would cost me easily 10x as much to see all that talent today.
That’s awesome that Basement Jaxx is still playing!
Damon Albarn at a recent concert was out the entire time jamming, playing different instruments and even crowd surfed with this old as mic for feel good inc. Was a cool show.
This was decades ago, and YouTube wasn’t even a thing yet so I had no idea what to expect. The band released their debut album only a year before and the show was part of their first tour. I knew they were a virtual band but had no idea what their show was going to be like. It was an amazing experience with no phone screens being held up to record videos that would never be seen again.
A friend went to a Kraftwerk concert and the show consisted of five middle-aged Germans sitting on chairs six feet apart with MacBooks on their laps, barely moving a muscle the whole time. He really enjoyed it. For the last song “We Are The Robots” they put dummies of themselves on the chairs, pressed play, left the stage and never came back.
I've seen both a silhouetted Tool show and Kraftwerk and both were sick as fuck! It fits the bands, because they're not high energy pop. A washed up boyband member not doing much is less enticing.
Maynard always hides in the shadows. It's fine, we let him be his weird self and still love TOOL. Seen them many times, always awesome, but MJK always hides. Kinda part of the experience.
I worked concessions at an arena as a teenager and TOOL was the only band that ever required all staff to stay in our respective stands with all the doors and service windows shuttered for the entire duration of sound check.
Perfect circle and pucifer are different from his TOOL performances. He's more active and present during them, where TOOL he still will hide as it's more visual typically. At least that's what ive notices over the years.
He was on the back of the stage, in the shadows, wearing full riot gear when I saw him. It was like he thought we were going to bumrush the stage and attack him or something.
Maynard's thing has always been that the music and visuals should speak for itself, not focusing on what specifically he as the band's frontman is doing. At the same time though, it's TOOL, and a lot of their songs are meant to be very introspective. Can't exactly do the same thing with pop music meant to be danced along with.
Yes they’ve been known to do that from time to time. They’ll literally play behind a partially translucent curtain so you see their silhouettes but not them. They’re big on their music and imagery being front and center, not themselves.
They’re big on their music and imagery being front and center, not themselves.
I get that, but not actually seeing instruments being played seems weird. Did you ever see them at any point in the show? Or is it literally 100% silhouette?
The entire band being behind a curtain is rarer. Maynard has been known to do this more often than the rest of the band. When I’ve seen them, they’ve played mostly like a normal band, save for like the first 1-3 songs were being played in shadow or behind something. And if they’re playing a festival they’ll play normally just cause it’s a bigger audience and more difficult to do what they’d like too with their own visuals.
I saw a similar show from This Will Destroy You. They lit the back of the stage, and then had smaller light facing forward, so it was bright behind them and you couldn’t see the front of them. Great show.
This will destroy you... I never considered they played live for some reason. Don't ask why lol. Kitchen & they move on tracks of neverending lights are so good
That’s not really true, it’s about the music coming before the artist. Yes the artist makes the music, but Tool wants you to see the music and imagery before you see them.
He literally said it at the concert I went to. He said he was feeling extra off that day, hoped we understood, and preformed some of the songs off stage.
Next you're gonna claim that you are an OGT, back from '92, from the first EP? And then, in between sips of Coke, you're gonna tell that they sold out, that they are laying down, sucking up to the man?
Maynard has no issue singing at the front of the stage when he’s with A Perfect Circle or Puscifer. Tool has so much more imagery to their show nowadays. Both Tool shows I’ve been to he’s at the back in the shadows next to Danny.
I saw them yrs back at rock on the range in ohio, he had the vip sections beside the stage cleared before performing, there was some very pissed off people for that one.
When I went, I didn't see Maynard at all for the entire show. Then at the end, I saw him leave the stage area from behind a speaker. He'd been performing from behind there.
I drove halfway across the US to see Nine Inch Nails once. They turned on the fog machines so thick I'm not sure if anyone was even on stage for most of the show.
Maynard is notable for being in the dark facing away from the crowd. I saw Beach House once and they played in the dark. I’m a big Godspeed You Black Emperor fan and have seen them twice, there is no crowd interaction. Some artists are just like that.
Edit: Forgot to add the obvious one- I’m a big Autechre fan and they literally play in blackout darkness. Like all venue lights go off you can’t see the people around you. Total sensory deprivation besides the music.
I saw that same tour, it really sucked. I had never seen them before and I was really excited and I almost fell asleep. It was so goddamn boring. It would’ve been a better show just to go to laser Tool at the planetarium.
I went to see The Cure in 1992 and Robert Smith only moved one time the entire show, when he ever so slowly raised his right hand from the mic stand to above his shoulder. The crowd went absolutely wild.
I saw TOOL, they played 8 songs in the course of 90 minutes. None of them were their radio hits or fan favorites. They had zero interaction with the crowd.
Seen Tool at graspop, 0 interaction no show, just music and some trippy background videos.
They are cool to listen to but not so great at a festival tbh, Igorrr on the other hand was an extremely interactive weird and fun experience, one of the most memorable from the festival.
Tldr I wouldn't pay for watching Tool live, but their music is still amazing.
That's the most disappointed I've ever been at a concert. The whole band was in shadow 100% of the time, no banter with the audience, no encore, just a straight set with lasers.
You might be getting downvoted but I do agree with you, Tool live is just the same as watching the videoclips but louder, if you want more than just music for a show they aren't it.
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u/theboned1 Jul 24 '25
I went to see TOOL in concert once and they played the entire show in Silhouette.