Why Tool Have Rejected Stadium Shows
Tool guitarist Adam Jones explained why the band has turned down offers for stadium shows, saying he preferred the possibility of an intimate club tour instead.
In a recent interview with Metal Hammer, he said stadium-scale concerts come with a deal-breaking drawback.
“[W]e think that at that size there are only a certain amount of people that can actually enjoy that show,” Jones said. “It’s not about you anymore. Seeing the Rolling Stones… you’re all the way back in the stadium and you’re basically watching a jumbotron, you know? I’m not into it; we’d rather do two nights in a smaller place than one night in a huge place.”
Aside from stadiums, he said Tool were comfortable with “whatever they throw us” when it came to venues. “Sometimes we do play some smaller places,” he added. “A few nights ago in Oslo, we played this rectangular room; usually you’d be at the far end of the rectangle, but we were in the middle of the rectangle. It was very strange but really cool.”
Citing Mick Jagger’s band again, he reported: “There is something to be said for playing a club — that intimacy — and we’ve talked about doing that Rolling Stones thing where they did a club tour and had a higher ticket price, and that seems like something that could be good.”
He continued: “Right now, though, we have this epic show. It’s designed so that the worst nosebleed seat is great. We definitely directed focus to someone that is sitting far away. It’s almost the best seats just because of the visuals and how we have designed the whole thing.”
Jones also commented on the vibe among the band members backstage, saying it was “probably the best that it has ever been.” He went on: “I like to leave the show early, and Danny [Carey] and Justin [Chancellor] like to hang out after, and we respect that. They want this, and I need that, and we’re just more aware of that these days. Plus, we have good people helping us out as a band; it’s a machine now, and it runs really well. We hire the best people, and we hire the nicest people. We don’t have the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll thing going on. It’s a friendly environment, a supportive environment, and it’s just great.”
Tool commence the U.K. and European leg of their current tour on May 2.