Tool play (near) career-spanning set in first show in almost two years

Prog metal titans Tool kicked off their 2022 world tour last night in Eugene, Oregon, playing their first show since they were first forced to cancel tour dates due to the pandemic. 

The 670-day wait seems to have been worth it though, the scant few videos and images shared from the evening showing the kinds of kaleidoscopic imagery we've come to love and expect from the band. 

Check out the image and clip below for a taste:

While the production values are decidedly higher than in the band's rehearsal footage released earlier this week, just hearing those mesmeric melodies is enough to send shivers up the spine. 

Though the band only played 13 songs (a downside to having songs whose average run-time seldom dips below the five-minute mark), they nonetheless managed an (almost) career-spanning set, covering material from 1992's Opiate EP right up to 2019's Fear Inoculum. In fact, the only era not covered in the set is the band's debut album Undertow, which will turn 30 next year. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering the tour had first been mooted in promotion of the album, Fear Inoculum songs dominated the set, accounting for almost 50% of songs played. While no Undertow-era material made an appearance, the band did slip some (relative) rarities into the set, playing Pushit and Hooker With A Penis for the first time since 2014, while the 10,000 Days epic Right In Two made an appearance for the first time in over a decade. 

Tool are set to make their return to the UK in May, playing arenas as part of a wider European tour which kicks off in Copenhagen on April 23 and ends in Budapest on May 24. Tool's UK shows will be their first indoor headline dates since 2007, when they played a trio of shows in London and Manchester. The band headlined Download Festival in 2019, 13 years since their last appearance. 

Check out the setlist from their first show back (and some more choice fan videos and images) below:

Tool setlist @ Matthew Knight Arena, Eugene, Oregon 10/01/2022

• Fear Inoculum
• Opiate
• The Pot
• Pushit
• Pneuma
• The Grudge
• Right In Two
• Hooker With A Penis
• Descending
• Chocolate Chip Trip
• Eon Blue Apocalypse
• The Patient
• Invincible