As Tight As Ever
The line up may have changed, this may not be a headline show and the a fair chunk of the material has only been available on CD for 5 days - but this does not change the fact that tonight Wembley Arena is host to five of the worlds most creative musicians.
When it comes to anything involving Maynard James Keenan - it will always be shrouded in a kind of mystery that is him. In many ways it is a subtle form of the masks that other bands may use, yet it does not rule the music or the band. Tonights show will be no different than anything Mayndard is involved in. For the first song he performs from behind a screen, intruiging the few people in the crowd that have no idea who this band are.
It is fair to say that the set tonight falls short of no expectations that anyone could have. When a band changes members, especially two of them, the dynamic often takes time to reestablish - yet tonight you can see that despite departures from the band they gel, musically and personally.
The crowd sing through known material such as 'The Hollow' with many just as excited by the new material. There is an atmosphere, as the lights go down, that could almost be cut with a knife. It is not a dark atmosphere, it is not happy, nor enlightened. There is jsut an atmosphere. Several people are walking away with a greater appreciation for tonights support act.