2010.07.18 - Los Angeles, CA, USA @ Nokia Theater

Source A: Hi Mini Disc --- Sony ECM-719>Sony MZ-RH910  
Taper: Anonymous
Gen: CD

Notes by Nameloc circa 2011:  Well, I was contacted by this taper a little while back about this recording, and I have been  really looking forward to listening to it ever since. So, I now sit down with a nice, cold pint of grape Kool-Aid on the rocks..and prepare myself. Whenever I see source details with some of these lesser used Sony mics.. I know the recording is going to go one of two ways..there never really seems to be any "middle ground".. thankfully, this particular source takes the high(er) road. From the opening notes of "Third Eye"..its clear that this recording is quite "full" sounding..and "wide"..as opposed to "shallow" or "thin"..probably due mostly to the insane low and mids he/she was able to capture. Dannys drums sound pretty "on"..they are nicely mixed towards the front, and pull Adam and Justins guitars together very well. A strategically "buried" Maynard could have easily brought this recording "down" some... good thing he decided to show up this night. All in all this is just a very solid recording, of a very solid show..and unless I'm wrong, this is the only known source of said show. I really enjoyed this shows version of "Right In Two"..and of course.."Flood". I will say, that if all live TOOL recordings sounded, at the minimum, like this, the world would be a better place. One interesting note, is the taper told me that this was his first successful TOOL pull...I raise my grape Kool-Aid to the gods and salute you sir.

Setlist:

Third Eye
(Dr. Timothy Leary)
Jambi
(-) Ions
Stinkfist
Vicarious
Right In Two
Flood
Schism
Forty-Six and Two
Lateralus
 (w/ Gino Barboni of Rajas)
Ænema

Source B: Solid State – Assisted Listening Device (ALD) > Edirol R-09
Taper: Anonymous (not the same as taper above, am sure)
Gen: 0

Notes on Recordings: First and foremost, this recording and the sister ALD recording for the next night (2010-07-19) are the absolute best ALD’s I have ever heard. Stunning, really. The house ALD system at The Nokia Theatre was and maybe still is, simply highest quality? To boot, this is a fantastic ALD recording with zero drops. Both nights are, in actuality. The sound is exceptionally clear and has a considerable amount of depth which is rare for ALD’s particularly from 2010. To be clear, this is absolutely not an IEM recording. There is a filter on MJK’s vocals which is rather interesting it’s almost like a flange noticeable quite a bit on Third Eye and Schism. The low end of the spectrum is minimal at best however the clarity is exceptional particularly Adam’s guitar with it’s crystal clear tone. Even with some technical issues based on the source material, the overall quality of this recording is impressive. Someone knew what they were doing. My own opinion is that the person who procured these most likely was an employee of the venue and would ‘record’ everything. For those who do not know or understand, taping a concert is not ‘easy’ and once you make the jump to dealing with Radio Frequency it becomes monumentally more difficult. Again, the taper know what they were doing. This is almost too perfect.

Notes on Origin: I wish I had more information on the how/why/anything but the individual who procured both of these back to back Tool performances basically had no information to provide other than that the taper was not a Tool fan and would like to remain anonymous in regards to the two ALD’s of Tool. The taper (or in this case, his ‘broker’ if you will) was in fact an Oasis fan. So, we traded some of my unreleased Oasis Masters I had collecting dust and he hooked me up with these two fantastic ALD recordings, Quite a decent trade, everyone was happy as this took place over the Pandemic, maybe eight or nine months in. Now, this was originally tracked very weird which I fixed. Was told that these were sourced from the Master Files directly so I take it at words’ worth. All in all, I suspect you will find this to be a fantastic addition to your collection.

Time: 1:56:25