2001.05.17 - Chicago, IL, USA @ The Riviera
4-Date Pre-Seminal Mini-Tour: Chicago, IL

Source: DAT --- Core Sound Binaurals > Sony PCM-M1

Notes / 2004: Ok. This is one confusing show. All I can say for sure is that the two unknowns listed below... that's it, I don't know. This source with the time listed below is from the CSB>M1 source. It is very clear and is rather crisp - good recording. Once had a run-in with the taper & for some reason we tended to not get a long. He actually signed my email up for spam because we disagreed on something & he was that upset. I don't get it. Anyway, I think that most people would leave this as a simple B+ for overall enjoyment. The other versions of this show have weird track transitions and whatnot. This, however, has no talking cut-out & has smooth track transitions. Simple as that.

CSB>M1
Disc 1: 78:34
Disc 2: 40:25

Notes / 2001: Although Tool had, at this point, only performed live once since 1999, this gig seemed to sort of be a precursor of what is to come. Maynard talked the most out of any of the 4 mini tour gigs & the band seemed to be very tight as well. Now, the recording(s) I have of this show I got from tapers back in May of 2001. But, they did not give me the source info so all I really have as solid evidence are the CD times. If you have this show, please shoot me the disc times so I can, hopefully, figure out what source is what. Thank you. Yes, I have two versions which are not of the same recording source. This was widely sold on eBay thanks to the taper. Irritating - gives taper's a bad name.

Unknown 1
Disc 1: 78:37
Disc 2: 79:48 (fade-out w/post-show music)

Unknown 2
Disc 1: 77:13
Disc 2: 47:00

Notes by Ryan A: I may be able to clear up some of the confusion on this recording. I was at this show, and then did some extensive work trying to track down the recording in the weeks and months afterwards. Back in early June 2001, a few weeks after the concert, I got a copy of this show that had been purchased from ebay. This copy is likely the one you list on your site as Unknown 1 (the one with the long post show music). The post-show music was chirping crickets and a few songs from 5/15/01. I'm pretty sure the taper put that post-show music on there to fill up the cd before selling it, though it could have been someone that bought it from him and then subsequently sold it on ebay. As a side note, the taper made quite a profit by selling copies of his recording under the boot name "Shameless Self-Promotion Tour 2001" for $75.00 a pop in the weeks following the show.

All of the copies floating out there with different disc times (including the one with post-show music), in my opinion, are from the same source (CSB > M1). To my knowledge, as of December 2004, no second source has surfaced of this show. They are all simply variations of the CSB > M1. Immediately after it was released, there were a lot of mp3s made of this show (consequently altering the sound) which were traded around and likely sold on ebay as well. Various editing was also done by traders on track times, soundforge, etc. This can account for the all the varying disc times for this show, as well as the slight differences in sound.

Not being satisfied with the ebay copy (obviously), I traded for a copy from a trader who bought his copy directly from the taper. I compared my two copies (ebay and the 2nd gen from taper) and they were from the same source, though it was clear that the one from ebay had been altered in some way, likely by mp3. I have since thrown the ebay copy away. Continuing ... when the trader made the 2nd gen cdr copy for me, he did it TAO. About a year ago, I fixed that copy using EAC editing, giving me a flawless DAO copy and also did some slight editing out of silence at the beginning and ending of the show. My disc times are D1: 78:31, D2: 40:22, so if anyone has these disc times, you know it's lineage.

A few years ago I tracked down the taper over email to confirm the source info, and get any other info I could about the recording. The complete source info is: CSB + bass roll-off > Sony PCM-M1 DAT [location: Center rail on 2nd raised GA floor] > cdr. Also, one other bit of info about the show/recording: just before the band launches into Aenema, a girl in the pit climbed onto the shoulders of another guy, lifted her shirt and flashed the band. This provoked Maynard's response of "Oh I'm sorry to have been so rude. Nice tits. Thank you." In all of his sold copies to the mass public, the taper told me he edited out the word "tits." Apparently the only people who have an unedited clone of the recording (complete with an unedited "tits" in there) are a few close trader friends. So you can check your recording to see if you are the lucky one with the R rated version. I've never come across any copies that weren't the edited version.

Performance-wise, Chicago was one of the best, most intense Tool shows I've been to, and probably the last time I'll get to see them in such an intimate setting

Maynardism: "Thank you very much for coming down. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Danny - yesterday was the last day of his parole. We won't go into details but suffice to say- no contest. She didn't have any I.D. on her...."

Setlist:

The Grudge
(-) Ions
Stinkfist
46 & 2
Prison Sex (OTRM)
Schism
Pushit
Disposition
Reflection
Intermission (cut)
Sober
Parabol
Parabola
Ænema
Opiate
Lateralus