2001.07.01 - Toronto, Ontario, Canada @ Molson Park: Edgefest
Source A: Mini Disc -- Sound Professionals Binaurals > Sharp MS722
Notes: As Tool comes on-stage, they do the same little pre-Grudge musical intro as they did in Europe. Very cool & quite interesting. This is the only gig Tool did in North America in July - damn Canadians should be happy they came to Toronto. The recording is quite good as well, which is always nice. The crowd is very low & the music is finely equalized from the stacks. The taper was most likely very close to a stack as the audio is real clear & has little swirling common from outdoor venues. Although this recording would most likely not be considered one of the best quality recordings of 2001, this is a good source for this performance.
Time: 58:32
Tuva > Jam
The Grudge
(-) Ions
Stinkfist
46 & 2
Schism
Sober
Parabola
Lateralus
Source B: Mini Disc -- MDR-QR33LP/S > Sony MZR-55
Taper: Adam
Gen: 1st from Master
Notes: Good sounding recording, considering the microphones are actually headphones. There is a bit of crowd noise, singing, talking & yelling plus a nice amount of wind but, overall, not bad. Considering. Sound is rather crisp & clear but, honestly, I think that collector's would appreciate this more than just the casual listener. So, there you have it. This performance was the last show of the 2nd leg of the 2001 tour.
Time: 58:01
Source C: Mini Disc --- Sony ECM-MS908C > Sony MZR-700
Taper: Charles C.
Gen: 1st from Master
Notes: They arrive back in the States after playing Europe to do one show in North America before heading out over to Japan, Australia & New Zealand. Basically, Tool played their '2001 Festival Set' as I'll refer to it as...a shortened version of their normal, long show. Secondly, the recording itself. Well, the actual sound quality of this recording is pretty good. However, there is a lot of yelling & whatnot by the crowd/taper's friends. Especially this girl that says shit like: 'get off my toe mother-fucker', 'move your head' & 'wheeeeeeh'. Why is it that chicks voices on live recordings are so damn annoying? Is it just me? I do not think that this recording is really anywhere near being for collector's only but there is a good deal of crowd noise that is not usually on a recording. So, take from that what you will.
Time: 58:09
Source D: DAT -- Core Sound Binaurals > Zefiro Inbox > Sony TCD-D100
Taper: Toaster
Notes: As this particular source starts, the taper (I think) says 'sit down' to the people in front of him. Funny. As it is, this is a stellar recording of Tool that is most likely the best source for this show available for and to traders. The vocals & instruments reflect an accurate reproduction of the music - nice because this was a cool & interesting gig by Tool. They flew back to north America from Eurpoe to play here then flew to Japan/Australia/New Zealand for more shows. Those Canadiens got lucky. Sounds to me like the taper was wise & was semi-close to the stage as, for an outdoor gig, there is little wavey-ness in the sound. Smart. A little bit of talking from people around the mics but that does not subtract from the overall experience of listening to this source. One thing that I did not note for some reason on other versions/sources of this show is the fact that during the first chorus of Stinkfist, MJK's vocals go out for a second.
Time: 57:07
Source E: DAT --- Sonic Studios DSM-6S/L > PA-6LC3B/85 > Sony PCM-M1
Notes: For some reason or another, this source has been rather difficult to find and, as of early-mid 2005, is still rather uncommon. A shame, this is arguably the cleanest, smoothest & nicest recording to surface from this show. Levels are balanced, vocals are clear, bass is crisp, guitar is clean & the drum-kick is just right. Hard to really have a problem with this sound. The sound itself has a very live feel to it versus the front-of-stack feel that some may enjoy or swear by. Highly recommended recording.... would be nice to find actually on DAT but no one really seems to have a clue who the taper was or how this came into the trade-pool in the first place. Highly recommended.
Time: 57:52
Source F: Unknown Audience Recording (sounds like omni-sourced mics > Mini Disc recorder)
Source F: Labeled as: "Edge Festival" (apparently on silver disc)
Notes: I must say that this source really bothered me as I was convinced that this was simply a mislabeled already-existing source that someone ass decided to try & sell to make some money for a crack-whore-BJ. However, this is actually an alternate source from sources A-E. That said, this is definitely the weakest-sounding, quality-wise, of the entire sources available. This should be for collector's only. I know nothing of the lineage & I am not sure if anyone really does. The bass is muddy, vocals muddy, guitar does not stand-out & the drums sound like ass - we know Tool did not sound this way by the high quality recordings available of this performance.
Maynardism:
"Huh. Good evening Canada" (through a megaphone)
Maynardism:
"Happy Canada day. We thought we would drop by, make some popcorn & watch some television with you"
Time: 57:44