1999.10.10 - Indio, CA, USA @ Empire Polo Field, Coachella Festival

Source A: DAT -- Core Sound Binaurals/120 > Sony PCM-M1/44.1 kHz
DAT: Master DAT > Digital Clone-1
CD: Master > CD
Taper: CatalystX

Notes - Recording: The audio is simply sharp, crisp and is the best (minus a few trivial flaws) recordings of Coachella and/or other shows, years & sources. This was filmed, front of the sound board. For the equipment used, somehow, CatalystX turned this recording into one of the sweetest recordings with one of the sweetest setlists ever. Not really going to go on, no need to give the taper a huge head is there? However, some people have mentioned this is one of the finest recordings of Tool available. I would like to briefly mention that there are many CDs of this show, of this source, that are still casualties of the Napster revolution and are thus MP3 sourced and/or with track transitions. This version from the taper does not have any issues.

Notes - Show: Interesting, just before the band busts open Intolerance, Maynard chants 19-90-90-9, 19-90-90-9 over and over. The video of this is very choppy -most of the time- but has it's moments. There are many different versions of this particular source floating around; most from MP3. Many sources have inconsistent track transitions.  Looking at that setlist, at the end of 2002, I think: "What a great show that must have been." But, I have a feeling I'll be saying that about shows I was at a few years from now. Hindsight has a way of making things a little bit more clearer, perhaps. Yeah? As for this show, it should be noted that A Perfect Circle played the day before. Then, Tool played the day after. At the time, it must've been at least interesting but now, retrospectively, it seems almost surreal in a way. Or not.

Time CD 1: 44:29
Time CD 2: 41:14

Set list:

(-)Ions

"19-90-90-9, 19-90-90-9, 19-90-90-9, 19-90-90-9"

Intolerance
Hooker With A Penis

"Are you happy? On three, can I get a big fat yes? One, two, three. How about in French, which is 'oui', in case you didn't know that. One, two, three. And in Spanish, 'si'. One, two, three" (in case you didn't realize, what MJK has the crowd yell: "yes we see")

Forty-Six & 2

"We have a guest. We have Buzz from the Melvins joining us. This is a song by a band called Peach which Justin used to be in.
Back when he was eating bad food"

Spasm
Prison Sex

"We like to dedicate this next song to our friend Scott Reader"

Eulogy

"It’s been a long time since we have been able to play with Rage Against The Machine. We spent many many months in Europe eating stale bread and horrible cheese. Its a pleasure to play with em again. Did they kick your ass ? I don't know if you know this or not, but Zach is really sick. But he still came out here and kicked your ass. What do you think of that ? They have a new record come out November 1st go and buy it"

Stinkfist
Sober

"Another Buzz Osbourne, another Peach song"

You Lied
Ænema

"tap"

Opiate
Jerk-Off

Source B: DAT -- Core Sound Binaurals > Sony PCM-M1
DAT:  DAT-3 > Digital Clone-4
CD Gen:   ? from Master

Notes: Very nice audience recording that not only captures the only performance from 99 but also is an accurate reflection of the performance itself. The sound set-up was just amazing at this festival - ultra crisp. This recording has a noticeable level change (down) but is not really a big issue. However, it is pretty evident that in a side-by-side analysis of this & CatalystX's recording, this source would be a second... a close second though. It's hard to really compare as both are really tight.  Both sources are vibrant, crisp and clear but this seems to be slightly less intense though. Still, this is definitely one recording to attain as it would be hard to disappoint you. Still, I think that most people would listen to CatalystX's recording before this one. But I could be wrong. Although the DAT I have is a 4G from master... unlike the CD that has no generation known to it. Come to think of it, I do not know one person that has a known generational CD of this show.

Time CD 1: 67:49
Time CD 2: 19:42

Accurate Information
Source C: Mini Disc --- Core Sound Binaurals (bass roll off) > Sony MZ-R50
Digital Transfer: Master Mini Disc (2) > Tascam MD-301MKII > (optical to coaxial converter) > Monster Digital Cable > Audiophile 24/96 @ 44.1 kHz (transfer by Galen, 2006)
Taper: Cesaro
Gen: Master (note: I gave back his Master MD's post transfer)
Common Source Information: Mini disc --- Core Sound Binaurals > Unknown Mini Disc Recording (not 100% confirmed)
Source C: The overwhelming majority of All known copies are MP3 sourced in one track (except from 2006 digital transfer)

Notes 2006: Some random bits of information. The reason on the "common" version that there are cuts as the taper wanted to have the show fit onto one CD, back in the day, when he fist transferred it. The missing 'original songs' are present on 2006 digital transfer. The correct source information is referenced above. This is the first time digital + complete version has been mastered to CD.
Notes 2000: This version has been floating around, in some capacity, since 1999. Yes, my friends, this is a MP3 sourced recording that has managed to fly under the radar. This source is, to put it simply, is incomplete. There are no known full versions of this around the trade circle. I am actively pursuing more sources of this performance. I have a feeling that there are quite a few sources that collectors do not know about due to the nature of a festival. Specifically, the Coachella Festival. There are tons of bands performing at the experience thus there are that many more tapers. Good capture of an excellent performance but, sadly, either someone just deleted tracks from a CD to make it fit onto a CD (NOTE:  1999, 74 minute CDs were common & 80min was not) so either someone close to the taper put this to MP3 in one file, the taper did, someone did it randomly years later or something else occurred. Perhaps one day there will be clarification. Each track has the talking/song breaks, except when MJK speaks, cut. All. Best left for extreme collectors. Almost sort of like a conundrum, this source is oddly enough, rather hard to find. The simple reason is because the people that have this are mass collectors who, for one, would never read this. But the collector will? Hope so.

Unknown / Common Version
Time: 73:11

"Master / Digital Transfer Version - 2006 Transfer"
MD 1 Time: 65:45
MD 2 Time: 20:57

“CU.ORG Acquired Master”

Source D: Analog --- Sonic Studios DSM6s/l > Sony WM-D6
Transfer: Cassette-Master > Sony TC-WE425 > Audiophile 24/96 (analog) > Soundforge 6.0 > WAV (transferred by GSP, 2009)
Taper: Steve H. / Ballsdeep
Gen: Master

Notes: This is the 7th (and perhaps final) source of Tool from Coachella 1999 that may ever actually make the light of day. The taper, a classically trained linguist skilled in both martial arts, OGT taping, cunnilingus & tomfoolery pulled off one hell of a capture. You can look at this source from a myriad of perspectives; one, you have the rather historical context of this gig (i.e.: if you have seen multiple Tool shows in the 10K Days era or even Lateralus era -- you know what I mean; repetition) where Tool performed just one doozy of a setlist. No other performance is as varied & for that matter experimental as was this set. Two, there are several videos & several audio recordings - as such, all sources combined, offers even the hardest or most turned-off Tool fan/collector a sort of "panoramic" view of the band at this stage in their evolution. Three, this recording simply sounds good. It is a rock solid, enjoyable recording that is best appreciated a) loud + b) as you listen to the near-silent crowd over the bass of 'You Lied' -- careful, you may get a tingle. Upon discussion with the taper, he informed me that he felt there were other recordings that were "better than his" (such as CatalystX's recording) thus he sat on the tape for just about 10 years when he, actually, sent me the physical/actual Cassette-Master for cu.org. Yeah. I think that's pretty cool to be perfectly honest with you - there is a picture of it in the photo section of the cu.org DAT collection page. As it is, the taper requested that I transfer this & give it a proper EQ for release. I must be honest with you; I  few various mix-samples going, I listened intently to the differences compared with the master/unedited version... had to go with what sounded the best; the master version. The sound is absolutely clean, crisp & damn this has a serious amount of depth. It's that analog sound? I think so. There are instances of phasing with movement from the crowd and other variables, however, this is not a serious flaw but if one were to nit-pick that would be it. A certain amount of crowd noise that is actually directly comparable to any other source including the CSB>M1/OadeII source. This is a spectacular recording of a wonderful performance with l-i-f-e & energy flowing through it. Yes, another thank you to Steve for taping this one...

Time: 84 minutes

Source E: Unspecified Recording Equipment
Source E: 1st Gen VHS > DVD
Stage Left

Notes: Filmed from the audience right of the stage, this video captures an unique angle of Tool during the only known performance of 1999. The audio is mono-only as it comes out of the right channel. The video itself is wide-screen @ 16:9 ratio. Interesting stuff. The filmer knew what he was doing, apparently... although Tool is incomplete. All known copies of this are like that. There are some disturbingly clear images of Mark + Hanna of Osseus Labyrinth climbing up ropes during Sober that made me think "talk about rug-burn". Ouch. Getting back to the issue of an incomplete recording, this is. In fact, almost all of the songs have random / sporadic cuts in them. This is due to the taper realizing that little tape was left as RATM + a couple of various acts before Tool were briefly captured. The RATM part does have MJK on "Know Your Enemy", that is interesting. The filmer captures the essence of a Tool pit as well with some shots of overtly-testosterone-laden boys climbing all over each other in a "mosh". Bah. To clear up information that people have asked, this is the original audio... other video sources of this performance synched the csb>m1 audio with the video. All in all, this is worth the effort to track down but will this video change your life? Probably not.

Time: 1:34:54

Source F: JVC DVL-GR9000U MiniDV VideoDissemination: FIREWIRE > TMGPENC 3XPRESS (VBR - Average 6880kps, 2-pass 10bit/high motion search max bitrate 9200, min 4000, audio mpeg2 384kbs) > DVDLab Pro
Taper:  cesaro
Gen:  1st from Master

Notes - by taper: Please keep this off torrent sites and rarely traded. The show isn't the best but it is rare. There is 1 bad frame @ 00:53:40, its like that on tape, so if I have to live with it, so do you!Notes - by Galen / 2006 (original audio): To make a long story as short + sweet as possible, the 1st Gen is directly from the taper. I found it to be a massive improvement to the synched version commonly found out in the trade-world. There is not a lot of color "bleeding" or things of that nature. You can tell that this was filmed with a camera that is a bit outdated by today's standards (i.e.: a few vertical lines if you look close enough) but, nonetheless & make no mistake, this source is crisp, clear & relatively clean. Completely enjoyable to sit back & watch. However, the audio is rather distorted when the bass, kick drum & even guitar hits at X, Y or Z frequency; thus the impetus for the initial audio-synch in the first place. All in all, by far the best Coachella '99 video known to exist. But that is simply my subjective opinion... Also, there is a very nicely mastered/authored DVD with a cool menu.

Notes - by Galen / 2001 (synched audio): I first attained a copy, synched with the audio of CatalystX in 2001 on VHS from a questionable generation. There it sat for a very long time until a friend took a 1G copy he had > DVD via a very nice S-Video connection not too long ago. The result is a video with amazing audio even if the video can be a bit hit-or-miss. There are a few instances of duck-and-cover maneuevers by the filmer but this is understandable. What can lead some people to sea-sickness are the many instances that the camera quickly moves form one place to another. Suppose that is what you get when you are very far from the stage using various magnification? Am not trying to give this video a hard time, it is actually really quite enjoyable. If anything, am trying to explain how it may seem watching it.  However, this is hands down the best way to enjoy this legendary performance; good video & excellent audio.

Time: 1:26:09

Source F: Unspecified Hi-8mm Recording Equipment
Source F: 1st Gen VHS > DVD

Notes: Filmed from the back-right of the floor, this video is littered with numerous cuts, the sound is distorted on various levels & there is a lot of crowd noise; that is, when you can tell the difference between the brickwalled sound to hear some girl screeching or some fella yelling Tool. The video quality overall is pretty good actually. It catches a different "feeling" than the other videos do. With as many (relatively many that is for a Tool show) videos of this performance floating around, three confirmed, you would think the band had these filmers on pay roll. The highlight of this video is the filmer's accuracy at catching not just Danny, Adam, Justin or MJK but the screens. Interesting stuff actually. Believe it or not, it took me until 08/2006 to attain this source. I do not think it is all together ultimately a rare, "valuable" item that people have been keeping from the light of day. I do think that due to such higher quality sources available, this often is overlooked. Yes, the audio is extremely distorted & that will turn lots of people off right from the start. However, as someone who watches for this; the different came angle with some truly remarkable shots. If that is what you are looking for, this may actually be for you. Otherwise, this is for serious collector's only & most likely not fit for mass consumption as many people would never, ever watch this. As a bonus, RATM's incomplete performance is caught for posterity with this DVD as well. The sound + video are pretty much the same as what is mentioned above. Happy digging... maybe this time wear gloves & wash up when you are done. All that Stinkfisting will exhaust you after a while.

The recording is incomplete from Eulogy forward.

DVD
Time / Total: 57:59

Rage Against The Machine
Time: 22:34

Tool
Time: 35:25

Time: 84 mins