REVIEW: Tool Rocks The Gorge

Next time leave earlier.

Next time take the back way.

It's been a long while since it took two hours to get from exit to parking at the Gorge, but sold out means at capacity.

At capacity means standing room only on the lawn.

It was a sea of humanity in the cool June evening.

The sound from Tool was loud, crisp and as rehearsed.

Standing in the back of the stage as a dark figure against a colorful psychedelic LED screen, Maynard James Keenan never appeared at the front of the stage.

Every other time I had been to see Tool, Keenan could spend more than 10 minutes between songs talking about love or politics or both.

This Saturday night, there was little talking.

I won't tell you this was the best show of the summer (so far), but I will say this: When was the last time you went to a rock show to see a band from years past and they sounded just as loud and intense?

I was excited to see Van Halen last year at the Tacoma Dome, but it was a far cry from the band's past.

Tool sounded just as loud, if not louder than the '90s.