Tool overhauls its setlist for a towering return to sold-out Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee

Tool hasn't released any new music since the last time the band came to Milwaukee.

But its return to Fiserv Forum Wednesday often felt like a brand-new show.

The prog metal titans performed a dozen songs across a two-hour-and-8-minute set (excluding a 12-minute intermission), each spanning in length from six minutes (for "Intolerance" and "Forty Six & 2") to 14 minutes for "Descending."

The latter was one of five songs Tool played Wednesday that the band had skipped at its previous Fiserv Forum gig in 2019. Cut from last time were "Parabol," "Parabola," "Schism," "Vicarious" and "Stinkfist" — acceptable concessions for the incredible addition of "The Pot," "Rosetta Stoned," "The Grudge" and "Culling Voices" this time around.

Not that Milwaukee's Tool fans — who still sold out Fiserv Forum Wednesday, despite no totally new songs since 2019 — minded hearing the band tackle epics like "Jambi," "Pneuma" and "Invincible" again.

That’s because Tool’s songs are so intense, so intricate, that you could watch performances of nearly any one of them a dozen times and still notice something new each time. That also applies to the band's trippy, nightmarish visuals, which Wednesday included animation of a circle of six faces, all connected, melting in on itself, and hands with scalpels slicing the foreheads on wrinkled heads, revealing eyeballs underneath.

"Fear Inoculum" — the opening song Wednesday, as it was four years ago — remained a remarkable mood-setter, and an instant reminder that Tool remains in a league of their own. Adam Jones' droning guitar, Danny Carey's taut drumming, Justin Chancellor's uneasy bass lines — they combined, surged, receded, creating a dynamic tension across 11 minutes that needed to snap, but never truly did.

And standing in the shadows on elevated platforms — unlike his bandmates under spotlights — was Maynard James Keenan, the frontman's presence recalling a monster lurking in a horror movie. His body language, hard to discern in the intentionally scant lighting, seemed alien, too, the way he bent his back forward, crouching, stalking, like an animal about to pounce, his arms occasionally shaking, or slapping against his body, an extension of Carey's more charged fills.

Carey was a monster behind the kit, once again getting a jaw-dropping solo showcase with an 11-minute "Chocolate Chip Trip," the song beginning gingerly with the drummer standing in front of a towering gong, rolling mallets across its rims and smashing its center, before moving onto the kit, smashing kick drums and cymbals, conjuring up hypnotic polyrhythmic trances, before retreating after four minutes to play twitchy notes on a synth behind him, all of the sounds swarming together for the finale.

As he did in 2019, Carey was wearing a Bucks jersey with Giannis Antetokounmpo's number, a salute to the Milwaukee hero. But during "Chocolate Chip Trip," I was convinced that Carey was the Greek Freak's equivalent in the rock drummer world.

If Tool opted to repeat that four-year-old setlist once again, it would have been a journey worth revisiting.

But what made Wednesday's show especially electric was seeing the band take on songs it hasn't played here in ages, or ever. For a six-minute rendition of "The Pot," Keenan resembled Neo from "The Matrix," bending backwards and waving his arm in seeming slow motion, an appropriate visual to accompany the band's staggering, jaw-dropping arrangement. A 12-minute "Rosetta Stoned" (which featured a bit of "Lost Keys") featured the frontman's first hellfire scream of the night for its finale, offering a cathartic emotional cleansing that the tense three songs and 50 minutes that preceded it never provided.

Another climactic Keenan scream — under a flash of the arena's harsh fluorescent lights — was the highlight for a nine-minute "Grudge." In contrast, for a nine-minute "Culling Voices," the band was seated at the edge of the stage, playing quietly, Keenan singing quietly, as shimmering glitter rained down on the arena floor — the band taking their rightful places for a bold finish two-thirds in.

The night's longest song, "Descending," proved to be the most epic, with Jones' guitar ascending, Carey's drums rumbling and Chancellor's hips swiveling after a roller-coaster seven minutes. But then the band scaled back, with Carey receding the heaviness and incorporating some electronic drum pad splashes, with Jones' guitar slipping back into the haunting low end. It was like the band itself was descending into hell, and dragging the crowd with them.

Tool might not have had new songs to share Wednesday, but that may not be the case next time. Chancellor said in a podcast interview last month that the band has had some writing sessions and plan to get back in the studio after wrapping up its tour in 2024.

Of course, fans have heard that before, repeatedly, and ended up waiting 13 years for the "Fear Inoculum" album.

But it was worth the wait, so really, what's the rush? Wednesday's show proved Tool doesn't need a bunch of new songs to stay and sound fresh.

3 takeaways from Tool's Milwaukee concert, including opener Steel Beans

• Toward the end of Wednesday's show, Keenan mentioned that, in April, he turned to social media to try to locate a friend he lost touch with 40 years ago — and thanked fans for helping them reconnect. That long-lost friend was in the crowd Wednesday with his wife, and she was celebrating her birthday — prompting Keenan to orchestra an arena-wide "Happy Birthday" singalong in her honor.

• Signs were all over the arena, and multiple announcements were made, that photography and filming on phones was prohibited, and violators would be ejected. Don’t be surprised if Tool ends up partnering with Yondr, but the copious warnings were effective Wednesday. I didn’t see anyone filming from my seat — until the very end, when Keenan offered his thanks to the crowd and gave everyone permission to film the last song “Forty Six & 2” (although he jokingly threatened bodily harm to anyone filming with their phone light on).

• If the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney became one person in some sci-fi movie experiment gone wrong, they’d end up like Jeremy DeBardi, aka one-man rock band Steel Beans. It may seem like a goofy gimmick, and the juvenile DeBardi dropped plenty of corny jokes during his set opening for Tool Wednesday, all while wearing a nun costume (complete with fake breasts that he flashed twice). But to do what DeBardi did takes serious concentration and skill. Seemingly forgoing loop pedals like Ed Sheeran, he frequently pounded the drums with a stick in his right hand (and occasionally a bare left palm), while clutching and noodling on a guitar with his left hand, or occasionally jamming on some keyboards — all while belting to the rafters. The skilled gimmick isn’t the only selling point either: DeBardi’s solid originals resembled not just early Black Keys but also Led Zeppelin, with the occasional whiplash-inducing detour into funk and punk.

Tool's Fiserv Forum setlist in Milwaukee

1. "Fear Inoculum"

2. "Jambi"

3. "The Pot"

4. "Rosetta Stoned" (with a bit of "Lost Keys")

5. "Pneuma"

6. "Descending"

7. "Intolerance

8. "The Grudge"

9. "Chocolate Chip Trip"

10. "Culling Voices"

11. "Invincible"

12. "Forty Six & 2"

Contact Piet at (414) 223-5162 or plevy@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on X at @pietlevy or Facebook at facebook.com/PietLevyMJS.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tool at Milwaukee Fiserv Forum show overhauls the setlist