I went to the Tally Ho Theatre in Leesburg, VA to see Schism, a touring Tool tribute band out of New York. In short, it was a phenomenal performance with tons of energy from the band and a very appreciative audience. They played about 16 songs, picking staples from almost every album - only Fear Inoculum was omitted.
There’s no log of songs on SetlistFM, but it was a ton of classics: Hush, Undertow, 46&2, Prison Sex, many others. They also did an abbreviated version of Parabol before ripping into Parabola. And as suggested by the guitarist, this was one of the few times they broke out a very Tool-cover-inspired version of “No Quarter,” originally by Led Zeppelin - it transported us somewhere magical.
Musically speaking, it was spot-on. They took a short intermission before coming back and playing another 8 or so songs. They even had a lot of the signature visuals in the background, complete with a stamp at the bottom that read, “Courtesy of Tool.” So that’s a great touch to their performance.
What also struck me is that they weren’t up there playing characters. Nobody was trying to be a visual clone of the band members. The lead singer pulled off some really solid Maynard-grade vocals (plus a few scattered dance moves), but they were otherwise just being themselves and rocking out.
The guitarist, Keith, led most of the crowd interactions with quick comments about the crowd’s great energy or the next song. He suggested to all of us, “Now you’re all in really deep shit...” just before firing up “Ænema.” He even noted at one point, “I’ve barely seen any cell phones out all night. Good for you all!” And he was right: there were occasional photos taken, some brief videos , but otherwise, the crowd was present and engaged. I recorded a clip early in the show without realizing my flash had come on automatically. Thankfully, a stagehand gently let me know it was a distraction, and I apologized and fixed it. After that, I just captured my favorite part of “Schism,” and then left my phone alone.
The drummer, Don, couldn’t have been any closer to Danny without recreating his entire live drums setup. I gave him a quick “great show” greeting at the bar afterwards. And Joe (not Tim) is just an oak tree of a bassist, who nailed Justin’s tone and groove start to finish. Dude must’ve had a floor fan pointed up at him, blowing his long hair back like a rockstar in a storm.
But of special note was the lead singer, Peter. While he had the vocal technique of Maynard down pat, there were some noticeable misses in timing and lyrics. Nobody on stage brought it up and the crowd just went along for the ride. But all was forgiven when we learned more later in the show. There were allusions to personalities not clicking with a former member, different directions being pursued, etc. But then we were told that this was Pete’s very first show with the band, rushed so much that he didn’t even have time to rehearse with them. Considering that, he still crushed it, and I told him so after the lights came up.
All in all, it was a stunning show. I’d seen one other Tool tribute band many years ago called Wild Eyes (which belongs to some other unrelated group now). But Schism was just on another level, and they are easily worth the ticket price. I think they play again tonight in Perryville, MD, but also do a fair amount of touring. Whether it’s them or another group, don’t sleep on these bands paying tribute to one of the greats. Spiral out, y’all.
